Recipe Of The Day: Cheese And Sausage Quesadilla From Chef James Tahhan

Of all the Mexican main dishes, a quesadilla is perhaps the easiest item to make really quickly. Since it only requires few ingredients and just requires assembling and heating, it can be made fresh and efficiently. But if a plain ole' cheese quesadilla is not your thing, then this recipe of a cheese and sausage quesadilla by Chef James Tahhan is the real deal. Sure, it requires more than just tortilla and cheese, but the extra ingredients give the dish an extra kick that makes it worth the investment.

The recipe calls for: 1 onion, 2 Mexican chorizo, 1 jalapeno chili, 2 cloves of garlic, 1 teaspoon cumin, 1 chili powder cucharadito, 1 teaspoon oregano, 4 ten-inch flour tortillas, 1 cup Mexican cheese and 1/2 cup shredded pepperjack. In a pan, drizzle of olive oil and begin to sauté the diced sausage. Once the sausage has browned, remove it. Start cooking the remaining ingredients--vegetables, onion, garlic, jalapeno--and add the spices. Cook until all the ingredients are thoroughly mixed and then add the sausage to the pan. In a separate pan, add 1/2 teaspoon olive oil and lightly brown the tortillas. While the tortillas are in the pan, add a small handful of pepperjack cheese and add two to three tablespoons of the vegetable-sausage filling. Evenly distribute the cheese and filling across the surface of the tortilla. Add another small handful of Mexican cheese and add a tortilla layer on top. Using a spatula, flip the quesadilla over and cook the other side.

While making quesadillas are easy, there are some common mistakes people make. For instance, always use flour tortillas as they help bind the cheese and filling together. Another popular tortilla (corn-based tortilla) is often used in Mexican cuisine but it doesn't make a good quesadilla. It's important to note that flour tortillas absorb a lot of oil, so be careful with how much oil you use to line the pan. And speaking of the pan, cooking quesadillas on high heat is a mistake since flour tortillas burn easy. Another tip: It's easier to flip a half-circle quesadilla that you make with one tortilla than a two-tortilla full circle quesadilla. Lastly, if you're making quesadillas for a party or several of them, use a pancake girdle to cook them all at the same time.