I called it that cos of the prepackaged seasoning I used, and it stuck.
Thanks, Romeocat, for (unintentionally, I’m sure 🙂 reminding me to submit this. (Your Really easy “Mexican” chicken looks great, too. 🙂 This is one really, really easy recipe… or not. Depends on how you prepare it, really. Here’s the easy way, and I’ll give you some hints on mucking around to make it the hard way.
Now, usually I don’t much care for prepackaged seasonings mixed according to someone else’s idea of what tastes good. but McCormick’s Santa Fe Style Seasoning is one of those very rare cases where a pepackaged product is just about perfect for some foods. Here’s how it goes:
Ingredients:
four to six frozen, boned skinless chicken breasts
one cup rice
one cup water
one cup your fav spaghetti sauce (heavy on the oregano, though)
liberal amounts of McCormick’s Santa Fe Style Seasoning
Preparation:
Preheat oven to 350°F
Place the rice in 9X12 baking dish
Place the chicken breasts on the rice
Mix water and spaghetti sauce and pour the mixture over the rice and chicken
Sprinkle LIBERALLY with McCormick’s Santa Fe Style Seasoning
Cover with aluminum foil and place in oven. bake for about 40 minutes, then remove foil and bake for another 5 or so. Oven temps may vary, so you may have to adjust the times. The frozen chicken will thoroughly cook and the rice will absorb the moisture and cook well, too.
Now, if you want to make your own seasoning mix, you can do so and this dish can actually taste better balancing things to your own taste. McCormick’s Santa Fe Style Seasoning is pretty much a mixture of dried, crushed chilis, cumin, coriander and dried onion and garlic. If you use fresh garlic and onion and grind/crush your own spices, the flavors will have more punch. (I’d at least sautee the onions and garlic–or “microwave sautee” them—before adding to the baking dish, if it were me.) You’ll just have to experiment with balancing amounts and go through all the prep work.
This is great with some freshly-made flour tortillas and beans, but I’ll get into that recipe another time (especially for the one who’s asked for the tortilla recipe—you know who you are. :-).