There are some dishes that I make very often because we like them a lot in our house. One of them, Jon’s favorite, is Pastel Azteca. This tortilla casserole can be considered as Mexican comfort food. It is easy to make, it’s done in few minutes and it’s not too messy, unless you make it from scratch, like I do. Since I want to incorporate more seafood (against Jon’s wishes) in our diets I decided to make this favorite with tilapia fish. To reduce the “fishy” taste of the tilapia I cooked it with lemon juice, garlic and onion and used it instead of the chicken. I also added black beans to the casserole and half a cup of sour cream to the tomato sauce.
This is the original recipe with the changes (in blue) I made for this dinner:
(Fish) Pastel Azteca
Printable recipe
Makes 6 servings
Prep time: 10-15 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Method: boiling, baking
For this recipe you will need:
- 1 chicken breast shredded (3 tilapia fish fillets, about 1lb 6oz gr)
- 1 lb Roma tomatoes
- 1 medium size onion
- 3 garlic cloves peeled
- 1-2 chipotle adobado peppers
- 24 corn tortillas (This time I used a 16oz bag of tortilla chips)
- 3 cups chicken broth
- 8 oz. Chihuahua cheese shredded 2 cups approx. (This time I used about 4 ounces of pepper jack cheese)
- Salt (and pepper) to taste
- 2 cups black beans
- 2 limes
- olive oil
- chopped onion
- minced garlic
- 1/2 cup sour cream
Preparation:
- First sautee some chopped onion and minced garlic over olive oil in a saucepan. Add the tilapia fillets and cook with lime juice, salt and pepper until the fish falls apart. Set aside
- Cut tortillas in triangles (quarters) and fried them in batches until they turn hard, Mexican restaurant style. (This step can be skipped if using tortilla chips)
- Blend together tomatoes, ¾ of the onion, garlic and adobado peppers using one cup of chicken broth.
- In a large pot pour the tomato mix.
- Add the rest of the chicken broth and salt and let it simmer for about 10 minutes over medium heat. Stir constantly. (Add sour cream when the sauce starts to boil)
- Preheat oven to 350° F.
- Cut the rest of the onion in thin slices.
- Place a layer of tortilla chips at the bottom of a 9”x13” baking dish using 1/3 of the tortillas.
- Add another layer using half of the shredded chicken (or tilapia fish), 1/3 of the sliced onion and 1/3 of shredded cheese (this time I left the cheese to the end to top off the casserole. Also, include here 1/2 of the black beans).
- Pour some of the tomato sauce.
- Add another layer of ingredients, tortilla chips, cheese, onion and the rest of the chicken (same notes as above).
- Finish up with a layer of tortilla chips and onion.
- Pour the rest of the tomato sauce.
- Top off with the remaining cheese.
- Bake for 25 minutes.
About this recipe:
- The spiciness of this recipe will depend on the amount of chipotle adobado peppers you use. You may not use any at all if you don’t like spicy food.
- If you’d like a crunchy casserole, don’t bake it, just let it sit for about 10 minutes after pouring the tomato sauce. Just make sure the sauce is hot so the cheese melts.
As with these fish empanadas, the taste of fish in this dish wasn’t overpowering which was what I trying to accomplish. I cooked the beans with some epazote (I will tell you more about this delicious herb in future posts) which gave the whole dish a very nice uplift. I need to find more creative ways to sneak incorporate more seafood in our diet. Any suggestions?
Buen provecho!
Don’t forget to cast your vote for your favorite entry of the Food for Plastic Challenge – Kidz edition here.
26 Replies
Ben, this looks delicious. Do you think it would work with a tomatillo or chile verde sauce just as well?
Posted on April 29th, 2008 at 2:08 pm
That sounds pretty tasty. like the use of the tilapia in this version.
Posted on April 29th, 2008 at 7:27 pm
You know, I never thought of tilapia as being fishy-tasting. I find it mild and clean, and eat it often. Looks great, Ben!
Seafood idea for you: One of my favorite Mexican-inspired dishes is blackened shrimp enchiladas with home-made mole-style sauce and good queso seco. Top with a cool, creamy slaw (with lots of fresh cilantro and lime juice) to balance the rich spiciness of the sauce.
Posted on April 29th, 2008 at 11:51 pm
mmm…this is similar to what i call mexican lasagna, which i find highly superior to regular ol’ lasagna. good stuff, ben!
Posted on April 30th, 2008 at 2:19 am
Looks yummy….:)
Over here, we have steamed tilapia….Chinese style. Hmm..maybe I shall post a recipe on my blog.
Posted on April 30th, 2008 at 7:22 am
I love this idea, Ben! Either chicken or fish, it looks and sounds like great comfort food!
Posted on April 30th, 2008 at 7:24 am
I would like to sample both of them at the same time
I’m aiming to try the empanadas next!
Posted on April 30th, 2008 at 7:31 am
Ben, I too find tilapia mild for fish but I don’t know of Jon’s aversion to seafood. Regardless, sneaking in seafood in the diet is a good first step and this dish is colourful, filling and I’d order it!
Posted on April 30th, 2008 at 8:08 am
Tilapia is the least fishy of fishes , so Picky Jon should like this. Its the only fish my CS will eat. They always try to sabatoge our diets.
Posted on April 30th, 2008 at 8:39 am
I can see why this might be a favourite Ben, with tilapia or otherwise:D
Posted on April 30th, 2008 at 8:44 am
WOW – alot going on here. It must be like a full party in your mouth to eat this.
Posted on April 30th, 2008 at 9:04 am
Geesh, you are killing me with the tilapia recipes (love the substitution tho). My monkey is a freak for tilapia and black beans. If she could eat fish tacos every week she would. Is this really spicy or just a medium heat? Thanks for another beautiful recipe!
Posted on April 30th, 2008 at 9:38 am
This does look similar to lasagna but better. Great use of the fish here and more of your signature chillies in the dish. I’m curious to know more about epazote…learning a lot here amigo.
Posted on April 30th, 2008 at 7:27 pm
Oh, Ben, you’ve just made my DH SO happy!!! I’ve been looking for a recipe like this for years – it’s one of his fave comfort foods. I’ll e-mail you the whole story. THANK YOU!
Posted on April 30th, 2008 at 7:54 pm
looks great. i think it’s funny you wanted to hide the fish taste.. ha ha ha. why cook with it then? talapia is so mild, you prob. wouldn’t taste much fish anyways. we cook something similar with shredded chicken (which you said you would normally do). yum.
big question about epazote. do you know if it’s just as good to use in cooking in it’s dried form vs. it’s fresh form. we bought some dried epazote recently but my husband read that it’s not used for food in it’s dried form – only it’s fresh. know anything about this? would love to know!
amy @ we are never full
Posted on April 30th, 2008 at 8:29 pm
I love Tilapia and this looks like a great dish!
Thanks for hosting AND sponsoring the Joust this month! You rock, Dude!
Posted on May 1st, 2008 at 9:56 am
wow the tortilla casserole looks like something i’d be craaaazy about!
re: fish, here in hong kong people are soooo fuzzy about their fish
when it’s fishy they’d say = this has been dead for xx hours, unacceptable!!!
when it’s not fishy they’d say = gosh this doesnt taste like fish, it must’ve been dead for xx hours, unacceptable!
LOL
btw, ben,
You’re invited to my chinese take-out party, check out the details in my blogpost:
http://mochachocolatarita.blogspot.com/2008/05/celebrating-my-88th-post-chinese-take.html
Hope you’ll play along
Looking forward to your take on chinese take-out ^_^
Posted on May 2nd, 2008 at 4:51 am
I love empanadas… and this recipe looks scrumptious.
Posted on May 2nd, 2008 at 7:25 am
Mmmmm! Perfect for Cinco de Mayo! This is such a good idea for a fish dish
Sues
Posted on May 2nd, 2008 at 10:44 pm
hey Ben!
this looks absolutely delish! i was wondering if you have any other talapia recipes that use the fish in a more whole form? i’m trying to find one for my dinner group and thought you might have something i could use! Thanks!
Amy
Posted on May 3rd, 2008 at 7:46 pm
Sound very good and sure makes an impressive looking meal. Thanks!
Posted on May 5th, 2008 at 8:05 am
I’ve never prepared pastel azteca, but I eat it quite often. My mom prepares ir with refried beans. It’s delicious!
By the way, the other day I had some chiles rellenos with tamales!!!! mmm
Posted on May 5th, 2008 at 11:10 am
Hi Ben,
Everything on your front page looks so colorful and delicious..I didn’t know what to read first
Posted on May 6th, 2008 at 6:43 am
That looks delicious.
Posted on May 6th, 2008 at 9:11 am
That would me a meal we would enjoy also. I can’t find: Chihuahua cheese. I guess I could replace it with another kind of cheese.
Posted on May 6th, 2008 at 12:10 pm
Hi, I can?t understand how to add your site in my rss reader. How can I do this?
Posted on March 1st, 2009 at 2:11 pm
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