Thursday 17 July 2014

The Big Quesadilla... Mess

gluten free quesadilla
Big Quesadilla
We're big fans of the good ole Quesadilla. There was a time when we'd make our own Tortillas for them, the only downside apart from more effort was that they were always a bit on the small side. In recent weeks we've discovered BFree, a brilliant gluten free brand from Ireland who make an amazing loaf (which I shall review next week if I can get my hands on one again) and lovely sized wraps that we used here in place of Tortillas. 

They make other stuff too but I haven't tried any of it yet.

The wraps are soft and flexible, no obvious gluten free-ness about them at all.

bfree wraps
Yet Another Great Find
I prepped as per usual to make Quesadillas, lots of sliced shallots and peppers, homemade Salsa (still have to share that one, maybe tomorrow). In this instance we were using home Smoked Chicken so that bit was already taken care of.

Now ordinarily we'd put the Quesadillas on the George Foreman grill but this was way too big so I had the idea of doing it in a frying pan. I just needed to melt the cheese and warm the wrap, easy right?

Grated Cheddar sprinkled on top of Sour Cream:

melted cheese wrap
Going To Be So Good
Then the homemade Salsa was spooned over:

quesadilla building
Looking Lovely
Then the final filling of Shallots, Pepper and Smoked Chicken:

gluten free quesadilla
HELLO
Then of course the second wrap was placed on top, no photo of that bit as it was quite boring looking.

When deciding to put the Quesadilla in the frying pan, how to turn it was raised. I was thinking a plate on top, turn the frying pan over then slide the Quesadilla back into the pan on the other side direct from the plate. The only round ceramic plates we have were too small, the only big round plates are pinicware and plastic. I didn't fancy having to deal with melted plate mess.

I didn't fancy having to deal with any mess.

So I decided we would use our splatter cover thing to turn the Quesadilla onto - just like using a plate - and then slide it back into the pan.

splatter cover
Said Splatter Thing
As you can see in the above photos, the Quesadilla was loaded pretty heavily with filling. It wasn't light. Do you see where I'm going with this?

The frying pan is pretty heavy too, I don't know what it's made of but it's non stick and would do a lot of damage if I chose to hit someone over the head with it - Not that I could, it's too heavy.

The splatter thing? Light and a bit flexible.

Are you picturing this?

So the bottom wrap had nicely browned and the Quesadilla is ready for the manoeuvre - it had been talked through and planned. I was confident that all would be fine, easy even. The Glutenite wasn't so sure because remember how I said I wouldn't be able to hit someone over the head with the frying pan? Yeah, I couldn't lift it to flip it over either, this was all on The Glutey.

He had every right to be concerned about my plan.

What happened next runs in slow motion through my mind. The splatter thing is placed on top of the pan and it doesn't fit right. The two handles which need to be held at the same time mean that the splatter thing is at an angle rather than flat. I think there was talk of changing tactics but it was either proceed ahead and hope - ridiculously - that it would all go swimmingly or risk a burnt Quesadilla bottom.

Ever the optimist I encourage the proceedings while The Glutenite is rightly questioning my plan.

With both hands holding both handles he flips the pan so the Quesadilla is now resting on the splatter thing. I'm quickly ushering him over a plate (an oval one) because the splatter thing is quite clearly not holding up to this overly ambitious request of strength I've bestowed upon it.

There was a big SPLAT.

Half the Quesadilla ended up on the plate and half on the kitchen counter. We both looked at each other in a 'WTF do we do NOW' way. I felt a bit bad.

We managed to rescue three quarters of the filling and slid it back into the pan to warm the other side but yes, a huge flipping mess all over the counter.

What did get saved was actually delicious it had just been a bit of a mare getting to that stage. 

I highly recommend the BFree wraps for Quesadillas, Fajitas all those lovely Mexican things you use Tortillas for. Plus just used as a wrap they're lovely, we've had a variety of fillings and they've all been yum.

What I don't recommend is trying to make Quesadillas with them like I did. That's not a good idea. On any level. Next time I plan on using just one wrap, filling it on one side then folding the other over, that should fit on the George. And if it doesn't I'll probably come up with another harebrained way to make big Quesadillas with lots of fillings. You'll no doubt hear all about that mess too.

It's too hot to write anything remotely good :(

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