Cooking with Pat & Deb-Quesadillas & Tostones

On the menu tonight was Chicken Quesadillas with Tostones.
Preparing the Quesadillas
We find that we really enjoy the flavour of the chicken if we marinate it in some fresh lime juice, olive oil, cilantro and fajita spices.  Let the meat marinate for at least 1/2 hour.  In the meantime chop up some onion and bell peppers and prepare some Monterrey Jack cheese.  Usually we would shred the cheese however, since I sold my grater on Saturday we had to make do with thinly slicing the cheese.

Next you want to heat some oil in a fry pan and then saute the onion and bell pepper.  Fry for about 4-5 minutes and then add the marinated chicken.  Continue frying until the chicken is cooked through.  When almost finished, sprinkle with a little salt for seasoning.

Prepare your tortillas by placing the Monterrey Jack cheese on one half.  Spoon some of the meat mixture on the other half of the tortilla and fold the cheese half on top of the meat.  You will see from the picture that we used flour tortillas, however, we prefer to use corn tortillas when available which isn't very often here in Halifax.

Place your Quesadillas into a preheated 350 degree oven and bake for about 5 minutes.

While the Quesadillas are being prepared you need to be preparing the Tostones - that's where Pat comes into the picture.  We prefer to use plantains that are on the green side.  Remove the skin and slice the plantain into 1/2" pieces.  Place in very hot oil to fry.  Turn the plantain when the bottom is brown. 

When both sides have turned a nice golden brown colour remove them from the oil and place them on a clean surface.  Take a flat surface and squash the pieces of plantain.

Return the plantain to the frying pan to finish cooking.  When nice and brown remove from the oil and toss in paper towel to remove as much oil as possible.  Sprinkle with salt while still hot.

Here is the finished product - yumm!

It vanished in minutes!