Chicken Pineapple Quesadillas

Personally, I loved this meal. Mainly because the week that I made it I was craving pineapple! YUM! Dan on the other hand probably could have taken it or left it.

Chicken & Pineapple Quesadillas (www.budgetbytes.com) $7.28

Ingredients

• 1 lg. chicken breast (3/4 lb.)
• 1 (15 oz.) can pineapple chunks in juice
• 1 (15 oz.) can black beans
• 3 whole green onions
• ¼ bunch fresh cilantro
• ½ tsp cumin
• ¼ tsp red pepper flakes
• ¼ tsp salt
• 2 cups shredded mozzarella or monterrey jack
• 8 (8-inch, soft taco size) flour tortillas 

Cook the chicken in a countertop grill until golden brown on the outside and completely cooked through. If you dont have a grill, cut the chicken into 1-2 inch chunks and sauté in a skillet until golden brown on the outside and cooked through. Allow the chicken to cool slightly as you prepare the rest of the filling.

Drain the pineapple chunks well, then roughly chop the chunks into smaller pieces. Rinse and drain the black beans. Roughly chop the cilantro and slice the green onions. Combine the pineapple, black beans, cilantro, green onions, cumin, red pepper flakes, salt, and shredded cheese in a bowl. Stir to combine.

Once the chicken has cooled some, chop it into small chunks (no need to make neat or tidy shapes, just chop roughly). Add the chicken to the rest of the filling in the bowl and then stir to combine.

Place ½ cup of the quesadilla filling onto a tortilla and spread it out over half of the surface. Fold the tortilla in half and then cook it in a skillet over medium heat until golden brown and crispy on the bottom. Flip and cook on the second side in the same manner. Use oil or non-stick spray in the skillet as needed to keep the tortilla from sticking (I find that I dont need either when using a non-stick skillet).

 

Use a pizza slicer to cut the quesadilla into three wedges and serve hot.

Dan gave this a 4 out of 5 stars. I rated it delicious!

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Cherry Chutney

Is it dessert or is it a condiment?  After thoroughly enjoying it a little at a time over the last couple of days Im still not sure.  What I am positive about however is that it was easy to throw together, its tasty and very very interesting.

 Though Im not sure what the original recipe has in mind Im going to go along with the idea that this is mostly likely a dessert because Ive liked it a lot after dinner with a scoop of whiskey flavored ice cream on top.  The ice cream was an experiment that went wrong in the texture department as it froze but is still tasty enough on top of other things.  The sweetness of the ice cream gives the cherry and vinegar combination enough kick in the dessert direction.  Originally this recipe calls for some tangy cheese as a topping which sounds intriguing and would probably bring this back over into the condiment/side dish category.

Which ever way you do it this is a very unique treat.  I was lazy and used frozen cherries rather than pitting endless cherries for this recipe and I cant taste any downside to the laziness.  Im also cheap so rather than using a fresh vanilla bean I fished one out of my homemade vanilla and used part of that boozy goodness to make the chutney which I recommend.  But then I condone adding alcohol to most things. 

Cherry Chutney

3 cups (or 400 grams) red cherries, pits removed
3 cloves
1 tablespoon agave nectar
1 dried Szechuan pepper, crushed up a bit
3 tablespoons fruit vinegar (I used raspberry and fig vinegars from Vom Fass)
1 vanilla bean, scraped

In a medium size pot over medium heat mix cherries, cloves, agave nectar, Szechuan pepper.  Cover and let cook for 5-10 minutes or  until the cherries start to soften and turn into a jam like consistency. Add vinegar and reduce liquid for an additional 5-7 minutes. When the cherries are soft and look like a jam remove mixture from the heat, let it cool and serve in small bowls.  Serve topped with ice cream, whipped cream or some tart crumbly cheese.

Recipe adapted from one at the Citron and Vanille Blog.

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