Page 20 of Sex On A Plate

CRISPY CHICKEN QUESADILLA

DIFFICULTY: It’s a fucking quesadilla.

TIME: Ten minutes.

What you’ll need from the cupboard: A skillet and a wide spatula.

What you’ll need from the pantry: Mission Carb Balance Flour Tortillas, oil, cheese, and chicken. For the condiments, I like to use sour cream and salsa.

* * *

This one is easy, but it tastes like it’s not. Great for a quick meal, an appetizer, or as a side dish to your (now) favorite Pork Chili Verde.

As far as the chicken goes, we typically use leftover shredded chicken. Assuming you’ll have that available, we’re off to a great start.

If you don’t. I’ll provide 2 ways to cook chicken.

Manner number one. Preheat oven to 375.

Cover the outside of split breasts with oil (I prefer Olive Oil).

Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and a little garlic powder. Bake on a cookie sheet, skin side up, for 50 minutes. If you’re weird about chicken (my wife is), poke it with a thermometer and make sure it’s 165 degrees F.

Believe me, at 50 minutes it’ll be fine.

Let the chicken sit for 10 minutes. Peel off the crispy skin. When no one is watching, eat the skin.

Using two forks, remove the chicken from the bone and shred it. Use this chicken in the quesadillas.

OR.

Add half an inch or so of chicken broth to your Insta-Pot. If you don’t have an Insta-Pot, go buy one.

Season the chicken breasts as detailed above.

Add the chicken to the Insta-Pot

Using the “Poulty” setting, cook the chicken on high for 10 minutes. Wait 5 minutes, and then do a “Quick Release” of the steam.

Shred the chicken.

Use this chicken for the quesadillas.

Now, back to cooking.

First, make sure the skillet you’ve chosen is at least large enough for one of the tortillas to be placed inside without curling up the edges.

If it is, add enough oil to the skillet to get the job done. If it isn’t, get a bigger skillet.

As far as oil goes, you don’t want the tortilla to be swimming in oil, nor do you want to be lean on the oil. An initial oil spot the size of half a dollar bill is about right.

Heat oil to medium high. While it’s coming to temp, get all your ingredients ready. When you’re sure it’s medium high, toss in a tortilla. Quickly sprinkle the tortilla with a liberal amount of cheese (shredded cheese of choice, enough to cover the tortilla).

Add however much chicken meat you like, but don’t cover the entire thing with chicken. Just sprinkle it about. Cover this mess with another tortilla. On top of the newly added tortilla, add cheese (I also add a little salsa here, too).

Then, top off the cheese with tortilla number three.

Yes, this is a three-tortilla operation. One for crunch on the bottom, one for crunch on the top, and one in the middle for a soft little bit of complexity. It’s divine, as far as quesadillas go.