At the recent Fiery Foods and Barbecue show in Albuquerque, we made enough Santa Fe Chicken to serve 5000 guests. If this seems like a daunting task, well, you're right. When other vendors were opening bags of chips to serve with their salsa, we stuck to our philosophy that real food demands real cooking. If we're going to be in the specialty foods business, we'd better get cooking.

Where do hungry and busy families go between baseball and school when they're hungry? Sadly, it's fast food that permeates our lives. And soon, we're hooked on the fat laden meals controlling our lives. At New Mexico Chile Company, we strive to make quality cooking sauces that people, just like you, can use in an everyday meal. We bring the gourmet to meals and all you have to do is to bring the chicken to this dish!

This past month, three hundred pounds of chicken, thirty onions and fifteen bunches of cilantro went toward feeding our customers, but the results were impressive.

Many happy customers walked away with our green sauce and a new recipe. There's something magical that occurs when chicken meets green chile and cheese. The flavors blend, becoming one. The fierceness of green chile gives way to a more pronounced statement of flavor, allowing the protein to come forward. Each year we get hundreds of requests for the recipe. Some claim their kids have become addicted to the flavors and we figure it's a good thing. In the fast paced world of soccer, baseball and scouts, we're happy to manufacture and promote quality food products.

Like with all of our recipes, this gourmet meal can be accomplished in thirty minutes.

Santa Fe Chicken-serves 4

2 lbs. boneless chicken breasts or tenders cubed

1 cup chopped onion

2 cloves chopped garlic

3 tbsp canola oil

6 oz black sliced olives

4 oz shredded cheddar cheese

10 sprigs chopped cilantro or parsley (no stems)

16 oz. Coyote Trail Green Chile Sauce

In a large frying pan,add canola and saute chicken and onion over med heat Brown chicken well, (you can also grill the chicken and return it to the baking dish after) add garlic, drain (this is important or you'll make gravy) and transfer to a shallow baking dish.

Add Coyote Trail Green Chile Sauce and mix well. Top with cheese, olives, cilantro or parsley Bake @ 350 for fifteen minutes until chicken bubbles then remove and serve with beans, rice, tortillas and a salad.

Creme Fresh or sour cream is sometimes added as a topping. Ole!