The best part about living in a college apartment with a kitchen is being able to make your own food instead of eating the questionable chicken-fish from the dining hall. Since my roommates and I have moved into this apartment, we have tried many delicious recipes that have only ended up catching on fire once (P.S.A. this was last week’s attempt at broiling tomatoes). Personally, one of my favorite recipes of all time is a homemade queso recipe that I make so often, my roommates often joke that I have a can of rotel tomatoes and green chilis on me at all times. Little do they know I have several cans hidden throughout the apartment at this very moment...
Recently, I have had an urge to step out of my queso comfort zone and experiment with a different type of Mexican food. I found a recipe for chicken taquitos online and thought I would give it a try. How hard could it be? Mixing shredded chicken, Mexican cheese, cream cheese, salsa, and sour cream did not prove to be difficult; however, problems occurred when I attempted to deep fry the soft corn taco shells in canola oil. I’m still not quite sure what I did wrong, but let’s just say I needed to open the windows in my apartment to prevent the smoke alarm from going off and to air out the unpleasant stench of the burning oil.
After this incident, I decided to forget the oil and try baking the taquitos in the oven instead. I placed the taquitos on a baking pan, put the mixture of filling inside, rolled them up, and stuck them in the oven. To my dismay, the taquitos grew even larger in size after I put them in the oven, whereas I was hoping that they would shrink down to size and look like the Pinterest photograph I had on my phone. When I opened the oven and did not see tiny finger-like taquitos, I thought they turned out to be a disaster for sure.
However, when I actually took a bite out of my taquito-ish creation, my tastebuds were pleasantly surprised. Although Gordon Ramsey would probably throw my food in the trash based on it’s presentation, he certainly would not have been disappointed in the taste. The corn tortillas were actually very flakey and crispy despite the fact that they did not mold closely to the ingredients inside of them. When I took a bite into the taquito, I tasted a creamy mixture of cheese and chicken that blended perfectly with the tanginess from the sour cream and salsa. As a whole, it tasted almost like a quesilldilla but even more rich and savory.
What made the taquito even more interesting was adding taco seasoning, jalapeño tabasco sauce, and parsley, which not only gave it a spicy kick, but also brightened up the dish with a splash of color. Despite having some setbacks with this recipe, I am glad that it still turned out tasting pretty good. While I may not be on the next episode of “Chopped,” I am still proud of myself for trying something new. And the best part of all is that I still have many overly-plump taquitos waiting to be eaten for lunch tomorrow… or perhaps for a midnight snack?