Thursday, May 21, 2009

Chicken Quiche-adilla



Terry, my carpool buddy, is always bringing delicious food to work for us to sample. Last Monday he brought two quiches: chicken quesadilla and bacon arugula. While the bacon arugula was tasty, the chicken quiche-adilla, as I renamed it, was wonderful. The jalepenos provided just the right amount of heat, and the rotisserie chicken stayed tender and flavorful. I generally like quiche, but sometimes it just seems like you might as well have eaten scrambled eggs because it's so eggy. Not so with this one. Jason said it reminded him of a pot pie, one of his favorite foods, and I was glad of that because maybe now I won't have to make him pot pies, which are way more time-consuming than this. Or maybe I'll start making my pot pies with a tortilla crust too. Enamored with the success of creating pies inspired by other food items, Jason has requested a Tater Tot Pot Pie. But I'm not sure about that. Not everything can be baked into a pie. Or maybe it can.

Terry said the recipe was probably from Cooks Illustrated, but Jason found it at grouprecipes.com, where it goes by the (boring) name of Chicken and Cheese Quesadilla Pie.

Chicken Quiche-adilla
  • 1(10") flour tortilla,burrito size
  • 1 rotisserie chicken, skin discarded, meat shredded in bite size pieces (about 3 cups)
  • /2c finely chopped fresh cilantro
  • 1/3 cup drained, jarred pickled jalapenos,chopped
  • 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
  • salt and pepper
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 cup whole milk
  • 1 cup flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 450. Grease 9" pie plate. Press tortilla into prepared pan and spray lightly with cooking spray.Toss chicken, cilantro, jalapenos, 1 cup cheese, 1/2 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp pepper in large bowl till combined. Spoon over tortilla.
  2. Whisk eggs, milk, flour, baking powder and 1/2tsp salt in bowl until smooth. Slowly pour over filling, then sprinkle with remaining cheese. Bake until surface is golden brown,about 20 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes. Serve with sour cream and salsa.
Notes: I was alarmed by the large amount of flour at first, but it worked out just fine. The cilantro I had was brown and goopy, so I omitted it. But really, cooked cilantro doesn't have much flavor anyway. I would suggest chopping up some fresh and sprinkling it over the pie when you serve it.

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

strawberry margarita pie


I've always loved including liquor in food, mostly because when I was younger I could get my mom to buy the liquor for me if I promised to make her desserts like Black Russian cake or strawberry margarita pie. Now I have to buy my own darn liquor, but this pie is worth it. Plus I have most of a bottle of a tequila left, with which I can make real margaritas to accompany the pie. I can't remember exactly where I got this recipe. I think I adapted it from one of my mom's cookbooks that featured products by name, e.g. "Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk." But it's so hard to remember through the sweet tequila haze. This recipe is nothing more than a guideline--I've never really measured ingredients for it, but it always turns out fine, so adjust to taste.

Strawberry Margarita Pie

crust
1 1/2 cups pretzel crumbs
1/3 cup melted butter
1/3 cup sugar

combine pretzels, butter and sugar and press into pie pan. Bake at 350 until crust begins to brown, 7-8 minutes. Watch closely to prevent burning. Cool completely.

filling
about 1 pound strawberries, fresh or frozen
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup tequila (or to taste...the more tequila you use, the softer the frozen pie will be)
juice of 1-2 limes, depending on how much you like lime
1 tablespoon triple sec if you've got it (you probably won't miss it)
1 cup heavy cream (or two cups Cool Whip, if you must)

Blend everything except for the cream until smooth. I used my immersion blender, but you could use a blender or hand mixer. Pretend you're making a milkshake. At this point, you could drink it, but it's much nicer frozen.

Whip cream separately, then fold into strawberry mixture. Taste and add lime juice and tequila until it's a creamy version of your favorite strawberry margarita. Pour filling into cooled crust and freeze for several hours. Serve with a tequila garnish.