Mexico Saves the Day

Green or red cabbage could be swapped with the bok choy

This started out as a filling to stuff inside bok choy leaves. I chopped up the white parts of the leaves, grilled some pineapple and marinated chicken and threw in a fresh mango.

Then the problems started.

First off there was way too much filling for the amount of leaves. Leftovers are never a big problem so I soldiered on. Then the part of the leaves I planned to use as wrappers didn’t roll up very well when raw. To fix this I parboiled them for a couple seconds. Now they worked perfectly as a wrapper but had lost all the crunchiness and flavor I wanted. Still I soldiered on. Finally I tried one and although the filling was tasty, the leaves were just a soggy mess, and neither part worked well together.

What to do?

Luckily I had a bag of tostada shells and with some alterations to the filling and the help of an avocado, dinner was rescued from the abyss. Viva El Mexico.

Grilled Chicken and Pineapple Tostadas

• 1 large chicken breast skinned and deboned
• 1 lime
• 1 lemon
• 1 oz tequila
• 3 slices pineapple 1″ thick skin still on
• 1 mango cut into small dice
• 2 large bok choy leaves shredded
• 1 jalapeno diced
• 1/2 cup finely chopped red onion
• 1 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 avocado sliced thin
• Tostada shells
•  Salt/pepper

Season chicken with salt and pepper. In a deep dish place chicken, zest of the lemon and it’s juice and tequila. Drizzle a little olive oil over the chicken and marinate, turning every 30 minutes, for 2 hours. Prepare a barbecue grill and cook chicken and pineapple slices until done. In a large bowl mix mango, onion, jalapeno, and bok choy. When cool enough to touch chop chicken and pineapple into small dice. Make sure to skin and core the pineapple first. Add to bowl and season with cilantro, lime juice and salt and pepper. On a plate place 1 tostada shells. Arrange sliced avocado and cover with another shell. Pile on chicken filling and sprinkle with a little hot sauce.