Honey Poblano Chicken Tacos

These tacos are something crazy delicious. Shredded chicken, sweet and malty buckwheat honey, spicy roasted poblano peppers and melty gouda cheese, all shoved into a crispy, freshly fried corn tortilla. These were so tasty I ate them for dinner. Then I woke up and made a few more for breakfast. And I’m still thinking about them.

I gave time-saving alternative ingredients if you’re strapped for time, but I must insist that you fry your own tortillas. Do not buy the hard shell tacos and use those; they are light years away from the awesomeness of a freshly fried corn tortilla. Let’s get down to business:

Honey Poblano Chicken Tacos

Makes 12 tacos

Ingredients

• One pack of 12 corn tortillas
• safflower or peanut oil for frying (don’t try olive oil, it’ll burn before it gets hot enough to fry anything)
• 2 1-lb bone-in chicken breasts (or one rotisserie chicken)
• 2 large poblano peppers (or a small jar of roasted red bell peppers tossed with 1/2 tsp hot red pepper flakes)
• 1 cup shredded Gouda (or chihuahua) cheese
• 3 Tbs Washington Buckwheat Honey

Method

1. Preheat the broiler on your oven. Wash and dry the poblanos. Place them on a foil-covered baking sheet. Broil for about 20 minutes, turning the peppers as the sides become black and charred. (When the entire pepper is charred, remove, cover with foil and set aside to cool. Turn off the broiler and set the oven temperature to 350F for the chicken).
2. In a small dutch oven, heat a tablespoon of oil over medium-high heat. Pat the chicken breasts dry with a paper towel and salt both sides. When the oil is nice and hot, place the breasts skin-side down in the oil for about 6 minutes, until golden brown. Flip the breasts, cover the dutch oven, and cook in the oven for about 20 minutes, or until the chicken has reached 160F internally. Remove and set aside to cool. Lower the oven temperature to 200F.
3. In a cast iron skillet, pour in enough of the safflower or peanut oil to 1/4″ high. Heat oil over medium-high. (Be very careful not to get any water in the oil when it is hot. This means your tongs need to be dry, if there is condensation on your tortillas, pat them dry first, and if you spit while you talk, don’t talk near the skillet. Hot oil is, well, hot. And water will make it sputter all over you).
4. While the oil is heating, peel the skins from the cooled poblanos, remove the seeds and stems, and roughly chop the flesh. Remove the meat from the chicken breasts and shred it.
5. Place a corn tortilla in the hot oil and count to 20 slowly. Using tongs, flip the tortilla over and bend it in half. Count to 20 again. Flip it over and count to 20. Remove from the pan and place upside-down (like a tent) on some paper towels. Continue until all of the tortillas are fried.
6. Divide the chicken among the tortillas. Drizzle a scant teaspoon of honey over the chicken.  Toss on the poblanos and top with the cheese. If the tacos are getting cold while you’re assembling them, place them on a lined baking sheet in the oven to keep warm. Serve warm with plenty of beer.