This is my ultimate "Go-To" recipe. Quesadillas are the top of the rotation list. When I moved to New England from Texas one of the things I missed most was good Tex Mex food. The first few years I was here everyone I met would insist on dragging me to all the "great Mexican places" in the greater Boston area. It became uncomfortable for all involved. My friends would be so excited and proud to bring me to a great restaurant only for me to be disappointed and horrified at what these restaurants call Mexican food. I realized my friends, who I feel are smart people with good taste, had no idea what good Mexican food was. There is a restaurant up here that combines Cajun and Tex Mex. You get dirty rice with your enchiladas. It is so wrong and no one up here knows it is wrong. This became all too much for me to handle, so I finally gave up, stopped trying the "great new Mexican places" and started cooking my own Tex Mex. I made quesadillas a few times for friends and now it is all people want me to make. I get bored with my original recipe so I change it up often with whatever is in the fridge. The best was a lobster quesadilla with Havarti cheese and corn. Yum! We made them last summer on the last day of our Cape vacation, it was all the stuff we were going to throw out of the fridge before giving up the rental. I just started playing with the Chipotle peppers and have been loving them! I entered the Mixing Bowl contests with this Chipotle recipe, the peppers are a great addition to my basic quesadilla.
Variations:
Remove the chipotle, add any of the following: fresh cilantro, red bell peppers, corn, black beans, and use any kind of cheese you like. I often use cheddar. I have made veggie quesadillas with mozzarella cheese and fresh summer squash. You can really put anything between two tortillas and as long as there is enough cheese to hold it together, it is a quesadilla. Clean out the fridge!
Chipotle Chicken Quesadillas
Ingredients: 1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium onion roughly chopped
1 4oz can diced green chilies
2 boneless chicken breast cut into bite size pieces
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin powder
1 tablespoon chipolte peppers in adobo sauce
8 oz shredded Monterrey jack cheese
salt and cayenne pepper to taste
8 medium four tortillas
1-3 tablespoons olive oil for grilling
Directions:
Heat one tablespoon of olive oil in a skillet, add onions and chilies, cook until the onions are soft. Add chicken and brown the chicken with the onions and chilies. Add chili powder, cumin and chipotle pepper in the last few minutes of cooking. Salt and pepper to taste. Remove skillet from heat.
On large work surface, place 4 flout tortillas and evenly divide the chicken mixture over the 4 tortillas. Spread the chicken evenly over each tortilla. Top chicken with shredded Monterrey jack cheese and top with a tortilla. Heat a large flat skillet with oil. Place one quesadilla at a time on the hot skillet, grill 2-3 minutes each side till golden brown and the cheese inside is melted to seal the quesadillas. Slice into 4 quarters with a pizza cutter, serve warm with a side of sour cream and salsa.
This is a really unappealing picture of my beautiful quesadillas. I'll have to take a better picture next time I make them.
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