Southwest Chicken a.k.a Benjamino Domestico

We recently came back from a road trip to Austin, Texas to see our good old friends Ben and Gina. They moved to Austin a few years back and have loved it from the start. We’ve been itching to go see them for quite some time now but life’s always seemed to intervene and foil our good motivation to get out there — or maybe just poor planning. At any rate, we were determined to get to Austin this time around, rain or shine. Our trip began over Memorial weekend and the driving was split up into two days both there and back, leaving us with about 24 hours to explore what Austin had to offer. For everyone out there reading this, if you plan on visiting Austin, please spend more than 24 hours there to really get to know the place. Please, learn from our misfortune. Austin is a cool and funky little city.

One of the things that “Austinites” like to do is, go bat watching.  Austin has a huge migration of Mexican free-tail bats, around 1.5 million, that roost under Austin’s bridges. Our Texas hosts took us to one of those popular bridges to watch the show as the bats woke up and began their bug feeding journey, flying off in long, river-like waves once the sun sets. We got there around dusk and waited, and waited, and waited….and waited. It was a mystery, Ben and Gina were scratching their heads in confusion because the bats religiously came out night after night around the same time. Other Austinites were just as dumbfounded to why the little bats were staying under the bridge longer than normal. Little did we know, it’s bat mating season, and female bats are incubating their babies for a little bit longer, therefore, not leaving their nest until later in the night. After an hour and a half  of waiting, we ended up leaving without the great bat show. But you know what, it’s time well spent when you’re with good company! We’ll just have to add it to our long list of reasons to return to Austin!

Later that night we ended up in the crowds of 6th Street and watched a soulful band play at a bar that stole my heart, Maggie Mae’s. The next morning we split up, boys went hiking and us girls went to see “Sex and the City 2” at the oh, so cool Alamo Drafthouse Cinema where we sipped specialty Sex and the City themed character drinks, mine being the “Charlotte”, a delicious peach-like mimosa that I will no doubtfully replicate sooner or later on Eldo. Keep an eye out.

With a few hours left to kill, we all decided to drive to Fredericksburg, a quaint little town an hour and a half outside of Austin. As we arrived closer to Fredericksburg we started to pass peach stand after peach stand, until we spotted this open, vast Wild Seed Farm that was lined with rows and rows of wild flowers in bright red-orange, purple, and yellow flowers — so naturally we stopped for a photo opportunity, and to peruse the gift shop where I bought some Texas wild flower seeds, Texan-style spices and a bottle of peach wine —- oh, did I mention they had wine tasting there too? It was a perfect end to our Texas trip.

Once we arrived in Fredericksburg we immediately ravaged an ice cream shop nearby. As we sat and enjoyed our ice creamy treats, Ben proceeded to tell me about a chicken dish he makes from time to time.

My mouth started salivating as he explicitly told me every detail to his chicken-y goodness. Anything that involves roasted green chilies and cheese – already becomes a favorite. I already knew I wanted to make his chicken dish, but once Ben sent me a picture later on that week from his Austin kitchen- I knew I HAD to make this as soon as possible – and so I did!

Ingredients ~ The type of cheese is up to you; Monterey Jack, Cheddar, Pepper Jack – I used a pepper-cheddar cheese I found that was nice and spicy, just the way I like it! This is from memory, so forgive me Ben -  and thanks for the recipe!

2 fresh chicken breasts

4 whole, roasted green chilies, each cut lengthwise on one side so they open flat

4 slices of cheese

Sliced black olives

Tapatio sauce

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Heat up a large skillet with a drizzle of olive oil over a medium heat. Slice chicken lengthwise, making 2, nice thin fillets per breast. Sprinkle sliced chicken breasts lightly with salt and pepper. Place chicken in a heated skillet and cook on one side, covered for 5 minutes. Flip to the other side (chicken should be a nice golden brown) and lay a whole roasted green chili spread out on each cooked side of the chicken breast. Cook other side for five minutes covered. Turn stove off and lay one slice of cheese on top of green chili covered chicken, and cover with lid for another minute or so, until cheese is ooey gooey and melted. Serve hot and top with sliced black olives and tapatio sauce. You can put it directly on the plate, or between two buns - the choice is yours.