Oldie but Goodie: Chicken Quesadillas

I've written this up before but blogs are not meant to be read through so new readers may have missed it. One of our favorite ways of using up leftover chicken is to make chicken quesadillas.

The other night I roasted a chicken. As is often the case, I bought 2 or 3 when they were on sale and roasted one immediately and the froze the others. I pull out the innards when I get home from the grocery store and rub them with a dry spice rub, sometimes pour a marinade in, or just freeze them plain (although that's usually only if I'm in a hurry). I find it very convenient to pull out a "pre-rubbed" chicken, let it thaw, and just throw it in the oven one night with no prep work needed. One advantage of the dry tub is that you can use your vacuum sealer if you have one. Otherwise just use a gallon size freezer bag.

That's what I'd done a couple of nights ago. We nibbled on the leftovers for lunch yesterday and today I made chicken quesadillas to use up the rest. Even then I ended up with another lunch's worth of quesadillas for someone.

Chop up the chicken. If you like it spicy, sprinkle some chili powder, cumin, or what have you over it. You could also heat it up with some water and spices, which I do when we're making burritos. For quesadillas I usually leave it "dry."

Spread a flour tortilla with some butter and lay butter side down in your frying pan over medium heat. Sprinkle grated cheese and chopped chicken over it. Top with another tortilla, butter side up. Heat through, then flip over and cook till lightly browned.

Slice into wedges and serve with:

• salsa
• sour cream
• refried beans

We had sliced tomatoes as well, from the garden. Every dinner has sliced tomatoes these days.

Gratin of Swiss Chard

I had my youngest with me the day I bought seeds at the nursery and we came home with "Rainbow Swiss Chard." It's quite pretty to look at at, in the garden and on the plate. The stems range from red to yellow to orange. I grew Swiss chard because it's easy to grow and good for you. But we're a little tired of my plain cooked chard with lemon juice, which is pretty much all I've done. The other night I scoured some cookbooks and didn't see many ideas other than this gratin, which came out quite good. It was a bit "soupy" so I either didn't have enough chard in it or might need to just drain a bit of the sauce off the stems next time.

3 pounds Swiss chard
3 Tbs flour
3 cups water
2 Tbs lemon juice
salt to taste
2 Tbs butter
3 Tbs cream
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1/2 cup grated cheese

First, wash well if it's homegrown chard. There can be a lot of dirt clinging to the leaves.

Cut the stalks off the leaves and set the leaves aside. Cut the stalks into 1/2" pieces.

Whisk the flour into the water and bring to a boil. Add the stems, lemon juice, and a bit of salt. Cook for 20-30 minutes, until tender.

Bring a large pot of water to boil for the leaves. My leaves were quite large so I cut them in half before dropping them in the water. Cook them about 10-15 minutes, drain, and chop, then toss with butter and salt to taste.

Place stems and leaves into a shallow baking dish along with the cream. Mix the bread crumbs and cheese together, then sprinkle across the top. Bake at 425 for 15 minutes.

My Favorite Meat Sauce

I play around a bit with various meat sauces, browned ground beef then cooked with tomato sauce and herbs. I have to admit I don't think I've ever had a bad recipe. Maybe that's because I taste and adjust as I go if the recipe starts out wrong. In a generic recipe, I'll often add a bit of red wine, or some more herbs, or a pinch more sugar or salt depending... But here's one of my favorites:

1 pound ground beef or a mixture of ground beef, pork, and veal
1 chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tsp dried basil or 2 tsp fresh, chopped
1 tsp dried oregano or 2 tsp fresh, chopped
1/2 tsp dried savory
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 28 ounce can pureed tomatoes (if you like chunky sauce, use chopped or diced or tomatoes in puree)
1 8 ounce can tomato paste
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley or 1/8 cup dried

Brown the meat with the onion and garlic over medium, stirring and breaking up the clumps. Cook until the meat is no longer pink at all. Drain off the excess fat.

Note to beginning cooks: I always keep a rinsed out can under the sink to drain fat into. Do not pour excess grease or fat down your sink as it will harden and clog your drains. Bacon grease you can keep in the frig and cook with. I throw away everything else or sweeten the dog's dinner with a bit. If you really want to get rid of as much fat as possible, you can put your browned ground beef into a colander and then rinse it with hot water after draining off as much fat as possible.

Stir in the herbs (basil, oregano, savory, parsley, salt and pepper) and cook for another minute or so. Add the pureed tomatoes and stir, then cook 10 minutes or so, until it reaches the consistency you like.

Ah, here's another tip I figured out after cooking for a while. I think the hardest part of learning to cook a whole meal is the timing of everything. If you finish this meat sauce and mistimed the pasta or your vegetable, just keep this on very low heat and watch it. If it gets looking a little dry, add some red or white wine, some water, or some broth. It's pretty flexible. A little more cooking time won't hurt it and might even make it better.

Sauteed Fish with Butter and Capers

My kids asked me to cook sole for dinner the other night--"the way you did last time. That was really good." I couldn't remember what I'd done though. No problem, I thought. I'll go look it up on the blog. But it wasn't here! I've been remiss. So I hunted through my old cookbooks desperately and found the recipe. I try to write down the date when I try new recipes so that helped me narrow it down a bit. Here it is. It's from one of the first cookbooks I bought and still an old favorite, Let's Eat In: Quick and Delicious Weekday Meals. (I see it's available on Amazon for $3 used and that's a steal!) I find I always need more flour, butter, and oil so I'm using my adjusted amounts. I cook the sole, typically 3 or 4 pieces, in two batches so add half the butter and oil in the beginning and the other half for the second batch. I also like more capers.

1/2 cup flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 - 1/2 tsp pepper
1/4 cup milk
3-5 pieces sole (or other thin fish filets)
5 Tbs butter, divided
2 Tbs oil, divided
juice from half a lemon
2 Tbs chopped fresh parsley or 1 Tbs dried
2 tsp capers, drained

Put the flour, salt, and pepper in a pie pan or other flat dish and mix well. Put the milk in another.

Heat 1 Tbs oil and 1 Tbs butter in a frying pan over medium heat. Dip the fish into the milk, then into the flour, then lay it in the frying pan. Do as many pieces of fish as you can fit in your pan. Saute for 2 minutes per side, then remove to a serving dish. If you're doing it in batches, add more oil and butter for the second batch.

When you're done cooking the fish, add the other 2 Tbs butter and cook for a minute or two, stirring constantly, over medium heat until browned. Watch it carefully because you don't want to burn it. Stir in the parsley, lemon juice, and capers and heat for 10-15 seconds, then spoon over the fish.

This went fantastically with some couscous and corn on the cob.

Eating Out

Eating out is a treat for me. So I tend to order things I don't cook for the most part. I mean, if I wanted my own cooking I'd eat at home! But I hate it when I try a new place I've seen and the food is disappointing. I just found lunchSpark, where you can read and write reviews of your favorite (or not!) local restaurants. I've already seen reviews for places in my town that I'd like to try.