Cuisine Diva

Quesadillas; Homemade Corn Turnovers

 

Two corn turnovers topped with mild, creamy green chile cheese sauce

Wow, I can't believe I actually made these all by myself yesterday. They aren't complicated, but are a bit time consuming. I could have used another set of hands, or a short order cook to help me out, but I did it all on my own. Besides making the turnovers with the pork filling, I also made a few with some leftover picadillo I made a few days ago.

 

Cooked, shredded pork

Prep Work
I made the filling and cheese sauce ahead of time. I actually thought I would wait until the next day to make the quesadillas, but decided to make them later that same day. I blew off my regular Wednesday night bike ride and run (BRICK workout) to stay home and make these delectable corn treats. It's a good thing they are so time consuming, otherwise I'd probably make them every week. And then I would weigh 1,000 pounds by the end of the year.

 

Jar of achiote paste, and small dish of achiote paste which has been blended with hot water

Mex Grocer
I got many of my ingredients from Mex Grocer including:

• Tortilla press
• Queso cotija
• Chipolte peppers in adobo sauce
• Achiote paste
• Masa harina

You should be able to find most of the ingredients at your grocery store or gourmet market.

 

Quesadilla filling: pork with spicy red chile sauce

Multiple Step Recipe
There are three items that need to get made, before you can begin putting the quesadillas together. The filling and sauce can be made in advance, and stored in the refrigerator until ready to use. To reheat the cheese sauce, I stirred in 2 tablespoons of chicken broth, and heated it up in the microwave for a few minutes. You could also reheat it in a small pan, placed over medium low heat, but that will take longer.

1. Filling - pork with spicy red chile sauce.
2. Sauce - mild green chile cheese sauce
3. Quesadilla dough

Pork with Spicy Red Chile Sauce
Queso cotija is a very salty, Mexican cheese which is a bit like feta. Use feta if you can't find queso cotija. Chipolte is a smoked jalapeno pepper, they can be found in most grocery stores, packed in small cans of a vinegar based sauce, AKA adobo sauce. Achiote paste is a combination of achiote seeds, vinegar, salt, garlic and spices. I bought achiote seeds before, they are hard as a rock, it's much easier to buy ready made paste.

I had some leftover pozole in the refrigerator. I strained out the pork, and shredded it with a fork. The pork was already well seasoned from when it was cooked in the pozole. You could use chopped, cooked chicken or cooked ground beef in place of the pork, if desired.

Ingredients for Pork with Red Chile Sauce

• 1 1/2 to 2 cups shredded pork
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1 chipolte in adobo sauce - minced
• 1 teaspoon achiote paste
• 1 tablespoon hot water
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1 teaspoon Spanish sweet paprika
• 1/2 cup crumbled queso cotija

Directions for Pork with Red Chile Sauce

1. Place the shredded pork into a mixing bowl.
2. Stir in the garlic and chipolte.
3. In a small cup, blend the achiote paste with the hot water. Stir the mixture into the pork.
4. Stir in the cumin, coriander, paprika and cheese.

Shredded, drained zucchini

Green Chile Cheese Sauce
The pork filling is quite spicy. The mild green chile cheese sauce is a nice compliment to the spicy filling. I have a HUGE Mexican oregano bush growing near my front door, which I can harvest a few stems from whenever I need it. Regular oregano can be substituted for the Mexican oregano if necessary. 

To prepare the zucchini, first I peeled it, then I grated it. Then I wrapped it up in a clean, kitchen towel and squeezed the excess moisture out of it.

 

Mild, green chile cheese sauce

Ingredients for Green Chile Cheese Sauce

• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 2 cups grated, drained zucchini
• 1/2 cup chopped green onions
• 1 tablespoon fresh, or 1 teaspoon dried Mexican oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 2/3 cup mild, green chile sauce
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1 cup shredded cheese such as Monterey jack, cheddar or Mexican cheese blend
• 1/4 cup chopped, fresh cilantro leaves

Directions for the Green Chile Cheese Sauce

1. Add the oil to a large frying pan placed over medium heat.
2. Add the zucchini and green onions to the pan, and cook for 5-7 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Stir in the oregano, salt and nutmeg.
4. In a small cup or bowl, whisk the cornstarch into the green chile sauce. Whisk the mixture into the frying pan of zucchini/green onions.
5. Whisk in the shredded cheese. Continue whisking the sauce, until all the cheese has melted and the sauce is thick and creamy.
6. Remove the pan from the heat, and whisk in the cilantro.

Ingredients for the quesadilla dough

Quesadilla Dough
There are two ways to make the quesadilla dough, either using the traditional ingredients, or using the modern ingredients. I used the modern method. Masa harina is a dried corn flour, which is specifically processed for use in tortillas and tamales. Do not substitute corn meal!

 

Quesadilla dough

Traditional Quesadilla Dough Ingredients

• 2 cups masa harina
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 7/8 cups warm water
• 2 tablespoons pork lard

Modern Quesadilla Dough Ingredients

• 2 cups masa harina
• 1 7/8 cups chicken broth
• 2 tablespoons margarine - melted

Quesadilla dough waiting to be pressed flat in the tortilla press

Directions for the Quesadilla Dough

1. Place the masa harina in a large mixing bowl.
2. Heat the chicken broth in the microwave, using a microwave safe container.
3. Slowly stir in the chicken broth and melted margarine into the masa harina using a large fork.
4. Form the dough into a ball, and knead a few times with your hands.
5. Set the dough aside for 15 to 20 minutes.

Place filling in center of flatted quesadilla

Assembling the Corn Turnovers

• 1 recipe filling
• 1 recipe sauce
• 1 recipe quesadilla dough
• Tortilla press
• Gallon size plastic freezer bag - cut in half
• Comal or large frying pan
• Vegetable oil

Fold corn turnover in half, sealing edges

Directions for Making Corn Turnovers

1. Place one half of the plastic freezer bag on the bottom of the tortilla press.
2. Place a 1 1/2 to 2 inch ball of quesadilla dough on the middle of the tortilla press.
3. Place the other half of the plastic bag on top of the quesadilla dough ball.
4. Press the dough flat.
5. Open the tortilla press, remove the top plastic bag.
6. Place 1 to 2 tablespoons of filling in the middle of the quesadilla.
7. Fold the bottom plastic bag in half, forming a turnover, or what I like to call, a giant Mexican ravioli.
8. Seal the edges of the turnover using your fingers, making sure not to rip/poke a hole in the dough.
9. Place 1-2 tablespoons vegetable oil in a large frying pan placed over medium to medium high heat.
10. Add 3-4 quesadillas to the pan and cook until lightly browned on both sides.
11. Place the cooked quesadillas onto a large serving platter.
12. Add additional oil to the pan if necessary, and continue making, filling, cooking the turnovers until all the filling and dough has been used.
13. Place 1-2 quesadillas on a small plate, and cover with the sauce.
14. EAT - EAT - EAT!!!!!

Pan fry homemade quesadillas

Vegetarian Quesadillas
My almost 14 year old daughter is a vegetarian. If I were to make the corn turnovers again, I would use vegetable broth instead of the chicken broth, so I could make a few quesadillas that she could eat. For the filling I might try heating up some soy crumbles, mixing them with taco seasoning and adding a bit of shredded cheddar or Mexican cheese blend. I think she still eats cheese, but I'll have to check to make sure she hasn't gone to the extreme of becoming vegan.

 

Platter of homemade quesadillas, AKA corn turnovers

Take care,
Lynn Smythe AKA the Cuisine Diva

Food & Culinary Equipment from Mex Grocer

Right now I'm on a Tex-Mex cooking kick. I have a copy of Daniel Hoyer's book Culinary Mexico; Authentic Recipes and Traditions (Gibbs Smith, 2005). When I first read through this book, for a review I wrote on Suite101, I was a bit mystified regarding some of the ingredients used. I did a search on chile peppers, and found a link to the Mex Grocer website.

I decided I wanted to try some of the recipes in the Culinary Mexico cookbook, so I placed an order with Mex Grocer.

Here's what I ordered:

Achiote paste - when using achiote seeds in recipes, many of them have you soak the seeds in vinegar or water, then grinding the softened seeds into a paste. I want to see if the achiote paste is as good as the from scratch method.

Achiote seeds - I've actually used achiote seeds in the past. Used for flavoring and coloring in many recipes. In case I don't like the pre-made achiote paste, I decided to also order some achiote seeds so I can make my own paste. I've also heated achiote seeds in a bit of vegetable oil to make a smokey, brick red cooking oil. The seeds are strained out and discarded, leaving a wonderful flavored oil which can then be used to stir fry meats and vegetables.

Hominy - corn kernels that have the outer hull removed. Not something I want to try making myself, as the kernels have to be soaked in either lime-water (calcium hydroxide) or lye-water (sodium hydroxide). I have 2 cans on order. I saw Guy Fieri, on Diners Drive-in and Dives, reviewing a restaurant featuring pozole. Pozole is a type of Mexican soup, which contains pork meat, chiles, onion, garlic, lots of spices and hominy AKA pozole.

Green chili sauce - I might try making my own sometime, but since I'm testing so many other Mexican recipes, I thought I'd buy a can of pre-made sauce.

Tomato/chicken bouillon - seems like an interesting ingredient. I might use it when making pozole.

 

Piloncillo - small, hard blocks of palm sugar. AKA panela or panocha. Used to flavor hot chocolate, coffee and desserts. Like a smokey version of brown sugar. The blocks must either be grated, or dissolved in water before using.

Dulce de leche - caramel sauce. You could make your own caramel sauce from evaporated milk, but I wanted to try the pre-made variety first. No reason to buy this other than it looks delicious. Just give me a spoon, and a bit of vanilla ice cream, and I'll be good to go!

100% pure Mexican vanilla extract - I use a ton of vanilla while baking.

Mexican sweet chocolate - 6 tablets. I'll use this to make mole sauce, if I'm brave enough to attempt that recipe. Or I can mix it with a bit of the piloncillo and milk to make Mexican hot chocolate. I also might try making champurrado sometime. Champurrado is Mexican hot chocolate thickened with masa and flavored with piloncillo and anise seeds.

Peppers in adobo sauce - for mole and lots of other recipes.

Queso cotija - described as either a bit like Parmesan cheese or feta cheese. A hard cheese, which is very salty and made from cow's milk.

Creamed corn - I want to make Mexican cornbread, you know, that creamy variety that gets baked in a pan, unlike firmer corn muffins. I could buy creamed corn at the grocery store, but I'm trying to use mostly authentic Mexican ingredients while on my Mexican cuisine binge.

Can of whole tomatillos - they look a bit like miniature, green tomatoes. I used to grow tomatillos in my garden, but I haven't had a garden in a couple of years. Not sure what I'll use them for, maybe a green chile sauce, or as part of a tamale stuffing. Hmmm, didn't I buy green chili sauce so I didn't have to make my own - whatever!

Wood spatula - like I need another kitchen utensil. This looks like a small paddle, pretty cool looking. I'm a sucker for interesting looking kitchen gear.

Molinillo - hollow wooden stirrer. For making authentic Mexican hot chocolate. Sort of like a whisk, used to make hot chocolate frothy. You place the molinillo at the bottom of the container that is being used to make the hot chocolate, then you rotate the molinillo between the palms of your hands until the hot chocolate turns frothy/foamy.

Chili - I've ordered both ground California molido chili and whole, dried chile negro. Lots of recipes, including mole and pozole, call for chile.

Tortilla press - cast iron press for making homemade tortillas.

Tortilla warmer - yes, one of those cheesy looking tortilla holders you get in restaurants anytime you order fajitas. But if I'm going to go to the trouble of making tortillas from scratch, I might as well get a warmer.

Tamale Lover's Kit - I freaking love tamales. If I'm going to be testing authentic Mexican recipes, then HELL yes, I'm going whole hog and learning how to make my own tamales. I also saw a Diner's Drive-ins and Dives episode where the featured diner made their own tamales. Not as complicated as I thought, time consuming yes, but not difficult. The tamale kit contains: corn husks, masa mix, tamale masa spreader and a 12 quart aluminum tamale steamer. BRING IT!   

Molcajete y Tejolote
I didn't buy a molcajete y tejolote - a traditional Mexican mortar and pestle. I have TONS of mortar and pestle sets, another hobby/passion of mine. A couple of years ago I purchased a large Thai granite mortar/pestle set, which is very similar to the Mexican variety. The Thai version is polished rather smooth on the inside, compared to the rougher surface of the molcajete. Used to grind chile peppers, herbs, spices and to make salsas and guacamole.

That's a molacajete y tejolote which is pictured on the cover of the Culinary Mexico cookbook, which is shown at the beginning of this blog post.

Comal
Comal are cast iron skillets, either round or oblong in shape, which are used to cook tortilla. My order was already getting pretty large, I thought the shipping charges on a cast iron skillet would be a bit high, so I didn't order a comal. I can use a large frying pan to make my tortilla, but I know I'm going to want to purchase a comal someday. Comal's can also go right in the oven since they are cast iron. If you've ever ordered fajitas, you've probably seem a comal, that hot, heavy, sizzling pan that is brought straight to your table.

What is your favorite Mexican/Latin American cooking utensil, ingredient or recipe? I'd love to hear about it.

Take care,
Lynn Smythe AKA the Cuisine Diva

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