Sunday Supper Memories
June 7, 2006
When I was a kid (a long, long time ago), we used to have Sunday dinner at around 2 p.m. Mom used to fix a roast or ham or fry a chicken. We’d have salad, vegetables and usually some type of pie for dessert. For dinner, better known as the Evening Meal, we’d have leftovers. That was what we did. The food was good, we played hard and all was well. Today, I want more. I want different BUT I also want quick. I want good BUT I also want easy. We live in New Mexico. Enter the quesadilla.
This past Sunday morning, we helped a friend move into her new house. We ate Sweet Hots for lunch along with a little Tecate and then we all went home and took a nap.
All at once it was 5 p.m. and my tummy and that of my spouse were calling for food. Since this is not my mother’s house, there had been no ham at 2 p.m. and no homemade cherry pie for dessert. However, I did have tortillas and cheese. BUT, it was Sunday. We needed something a bit special. As I stood in front of the refrigerator, I saw cheese, tortillas, a leftover piece of rib eye steak, several mushrooms, a shallot, a clove of garlic. My cooking gene began to percolate and here is what we had for Sunday supper.
The basic quesadilla is a tortilla filled with cheese, heated until the cheese melts. They are usually served with salsa, sour cream and guacamole. Great if you have 30 minutes to run home from the office and fix a “home-cooked” lunch. BUT QUESADILLAS ARE SO MUCH MORE….Here’s what I did with old fashioned leftovers.
First, I finely diced one clove of garlic, one shallot and 3-4 mushrooms. Then I took the remaining piece of rib eye and cut it into small, bite-size pieces. Then I heated 1-2 Tablespoons of olive oil with a smidge of butter for flavor and sautéed the garlic, shallot, mushrooms and steak just until the steak was heated through. I added salt and pepper to taste. Then I set this mix aside.
I preheated a 10 inch skillet, lightly buttered one side of an 8 inch tortilla, placed it in the skillet butter side down and while the tortilla was beginning to brown, I placed cheddar cheese slices on it, several Tablespoons of the steak mix, another and layer of cheese and then a second tortilla, also buttered on the outer side. When the cheese began to melt and the bottom of the tortilla was lightly browned (yes, I peeked), then I very carefully flipped the quesadilla, allowing the other side to also brown. Then I took a pizza cutter, cut the quesadilla into four pieces and served it with tossed green salad. (I’ll cover the hazards and hilarities of quesadilla flipping another time.)
June 7, 2006 at 2:01 pm
Speaking as the friend who is/was moving – the help was mucho appreciated! And, I was smart – I didn’t tell the menfolk about the beer until AFTER we were finished
If you don’t want to “flip” a quesadilla, you can also “simply” (ha) fold it over. My biggest problem is putting too many filling ingredients and it runs all over the pan. But, hey, it’s still gooey, wonderful cheese!