Survival Sunday 236: Quesadilla Madness

It's crunchy, it's cheesy, it's easy, it's a quesadilla!

My mother was awesome and made a whole roasted chicken last week, which meant that I had access to leftover chicken. Since we also had leftover veggies from burger-making on Labor Day (well, the day before, but close enough), I decided to use the onions, tomato, and peppers to make up a delicious chicken quesadilla.

Everything you need for a quesadilla. Except oil. I couldn't fit the oil in the shot.

First things first, prep your veggies! I fried mine up with a little pepper (since I couldn't find any of the taco spices I thought we had but didn't).

The way you know they're done is if they smell really good and they're softer than when you started!

Next, you want to pick your chicken apart into bite-sized pieces or shred it, depending on your preference. Some folks prefer to cube their chicken before they add it to their quesadilla. That sounds like more work than I'm into.

Also, I like the control of hand-separation. It means less veins.

Next, you re-oil your pan so that nothing sticks and put down your first taco shell/burrito shell/tortilla. I like to let my tortilla toast a tiny bit before I put the veggies and cheese down. I strongly suggest using a Mexican cheese like queso fresco or a fun cheese like jack, but we only had cheddar, so that's what I did. I also suggest putting a thin layer of cheese between your veg and your shell so that it anchors the veggies and chicken to the first shell. I didn't do this.

It still looks pretty darn good, though, doesn't it?

Next you level things off with your spatula. After things are relatively flat, you want to plop your second shell/tortilla on top and prepare to flip. This is the most annoying part. I always botch something. This time, some of the filling escaped and started burning, despite my having the pan on low heat.

It still looked delicious, though.

Once you're pretty sure the second side is toasted and your cheese has melted, you can flip your quesadilla onto a plate! This part is usually much easier due to the cheese holding things together.

Lovely!

The final steps are cutting and garnishing. Obviously, you can eat whatever you like with your quesadilla, but I like to have some salsa and sour cream. If I can get some, I also like to add a layer of refried beans inside the quesadilla to help hold things together, but that's before I cook the thing, so... doesn't count. I also like to have some sort of salad with it, but like the salsa and sour cream, we didn't have any. I had to mangle the quesadilla with a pizza cutter (use one hand to hold your food still while you cut with the other and it'll come out fine!) only to consume it nude.

The quesadilla was nude. Not me.

Even naked, though, this combination was delightful!

Since it was a day where I had some free time, I was able to take a video of this adventure:

I hope today's blog was as fun for you guys to check out as it was to make :)

Go Enjoy Something!
FC