Thursday, March 28, 2013

From Erik's Kitchen: Quesadilla Tips

So, the blogging software has been a bit twitchy lately, so today's post will be short and brief.

I'm going to explain how I make great quesadillas

My quesadillas are simple to make and quite delicious.  Here's the breakdown.

Grill one chicken breast to where it's fully cooked but still moist.  I always use a thermometer to temp one out to 165.  I also usually butterfly it since it'll be cut into tiny strips later anyway.

Take two flour tortillas that will fit into a skillet with a lid.  Slice jack cheese to cover one tortilla.  Shred the chicken breast and scatter the meat over the cheese.  Sometimes, I add pickled jalapeno slices for a milder kick of spice, but my usual accompaniment will follow.

Put other tortilla on top of filling.

Pour just enough cooking oil into the skillet to coat the bottom after you swish it around some.  You don't want to deep fry the tortilla.  Turn on the heat, wait until you see the oil is close to its smoke point.

Carefully lift up your quesadilla and lower it into the pan.  You should hear sizzling.  Put the lid over the whole thing.

Wait a few minutes, then use a large spatula to slide the quesadilla onto a plate.  Put another plate face down on top, press the plates together, flip the quesadilla onto the other plate.

Add more oil if necessary, wait for it to be hot again, and then slide the quesadilla back in the pan, cover.

Once the cheese is fully melted, slide it onto a cutting board.

THIS IS IMPORTANT.  DO NOT IMMEDIATELY CUT THE QUESADILLA.  You'll have molten cheese leaking out everywhere.  Give it a moment to congeal, then slice it into pizza-like slices.  In fact, a pizza cutter works great for this.

Serve with Alton Brown's guacamole recipe which you hopefully already made because you read through the recipe before you did anything.  Right?  RIGHT?

Good job.  Enjoy your quesadilla.

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