Being from California, I need to have an occasional Mexican food fix. One kind of Mexican food that is just about the easiest to throw together is a quesadilla. I can’t make them as good as in California, because the store-bought tortillas (with apologies to Richard Rodriguez) here are frozen, and the grated cheese here is of a fairly generic variety. So we get by with what we have.

Anyway here goes. The bigger the pan, the more you can cook at the same time. I have a great iron skillet I bought more than 30 years ago at a Sears (10 bucks!), so I usually make two at a time. I always turn the heat up to high first while I get the other things out of the fridge. By the time anything hits the pan, it is getting warmed up.

I get my flour tortillas from one of two places: A-Price near the Jietai (Self-Defense Force) base or Premier Cru. A-Price is kind of a restaurant supply shop that has some bulk items and a variety of things for the kitchen that you might not be able to find other places. Premier Cru is an imported food and spirits shop that is small, but it packs a lot of stuff in there. I peel off two of the tortillas and put the inside side down. Don’t laugh. Each side of these tortillas looks different; I save the more attractive side (it usually has some nice brown spots on it) for the outside.

As the pan heats up, I turn down the heat. This takes a bit of practice. There’s a balance between scorching your quesadillas and waiting forever for the cheese to melt and the tortilla to heat up. I don’t leave it on this one side long, just enough to get the tortilla softened and warmed a bit. Flip it/them over and cover 1/2 with your favorite grated cheese (I get the 1 kg. bags at A-Price).

Then I add some hot sauce. I’ve become a major fan of the Marie Sharp’s Fiery Hot sauce. Great stuff!

My preference is to go full steam ahead with the cheese quesadilla. The other Viajeros like a slice or two of something meaty (I can be persuaded to join in when there’s some leftover taco meat… ) If you want something else in there, by all means add it in. I will say, though, that the more you add in, the more you need to flip the ‘dilla and reduce the heat. When I have a pile of leftovers from, say, chicken tacos the night before, I’ll add some chicken, homemade salsa, sour cream, tomatoes, and a bit of lettuce for some crunch. I’ll use the burrito-sized tortillas from Costo (in Fukuoka) and make a real meal out of it.

I have to say that it’s best to work quickly at this quesadilla-filling stage, so the tortillas don’t burn. The trick is to get it all in there, so the heat is working on that cheese and the other ingredients. As long as the quesadilla is still open, it’s at risk. You have been warned.

Once it’s all together, I turn the heat most or all of the way down. Then it’s all a matter of flipping every 30-60 seconds. Hotter pan, more frequent flipping. Cooler pan, have a sip of coffee while you watch the moisture evaporate from your tortillas. I don’t use a spatula for any of this. It’s finger food, so I use my (clean) hands. It’s okay to peek inside if you want to check. It’s done when it’s the color and consistency you want AND the cheese is melted. If the cheese still has the same look as when it went in, it’s not ready yet. Hint: this one is NOT ready yet:

I’ll add some shots of the stuff I can get here in Kyushu to make this all work.