Quesadilla with Grilled Chicken and Jack Cheese

The Best Chicken Quesadilla

This Chicken Jack Quesadilla makes all the difference between what you’d get served at your favorite fast food joint or a dine in restaurant. Whether you choose to use an extra large burrito sized flour tortilla, like I do, or a small to medium, these quesadilla’s are packed with flavor. I use marinated grilled chicken, Monterrey and Colby Jack Cheese and, of course, my secret sauce; made from the Fire Roasted Salsa that I showed you how to make, last post. I’m talking about a thick creamy quesadilla that any good restaurant would dream of having on the menu.

Quesadilla Grilled Chicken

It’s very important to make the chicken as tender and as flavorful as possible, when making a restaurant style quesadilla. You can make it lean, if you want to, by using breast meat, if you prefer, but I highly recommend using chicken thighs, instead. In my experience, it makes tastier quesadilla’s. Just chicken thighs isn’t going to be enough, however. Adding a spicy marinade will take it to the next level, infuse the meat with flavor and insure tenderness. 30 minutes of soaking is all it’s going to take before you take it to the grill. Then an additional 20 minutes of cooking will add the smokey taste everyone loves from great barbecue. Just be sure the meat is cooked all of the way through and hits a core temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit.

Quesadilla Secret Sauce

The difference between a fast food quesadilla and a restaurant style quesadilla is huge. Fast food quesadillas just consist of cheese, meat (if you’re lucky),possibly some onions and/or green chili’s. There usually isn’t much bulk and generally made thin and small. A good restaurant, however, will serve up a large to extra large sized tortilla, packed with more ingredients than it can usually hold; grilled marinated chicken, 2 cheese’s and a secret sauce that makes it extra creamy when the cheese melts into it. My secret sauce consists of 3 ingredients: Sour Cream, Mayonnaise and my Fire Roasted Salsa.

Quesadilla Cheese

The cheese you choose will completely change the flavor of your Quesadilla and there are several winners. Cheddar, medium or sharp, and Jack Cheese are generally among my favorites. Queso asadero is the original cheese used to make Quesadillas but these are great alternatives. In this recipe, I like to use Monterey and Colby Jack Cheese together because it’s very crowd pleasing and not to spicy for my kids. If I’m making them for my wife and I, I’ll change out the Monterey and use Pepper Jack, instead, for a little kick. Some folks even spread cream cheese inside the tortilla but you use what you like.

Chicken Jack Quesadilla Ingredients:

6 Boneless Chicken Thighs
1 pkg Extra Large Tortilla’s
1 lbs Monterey Jack Cheese, grated
1 lbs Colby Jack Cheese, grated
1 Cube Butter, salted

Chicken Marinade
1/2 cup Water
2 tbsp Olive Oil
1 tbsp Cumin
1 tbsp Smoked Paprika
1 tsp Tumeric
1 tsp Mexican Oregano
1/2 tsp Garlic Powder
1/2 tsp Onion Powder
1/2 tsp Fish Sauce
1/4 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Black Pepper

Secret Sauce
1/2 cup Sour Cream
1/2 cup Mayonnaise
1/2 cup Fire Roasted Salsa

Follow the instructions in the video recipe to make this Chicken Jack Quesadilla.

Fire Roasted Salsa

Grilled, Broiled or Fire Roasted Salsa

I can honestly say that this Fire Roasted Salsa is amazing and it is, quite possibly, the best salsa I’ve ever tried. It starts with fresh Hot House Tomatoes, Yellow Onions, Green Bell, Anaheim and Jalapeno Peppers, cilantro, lime and a few other key ingredients. Although you can find recipes, similar to this one, all over the web, I seriously considered keeping this one all to my self. But I get too excited when I discover the secrets to authentic recipes. It makes me want to share it with everyone. So that’s what I’m going to do today.

Fire Roasted Salsa Preperation

To get the best results, and be sure that your Fire Roasted Salsa tastes amazing, there’s only one thing you need to do before you take the vegetables to the grill. Cut your onions in half. It isn’t going to matter if you peel them before or after they roast but it is important that those onion layers get exposed to the grill. Salsa gets a lot of great flavor from onions and they have memory, so adding that smoked flavor to the rings will insure that your salsa tastes amazing when you blend them, together, with the other ingredients.

Fire Roasted Salsa Grilling Technique

Whether you choose to grill, broil or roast your vegetables over an open pit, to make this Fire Roasted Salsa, the timing and flipping is simple. I average 25 to 30 minutes of roasting time, over medium heat(350 Fahrenheit), and I rotate and flip everything about every 5 minutes. Look for some good color on the under side and flip. It’s that easy. I tend to check the peppers first because they burn quicker than the tomatoes and onions. The onions I worry about the least. The tomatoes just need to be pulled off the grill before they pop and loose their juice to the grill. You should pay attention to where the hot spots are and rotate everything accordingly. Then remove them from the heat and let them rest for a half an hour or so, until they are cool enough to touch and handle with your hands. Remove the stems, peel the onions and add the other ingredients.

Fire Roasted Salsa Formula

I have a basic formula that you might find useful when you’re making Fire Roasted Salsa. For every large Tomato, I add 1 medium sized Onion, 1 Bell Pepper, 1 Anaheim Pepper, 1 Jalapeno and a few cloves of Garlic. It’s pointless making salsa on that small of a scale and that’s why I double that amount in the ingredients below. If you want it spicier, add more peppers, different kinds or use less tomato. It’s really not that difficult to trick up. But that should give you a better understanding of how to approach your own homemade salsa in the future.

How to Spice Up Fire Roasted Salsa

If the Peppers aren’t providing enough heat and flavor for your tastes, there are a few other ingredients you can add to your Fire Roasted Salsa and I’ve included them in this recipe. Cumin, Smoked Paprika and Mexican Oregano are definitely among my favorites. You can even add some Cayenne if you’re feeling froggy. Just be sure that you stay true to your tastes and be considerate of the pallets and less tolerant individuals, like children you may be serving, if they can’t handle spice.

Fire Roasted Salsa Ingredients:

2 Hot House Tomatoes, large
2 Onions,
1 Bell Pepper
1 Anaheim Pepper
1 Jalapeno
5 Garlic Cloves
1 lime, squeezed
1 bunch Cilantro
1 tbsp Oregano
1 tbsp Cumin
1 tbsp Smoked Paprika
1 tbsp Chicken Bouilion, Caldo con Sabor de Pollo(Knorr)
Salt and Pepper to taste

Roasted Bone Marrow

The Best Roasted Bone Marrow

If you’re a big fan of Roasted Bone Marrow, you’re in for a real treat because this dish can cost buku bucks in European and French restaurants. Doing it your self at home, however, can cost pennies on the dollar. So it’s well worth tucking some of that cash away, for a rainy day, and brushing up those skills in the kitchen. Not to mention, the flare and presentation of this dish is enough to impress anyone. So get comfortable and let me show you how it’s done.

Buying Bone Marrow

When you head off to the grocery store or to your local butcher, to buy Bone Marrow, you’re actually purchasing Beef or Lamb Bones(depending on where you live). For this recipe, I purchased Beef Bones but you can apply the same recipe and technique to Lamb if that’s what you’re using. I found that I can buy Beef Knuckle bones, frozen, at a fraction of the cost of the Long-shanks. The problem is, however, there isn’t as much bone marrow to be extracted and half of the bones didn’t have any to be removed at all. It’s better to buy these bones for Beef Bone Broth, which I will be showing you how to make in the next post. The Long-shanks were much meatier and had a lot more marrow to be extracted but the price difference between the two was tripled.

Cleaning Bone Marrow Bones

Bone Marrow is really easy to clean. In fact you don’t even have to do it if you want to just skip down to the next pic. No? Okay! Well, what you have to consider is that most butchers have a ton of meat to cut, literally, everyday. So, sometimes, the bones are left with a lot of scrap meat still attached to them. It’s not the worse thing in the world but it can be a little unsightly and scrappy looking if you’re serving this dish to someone you want to impress. All you have to do is tip the bones up on their ends, on a cutting board, and hack down the sides of the bone, scraping them clean. I highly recommend using a knife you don’t want to keep sharp because the bone will dull the blade, but it’s well worth doing if you like your bones clean.

The second Trick is soaking the bones in salt water. Most people recommend soaking them over night but the truth is, they’re usually clean in only 6 to 8 hours. You only need 1 teaspoon per cup of water and it doesn’t have to be an exact measurement, either, just close enough. I’m sure you’ll find that the bones look remarkable after a good soak and will appear to have been bleached.

Grilled Bone Marrow

You may have noticed that I Grilled these Roasted Bone Marrow Bones. They are just as easily prepared in the oven, if you prefer. I just like the flavor of the grill better for most meat recipes. Roasted Bone Marrow is a lot like butter or spread and if you think of it like unsalted or salted butter, you’ll know whether or not you should season your Marrow. Personally I think it’s practically flavorless without. But, because this recipe is best served on a baguette, I highly recommend that you try my Tomato and Basil Bruschetta or my Bruschetta with Roasted Peppers and Ricotta. Also, if the traditional salad topping, for the Bone Marrow, doesn’t sit well with you, I suggest you try my Chimichurri. Personally, I like it much better.

On a side note, like I mention in the video, Bone Marrow is often served with a shot of Whiskey. To make it fun, don’t just shoot the whiskey. Instead, after you’ve eaten the marrow, place one end of the bone in your mouth and hold the other end up, like a flute. Then poor the shot of whiskey into the middle of the high end, where the marrow use to be, and drink your shot.

Roasted Bone Marrow Ingredients:

1 French Baguette, sliced

8 to 10 lbs Beef Bones
2 qts Water
1/4 cup Salt

2 tbsp Olive
1 Lemon, squeezed
2 Green Onions, chopped
1 bunch Parsley, chopped
1 Garlic Clove, chopped
1 tsp Fish Sauce, optional
Salt and Pepper to taste

Grill or Roast Bones in the oven for 20 to 25 minutes at 375 degrees f.