Panini Press Quesadillas

When we bought our panini press we also picked up a small book called "Panini" from Williams-Sonoma. I've gotten a few good ideas out of it so far. Usually what will end up happening though is that i'll tweak whatever recipe I decide on so that it fits more closely with what we like to eat and what I did and didn't forget to get at the grocery store.

We eat a fair amount of chicken around here and finding new ways to use it is somewhat of a challenge. Karen and I both enjoy quesadillas, however, so I decided I'd give the recipe a shot as well as making a easy and delicious fresh tomato salsa to go along with it. Plus, it gave me a chance to play with the new Le Creuset grill pan I got from work.

Fits over one burner, pretty convenient.

Firstly, I seasoned the chicken breasts with a chili lime spice rub mixture. I could do with this particular spice rub being a bit hotter, but I like the flavor otherwise. This recipe would certainly work with a simple salt and pepper seasoning,or any taco or fajita seasoning you like. After the grill pan heated up I placed the chicken breasts on and smiled with relief that they barely fit.

I was a little nervous. Didn't know if there would be room for all three.

While the chicken was cooking, I began chopping away on all the vegetation that would be required for my salsa. There's no real recipe to it. I usually just chop up one to two medium tomatoes, 3-5 green onions, using the white and the green part after trimming the ends, 1-2 jalapeños, and approximately half of a white onion. When I'm making salsa for my family's events I will often add roasted red bell peppers. After that, some lime juice and salt to finish off. Sadly with this batch I got a little carried away with the lime juice. Oh well, it was still good.

The last little bit of prep to do was grating some nice Jack cheese to go inside the tortillas. Luckily for me I had a lovely assistant to capture action shots of the grating in progress. Exactly what this blog needed. Action. And shots?

ACTION!

The assembly was sort of unique, as the recipe called for you to spread a sour cream and green onion mixture on the tortillas along with the chicken and cheese. In the future i will most likely skip this part and opt to have any sour cream involvement be strictly limited to the outside of the quesadilla device. After a nice sear in the panini press to get those pretty grill lines, I did some quality control and it was so good I forgot to take a picture of the finished product until half-way through. Oops!

The finished product. Half of it, anyways.

I really enjoyed this meal and, even though tweaks were made and further tweaks likely required, will probably do it again. Maybe even with steak!

Super neat tip if you don't have a panini press: Get a clean new brick, wrap it in several layers of aluminum foil like you were wrapping a present, brush with melted butter. Prepare your sandwich or other device to be squished, place said device in a fry pan, heat, and apply brick. Cook until brown on one side, then flip and cook on other side. Easy machine-less pressed sandwiches!

Next week: What happens when Rob finds out that Whole Foods is only a mile away from work? Burgers, apparently.

-R