Such Promise...and Such Disappointment

After day after day of turkey-based meals, the boys were overjoyed when I decided to prepare a different source for protein last night. Granted, said protein source was still in the fowl family--chicken--but I've yet to have either human male here at Chez Boeckman-Walker turn down chicken.

To mark the return of everyone's favorite barnyard poultry to our table, I decided to prepare a new recipe, which I'd received just that morning in my daily dispatch from AllRecipes.com. It seemed like a promise flavor combination, and none of the ingredients seemed like they'd offend the boy's gustatory sensibilities (the husband, upon my showing him the recipe, was behind it wholeheartedly).

Such promise....

Cinnamon and Lime Chicken Fajitas4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
1 T ground cinnamon
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste
2 large baking potatoes, peeled and cubed
1/4 C canola oil
1 large yellow onion, chopped
1 large garlic clove, peeled and minced
1 T chopped jalapeño peppers
1 lime, juiced
12 6" corn tortillas, warmed

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
   
2. Place the potatoes in a shallow baking dish, drizzle about half of the oil over them, and then season them with salt.
   
3. Bake the potatoes until tender (30 to 40 min.).
   
4. Season the chicken with the cinnamon, salt and pepper, and then arrange it in a separate baking dish.
   
5. Bake the chicken until it's no longer pink and its juices run clear (30 min.).
   
6. Let the chicken cool and then shred it.
   
7. Heat the remaining oil in a skillet over medium heat.
   
8. Saute the onion and garlic until tender.
   
9. Mix in the shredded chicken, chopped jalapeños and lime juice, and then cook until heated through.
   
10. Serve the chicken and potatoes on warmed tortillas.

Yield: 6 servings

Nutritional Info
I'm not sure this information is terribly accurate. Check out that sodium total! Did I miss the part about serving a cow's salt block on a tortilla?

Calories: 395
Fat: 12.9 g
Protein: 22.3 g
Carbs: 49.5 g
Fiber: 7.4 g
Na: 1,234 mg
Cholesterol: 45 mg

The Faudie's Futzings
Having lived in Texas now some 13 years, I must confess that I'm accustomed to seeing strips of meat that are maybe half an inch thick and one to two inches long used for fajitas. Shredded meat--or so I've observed--is used more commonly in enchiladas and maybe some burritos of lesser quality, but not for fajitas. Part of the joy of fajitas, it strikes me, is the meat that's still sizzling and smoking from its time on the grill when it's brought to you for assembly.

But, hey, not everyone lives in Texas nor has everyone lived in Texas at some point, so not everyone has the relatively same experience I have with fajitas. Or maybe I'm the one with the skewed sense of how meat's used in Tex-Mex dishes. Eh.

Would it surprise you then, Gentle Reader, that I didn't make fajitas from this recipe? That I didn't shred the chicken? That I really didn't do anything as indicated in the recipe?

I didn't think so. Here's what I did:

• Forget the potatoes. These aren't breakfast tacos!
  
• Forget seasoning the chicken with oil. After I cubed the two chicken breasts, I tossed them into a Ziplock, dumped in the tablespoon of cinnamon, sealed the bag, did my best impression of a Shake 'n Bake commercial and then tossed that puppy in the refrigerator for an hour-long chill.
  
• Forget baking anything. I cooked the chicken in the same skillet with the sauted onions and garlic.
  
• Forget cooking the onions and garlic at the same time. I tossed the onions in the skillet once the wee bit of canola oil was warm enough, sprinkled them with a little cumin and let them saute for a while before I added the garlic. Once it was fragrant, then I added the chicken. Once the chicken was cooked through, I add the peppers and lime juice, holding off on the juice until the last minute.
  
• Forget the jalapeños. While I do have a can of diced ones in my pantry, I already had an opened can of diced green chiles. Not wanting to potentially offend the boy's palate with a pepper with a little heat, I used the green chiles.
  
• Forget the tortillas. I served this concoction on a bed of jasmine rice.

A mouthwatering aroma filled the kitchen while I was preparing this dish, but the fragrance and flavor didn't really zing in the finished product. I could detect the cinnamon for sure, and there was a hint of lime, but neither one really popped. As for the peppers, I really sort of wasted them in this dish because they completely disappeared. For all the flavorful ingredients that go into its preparation, I found the dish sort of bland.

The husband, on the other hand, thought the meal was rather tasty. I think the boy liked it well enough. At least we didn't have to tussle over whether or not he was going to finish his serving, which is usually a sign that he finds a recipe enough to his liking.

I'm not sure how to "fix" this dish. More lime juice, perhaps adding it to the cinnamon in the bag for the marinade? I'd considered that but was afraid that the citrus would then overpower the cinnamon. More heat, such as from jalapeños? Maybe. Maybe not. I really don't have enough interest in this recipe to explore it further.