I bought the Weber’s On The Grill iPad app recently with the intention of expanding my grilling expertise. Last week, I planned to make grilled chicken quesadillas, but because of the rain, it kept being postponed until I finally was able to uncover the grill on Saturday. The grill had been sitting out in the 90 degree sun all day, so it was already screaming hot, so I had some…ahem…temperature issues.
My red onions? Burned to a crisp in just a few minutes.
And the quesadillas? It took about two minutes for them to look like this…
…so I brought them to the table with some trepidation. As in, I grilled up some extra hot dogs just in case they were inedible.
Surprisingly, they turned out to be pretty tasty…especially if you ate around the burned parts and avoided the really char-broiled ones…
For my next trick, I will be attempting…Grilled Steak with Roasted Garlic Butter and Grilled Asparagus with Balsamic Syrup…stay tuned…and here’s the quesadilla recipe for any other brave souls…
Grilled Chicken and Red Onion Quesadillas:
Paste Ingredients:
- 2 large garlic cloves
- 1 jalapeno chile pepper, stem removed
- 1 cup tightly packed fresh cilantro leaves
- 3 tbsp EVOO
- 2 tbsp sherry vinegar (I used white wine vinegar, because I didn’t have any sherry vinegar)
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1/2 tsp dried oregano
- 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
Quesadilla Ingredients:
- 3 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
- 1 large red onion, cut crosswise into 1/2 inch slices (I don’t think mine were thick enough slices either)
- EVOO
- 2 cups grated Monterey Jack cheese (I used Colby Jack)
- 4 flour tortillas
- 1 cup salsa (get the good stuff)
Directions:
- In a food processor, mince the garlic and jalapeno. Add the remaining paste ingredients and pulse until smooth. Coat the chicken breasts, cover and refrigerate for 3-4 hours. (Mine sat for a few days)
- Fire up the grill.
- Lightly brush the onion slices with oil. Grill the chicken and onions over direct medium heat until the chicken is opaque in the center and the onions are tender. (I skipped over tender and went right to burned) Remove the chicken and onions and allow to cool. Cut the chicken into 1/8 inch slices and the onions into 1/4 inch pieces. (Just hack it up already!)
- Evenly divide the chicken, onions and cheese over half of each tortilla. Fold the empty half over the filling and create a half-circle. Grill over medium heat until well marked and the cheese has melted, 4 – 6 minutes, carefully turning once. (Yeah right…mine lasted a couple of minutes tops!) ALlow to cool a minute or two before cutting into wedges. Serve warm with the salsa.
From Weber’s Real Grilling by Jamie Purviance
