Did you stand by me?

Many of you know, by now, that I hate useless gadgets. I hate having flash-in-the-pan (no pun intended) utensils and kitchen accessories laying in wait for their specialized use. I have come to not only understand, but firmly believe that all you need is a good Hard Anodized Saute Pan, a really sharp chef's knife, and a few wooden spoons to have a complete kitchen.

But damn if I don't love a good Quesadilla... And I only mention this because Kerrie -and by association: Me- owns a Foreman Grill. Or something very close to the Foreman design. Doesn't really matter. What matters is, I love a good Quesadilla. See where I'm going with this?

In my travels -which haven't been very far- I've developed the perfect Quesadilla recipe and now have the perfect method for cooking it.

This guy I work with- he loves frying tortillas in a pan, adding meat, veggies and cheese, then baking them off for a few minutes in a convection oven. Not very practical when you see all the steps performed and time lost. Plus his ghetto-assed "sauce" sucks.

Moving on, anyone who has gone to college or lived in a college town knows, loves, and hates Taco Bell; scourge of Mexican Inspired cooking. Nonetheless, they have a procedure and they make it work. A lot can be learned from their process, and thus starts us on our little adventure.

The Perfect Quesadilla

Marinade
1/4 Cup Lime Juice
1 T Soy Sauce
1 T Molasses
1 T Chopped Cilantro
2 Cloves crushed, minced Garlic
1/2 t ground Cumin
1/2 t Chili Powder
1/2 t Black Pepper
1 t Kosher Salt

Quesadilla Sauce
1/4 Cup Mayonnaise
2 t minced Jalapenos
2 t Lime Juice
3/4 t Sugar
1/2 t ground Cumin
1/2 t Chili Powder
1/8 t Cayenne Pepper
1/8 t Garlic Powder
1 Dash Kosher Salt

The Rest of it
6" Tortilla Wraps
Shredded Cheese of your liking
Sliced Rib Eye, Sirloin, Flat Iron or Flank Steak

First, slice the meat into thin strips and set into a 1 Gallon Zip-Loc bag.
Next, combine all marinade ingredients in a bowl and whip until thoroughly mixed. Pour over meat and seal bag. Marinate in refridgerator overnight.
For the sauce, place all the ingredients into a food processor and pulse until completely mixed. (I used a mini processor for this. They are cheap and indispensable items for making small portions.) Pour the sauce into a squirt-bottle and refridgerate overnight. (The flavors develop quite a bit over those 24 hours.)

When ready to make your Quesadilla, fire up your counter-top grill. Once the "grill" is heated, quickly sear off all the meat until it is just cooked through. Place all the meat in a bowl and set aside. Next, spread the quesadilla sauce on one tortilla and lay it on the grill. Put down as much meat, then cheese as you like per portion on the prepared tortilla. Spread more sauce on another tortilla and place, sauce side down, on top of the quesadilla. Put down the lid and grill the Quesadilla just until the cheese is melted and the tortillas have some nice grill marks on them.

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And that's that. I never thought I would applaud such a device, yet it is extremely useful for making these quesadillas and - I suspect - pannini sandwiches. Hmmph. There ya go.





quesadillagroove:
The Clash - Train in Vain
Screamin' Cheeta Wheelies - Right Place, Wrong Time
Johnny Cash - The Man Comes Around
Andrew WK - It's Time To Party