It's Pronounced "K-sah-dill-ahs"

Living alone and in Southern California, I learned very quickly that whole wheat tortilla shells are a necessary fixture in dinner-for-one "assemblage meals." I call them that because I rarely went to much trouble to cook anything, beyond the occasional George Foreman foray. So mostly I combined raw (or pre-cooked...shamefully) ingredients into something that closely resembled edible food. Quesadillas and their tortilla-based bretheren were a mainstay. Now that I live with the Boy and far away from the Mexican border, my assemblages have kind of faded to memory (much like laying out at the beach and wearing eyeliner).

But last night, like a soap opera character that died in a mysterious car crash but whose body was never recovered, quesadillas made a bold and startling reappearance. Startling because (a) I was expecting crab cakes and (b) because they were accompanied by Senor Pony Keg, who was certainly an unexpected visitor to our home on a Thursday evening (unlike the Brady-man who is a welcome and somewhat regular mid-week meal-time visitor). And bold because they were stuffed with chicken, mushrooms, bell pepper, cheese and tons of Adobo seasoning, then topped with a salsa fresca prepared by yo (because me is still me in Spanish).

The salsa fresca was really more of a pico de gallo, if you want to be technical about it. I get a perverse joy out of chopping things (maybe it's rhythmic noise, maybe it's the rote movement, maybe it's the danger of severing a finger), so I was happy to be on salsa duty. I chopped three tomatoes on the vine (which weren't quite ripe enough...see what happens when you leave boys in charge?) a small yellow onion, two jalapenos (remembering this time to remove almost all the seeds, no need for brave stoicism), and a handful of fresh cilantro. A little lime juice, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and cayenne and we're cooking with Crisco (as they say in the parlance of our parents' times).

Quesadillas don't take a graduate degree to make, but it helps. Basically you should make them with 2 quesadillas atop one another, rather than attempting the fold over. Fold overs don't work when you have as much stuff to stuff in as we did. And we learned butter works better to coat the pan than olive oil. Use a smaller omelette pan and make sure the tortilla on the bottom lies flat. Layer ingredients, then cheese, then top with the other tortilla, all on low heat. Use whatever spatula (or fancy pancake-flipping) technique you have to turn the puppy over and cook the other side. When done, slide gently out of the pan and cut into quarters. El Perfecto!