When you’re a blogger, you live life in the fast lane, and never was that more apparent than earlier this week when my friend Laura and I made quesadillas on the faux Foreman grill. Yes, it was a glamorous affair, full of multiculturalism and Pam Cooking Spray, and being the dutiful blogger that I am, I’ve decided to share this admittedly A-List event with all you readers out there on the Internets.
So here’s the back story. With neither one of us having had dinner yet that night, Laura and I were getting quite hungry, but our third friend, Jenny, was en route with various snacks for a much hyped movie night (Stomp The Yard, natch). We didn’t want to engage in a full meal, lest Jenny’s snacks prove to be a meal unto themselves  in which case, we’d just nosh on those. But we didn’t want to eat just nothing in case the snacks weren’t sufficient enough to sate our monstrous appetites. As you can see, we were in a No Man’s Land of hunger. What could we eat? Sandwiches seemed too big, cereal too out-of-place, curry too heavy, and garden burgers too frou-frou. And that’s when I had an idea: how about quesadillas? Perfect! Not too filling, but certainly more satisfying than a light snack.
Of course, we faced a few limitations. First, the frozen corn tortillas I had were of low quality (leftovers from my taco experiments back in March). Second, the only cheese I had was a decidedly un-Mexican variety of brie. And third, Laura and I had never made quesadillas ever; so we were a bit like los ciegos leading los ciegos. Still, after having consulted with the Food Network website, we were resolved to make our corn-n-brie quesadillas to the best of our abilities. I manned the grill, Laura helmed the camera, and together, we embarked on an ethnic odyssey that was as exciting as it was educational.
Photos after the jump…
The fun begins as I thaw out some very frozen tortillas.
This is where the magic will happen.
The thawed tortillas prove to be curly and unwieldy, but they’ll have to do.
A restless moment of anticipation as the faux Foreman Grill pre-heats.
I get started on thawing two more tortillas. As you can tell, they’re small and not ideal for quesadillas.
Our main ingredients: brie and tortillas.
I do love me some brie.
I prep the cheese for impending meltage. With this sort of professionalism, it’s a surprise I haven’t been recruited for Top Chef, or at least Oprah.
The grilling begins. Per the recommendation of various recipes, we plan to grill each side of the tortillas, then add the cheese, and then fold each tortilla over.
Oh yeah, forgot to mention: I was also baking a chocolate cheesecake.
The grilling process continues to run smoothly.
Fearful that the tortillas will be both too small and too brittle for a fold-over, I test one out. It’s a near disaster (I made a small hole, despite by nimble handling of the situation).
The process enters its second stage as we add cheese to the quesadilla.
Due to their small size and brittle nature, we decide to merely layer two tortillas rather than fold each one over. It’s an on-the-fly adjustment, and we’re proud of our ability to improvise so adeptly.
Eventually, we get bored with this slow process; so we just close up the grill and accelerate the action.
The cheesecake, meanwhile, is now done and looks amazing.
Being the hungry chefs that we are, we check in on the quesadilla after about, oh, thirty seconds. Still not done.
When will it be ready?
COOK, DAMMIT!
I touch the quesadilla to gauge the meltedness of the cheese. Seems pretty mushy to me. Feels like this bad boy is ready!
A cross-section reveals appetizing promise!
Look at all that melted brie…
It’s hard to go wrong with that!
And the taste? Um… not quite right. The corn tortilla is grainy and undercooked, and as such, the flavors clash, as do the textures.
Sadness.
But there is a happy ending! We decided to make another quesadilla, but this time, rather than heating everything individually and what not, we just put the cheese in the tortillas and stuck the quesadilla in the closed grill for five minutes. The results were great! The tortilla was nice and crisp, not soft and grainy, and the cheese was perfectly melted. The flavors and textures worked in harmony, and we finally had the cheesy quesadilla experience we had been so eagerly looking for. Lesson learned: don’t over think it. Just let the grill do the work for you.
Oh, and the cheesecake was awesome too.
oh and where r the pics of the sliced cheesecake and u eating it loll??
What kind of snacks did Jenny bring?
Oh, B-Side. I wish you would have posted for help prior to attempting this. I am a quesidilla master, and the key is the tortillas. As I don’t live the LA life I don’t mind the flour tortilla. Corn has it’s day, but when you’re going to go for folded melty delights flour is the way to go.
Usually you are so good with making up names.. I’m surprised you aren’t calling it the George Fauxman Grill.
I love the stove (as you know) and now it produces yummy chocolate Cheesecake. D.I.E.
hb
I love the stove (as you know) and now it produces yummy chocolate Cheesecake. D.I.E.
hb
That cheesecake looks awesome. But I grew up in So Cal eating some of the best homemade Mexican food you can find, and I can’t get past the fact you put brie in a quesadilla. I’m sure it was good, but to me that’s like putting shrimp and spinnach in an enchilada. Again, probably delicious, but it just strikes me as wrong.
I have no idea why I just pushed back showering and getting ready to read that.
For some reason I am not disappointed…
I got halfway through the second paragraph and then had to get up and make me my own quesadilla. Thanks for the much needed and delicious dinner idea!
Very amusing, b but I must point out that cereal is NEVER out of place. I bet even her majesty the queen eats cereal.
That Harvest Gold oven must make anything you cook in it just that much more awesome.
Good job! Is that an iron on top of your refridgerator? Perhaps you could have used that instead?
hah.
there is so much wrong about your quesadilla attempts.
quesadilla making FAIL
how about this: queso=cheese in spanish. brie=french. they would call it a brie-a-dilla if the two were meant to go together.
It’s called FUSION.
“Oh yeah, forgot to mention: I was also baking a chocolate cheesecake.”
OMG, this made me cackle. Not sure why, but I guess it was the randomness of a cheesecake magically appearing in your oven.
Love your t-shirt.
Sorry B, I’m with Jash. Brieadillas not a great innovation. I am however interested in the chocolate cheesecake. And I can’t seem to suppress my inappropriate interest in the med alert bracelet.
Here’s my down and dirty way of making a quesadilla: I usually have flour tortilla, I just have defrosted in the fridge. Then take a stick of butter and butter one side of tortilla. Get the frying pan out and put it on medium heat. Toss the butter sided tortilla on the pan and then add grated cheese (my preference is pepper jack). Do the fold over and grill it like a grill cheese in the frying pan. It also helps to put the lid on the frying pan to keep the heat in. Cook till the cheese melts and there you have a nice quesadilla. I’m sure there’s a “more” authentic way to do it but it’s pretty quick… and I do have Trader Joe’s brie in fridge and tortillas in the freezer… hmmm…. did you steal out of my fridge?
Hmm, I can’t get past putting brie in a quesadilla, just sounds WRONG. But, now that you mention it…quesadillas are on the menu for lunch, hope I have some cheese in the fridge. Parmesan quesadilla sound even MORE wrong than brie ones.
Brieadilla IS wrong if only for the fact that it looks like “Bridezilla” and NO ONE wants THAT!
waaaay funny, i was just about to say that brieadilla looks like bridezilla–and thus something star jones would eat (she IS a lawyer and KNOWS the law).
however MY SISTER BEAT ME TO IT!
scary.
i just leave munching and eating cheesecakes, they are tasty and yummy*..
i’d love to munch those very big cheesecakes, they are really tasty and sweet.,,