After our hamburger experiment with the Griddler earlier this month, we deemed the appliance worthy of further testing. Or, perhaps I should say I deemed the appliance worthy. For some reason, Mario seems inexplicably wary of it, although he is fully supportive of my experimentation. At any rate, I was looking for something quick and easy and, knowing Mario’s fondness for Mexican food, decided quesadillas would be perfect. The labor on these is heavy on the prep work, but once you have everything ready to go, they come together quickly.
8 8-inch flour tortillas
4 teaspoons butter, melted
1 cup cooked chicken, chopped
½ cup green onion, sliced
½ cup tomatoes, chopped
shredded cheese of your choice
guacamole
sour cream
salsa
Our first step was to cook the chicken, which we did by simply sautéing in a bit of butter with a pinch of kosher salt over medium-high heat for about 4 minutes a side.
While the chicken cooks, chop your tomato and onion and hold in prep bowls until you’re ready for assembly.
Pre-heat the Griddler to 350 in the closed griddle position.
Let the chicken cool until it’s comfortable to handle. Chop or shred and hold in a prep bowl along with your other ingredients.
To assemble:
Brush one side of the tortilla with a bit of melted butter.
Place buttered side down on your work surface and build your filling, placing it all to one side of the tortilla.
You will be cooking two tortillas at a time. Fold each tortilla in half and place on the bottom griddle plate.
Close the griddle and bake until cheese is melted and tortillas are light golden brown and crispy. For me, it was about 4 minutes, although I admit that I may not have fully mastered the temperature controls on the Griddler at this point, so just keep a close eye on things.
One way to tell when you’re getting close is that you might hear the sizzle of the melted cheese hitting the griddle plate. This is also a good place to note that you should try not to overfill your tortillas. I found that I was surprised by how little filling half of an 8-inch tortilla could take. Not that a little overflow is a terrible thing, but if you want your quesadillas to stay perfectly neat, err on the side of less filling.
I admit I did try an alternate method, where instead of filling one side and folding the tortilla in half, I filled the whole tortilla and laid another one directly on top. I’m not exactly sure why, but this method did not work as well.
You can hold your completed quesadillas in a warm oven (175-200) until you are finished making the whole batch.
Slice and serve with your choice of condiments. We only had sour cream and guacamole on hand for this first batch, and although Mario gave them very high praise, they’d probably be even yummier with a kick of spicy salsa.
