A Yank Take on Quesadillas

This past summer, when we were in Maine, my daughters and I visited a fascinating restaurant that had a variety of interesting globally-inspired, locally sourced dishes. By far, the best thing I tasted was the cheese quesadilla appetizer. Had I known how good it was, I'd have ordered two and skipped the main course. I also would have taken a photo so you could see what lives on in my memory.

I imagine the quality of the ingredients had something to do with the flavor, but what won me over was the cheese crust on the outside!

You know how when you make grilled cheese, you get the crispy parts where the cheese melted off the bread and toasted on its own? The entire crust of this was like that. I'm not entirely sure how they did it, but it was amazing - an entire cheese crust on the outside - and then there was the cheesy goodness inside.

I'd also had a veggie quesadilla recently that was okay (though it looked like it had been made with frozen veggies).

I decided I wanted to try to combine the two.

The result wasn't particularly pretty (my technique in crust-making left something to be desired), but it sure did taste good!

 First, I tried putting shredded cheese on the outside of the tortilla. Once it was melted, I flipped it to add the fillings - shredded pre-cooked chicken, veggies, and more cheese.

It didn't hold together well once I flipped it because I always tend to overfill with yummy fillings.

It's not a great photo, but you can get a bit of an idea about how the cheese crusted the outside.

Edited because I came up with a better plan.

After typing this up, I was hungry, but I had to take Fenway for a walk. SO, as we walked, I pondered how to improve on it.

Problem #1 was overstuffing. Not necessarily a problem if you prefer taste over appearance.

so - just cheese and chicken this time

Problem #2 was the cheese not spreading well.

Solution - I put the tortilla in the pan and put the cheese on top to melt at low heat. Once the cheese was melted, I flipped it for the crustiness. Then I put in the cheese and chicken.

For the top part, I decided to experiment with melting the cheese in the microwave. That was still pretty good, but not as good as the first way.

Then I tried the pan solution, but folding it over. I think that worked best.

Photographic evidence:

So, what do you think? Would you like a Yank Quesadilla?

When the ingredients fail

Did you ever have one of those days where nothing about a recipe went right?

I had one of those days the other day, but the result was so delicious that I decided to share.

I was out walking Fenway and was craving tomatoes and cheese, but I needed something healthier that pizza (again!). I'd bought some zucchini and heirloom tomatoes at the farmers' market, so I figured I'd cook them and some chicken breasts and serve it with pasta.

Except when I took out the zucchini, it had shriveled up to nothing.

And one of the tomatoes had turned totally black.

But the chicken was already cooking when I noticed this. (There goes the pizza excuse.)

Hmmmmmm.

I grabbed a bag of frozen green beans from the freezer and dumped them in the pan with a healthy helping of my favorite freeze-dried garlic.

Then I put on water for the angel hair pasta.

At the last minute, I chopped and added the other tomato - a tiny one so you'll note there's not much red).

I chopped the chicken and tossed that in as well. Somewhere along the line I'd added some olive oil.

Once I cooked the angel hair, I added some mozzarella and then poured the garlicky veggies on top.

It was delicious!

I may also have poured in way too many green beans for one person, so I had tons of leftovers.

The next night, I cooked some potatoes in garlic water, smashed them, slathered in butter, and poured the heated leftovers on top.

This was even better than with the pasta and cheese!

The moral of the story - if there has to be one - is, as my mother would say, necessity is the mother of invention - and sometimes it even tastes good!

Have you ever started out with one meal in mind and ended up with something totally different?