Chicken and Pepper Quesadillas

When it's hot, (and you don't want to heat up the kitchen), or you're pressed for time, (and everyone wants something to eat quickly), but you look in the refrigerator and realize that you don't have enough leftover chicken to feed 4 people, let alone 6 - then here's a quick and easy way to turn just a few ingredients into enough food for everyone.  And the best part is you can easily adapt this recipe for one person, two, four, six, or how many you need.  These directions will easily feed 6 people.

You will need:
1 medium Anaheim pepper
1/2 cup shredded Mexican style cheese
1 cup shredded cooked chicken
1 medium tomato
1 green onion
1 small handful of fresh cilantro
6 8-inch flour tortillas
butter
salt

Seed and finely chop the Anaheim pepper.

NOTE:  if you want, you can substitute one 4 ounce can of diced green chili peppers, (drained).  But fresh is better, as it adds more flavor.  Don't worry about heat, there will be no heat, since you are removing all the seeds, and also Anaheim peppers are very low on the heat scale.

Finely chop the green onion

Chop the tomato,  (if you want to also seed the tomato, that's fine).

Shred the chicken into small pieces.

Chop, or snip the cilantro into small pieces.

Note:  if you don't have, or don't like cilantro - you can substitute fresh oregano, fresh parsley, or even fresh basil.

 On one side only, very lightly butter the tortillas.

Very lightly sprinkle salt on the buttered side of the tortilla, (trust me - this really adds to the flavor of any quesadilla you make !).

Note:  I use fine sea salt, but you can also use regular salt.

On a griddle, (or in a large skillet), over medium heat - place the tortilla, buttered side down.

 Add a sprinkling of chicken on 1/2 of the tortilla.

Add a sprinkling of onion on top of the chicken.

Add a sprinkling of pepper on top

Add a sprinkling of cheese

Add a couple pieces of tomato and a sprinkling of cilantro.

Fold the top of the tortilla over the filling, and very gently press down.

 You will be able to cook 2 quesadillas together in the pan.

After 3 or 4 minutes, when the outside of the tortilla has lightly browned, flip the tortilla over, and cook another 3 or 4 minutes until the second side browns.  Then remove from skillet.  Repeat with remaining quesadillas.


If you are preparing a large number of quesadillas, place them on a baking sheet and keep them warm in the oven, preheated to 300 degrees, until all the quesadillas are done.

Cut the quesadilla in half.

I like to serve mine with a little salsa and sour cream.  Sometimes I will make some homemade guacamole to go with them.

And just that quick you have delicious chicken and pepper quesadillas.

If you want to make a meal, just add some homemade Spanish rice and some homemade refried beans.

You can add and delete items, to customize these to your family's taste.  So the next time, you want something quick, make up a quesadilla.

Enjoy !