Cooking Success Story

I am not a great cook. I've ruined Kraft Mac 'n' Cheese before. There are only a handful of recipes that I can pull off--and many more that have only narrowly escaped disaster.

At least we found out that the smoke detector in our college apartment was fully operational.

So last night was a real breakthrough for me. I wanted a quesadilla SO BADLY--that crisp, lightly fried tortilla around ooey gooey melty cheese, cut into delicious little triangles perfect for dunking in some cool sour cream.

I wanted it so badly I decided to make them myself. How hard could it be? (Note: This phrase is normally the equivilant of the redneck's last words--"Hey, watch this!"--for me in the kitchen. Not this time, though.) And why stop at just tortilla and cheese? Why not add something like....shrimp?

Yum.

So we went to the grocery store and got everything, then headed home and proceeded to create this:




 
Now, this is just a simple iPhone picture. The lens cannot capture how wonderfully delicious this humble-looking quesadilla actually was.

This not-so-humble cook was very pleased.

How I did it--which is with absolutely no method at all, so the explaination below is going to be really great:

(Sarcasm is not one of the ingredients, fyi.)

Flour tortillas
Monteray Jack and Cheddar cheese, shredded (one block was enough for 3 ppl)
Uncooked shrimp
Cumin
Cayanne pepper
Garlic salt
Salt
Black Pepper
Butter and/or Olive oil

On like 4 or 5 on your heat setting, melt a pad of butter and a dot of olive oil (or just one of the two--we used both. Not sure why) in whatever you would normally use to saute something. Place shrimp in pan and sprinkle with all the seasonings. How much of each? I have no idea. I just gave everything a good sprinkling. Let them cook on one side first, then flip them over. It doesn't take very long at all. Then cut the shrimp into bite-sized pieces. If they're small, you could probably leave them whole. Set aside in bowl.

In another pan (or the same one cleaned out), lightly butter or Pam the bottom. Heat to 4 or 5. Place tortilla in the bottom of the pan. Then place a layer of cheese, then shrimp and then cheese again on the tortilla. Keep it centered in the middle, or it will leak out the sides and burn in the pan and completely ruin your entire quesidilla!!!!! Just kidding, it will just smell like burnt cheese and annoy you. If it happens, scrape it off and carry on. When the bottom of the tortilla gets a little brownish in spots, place another tortilla on top, and press down, letting the melted cheese stick to the top to create a nice bond between the two tortillas.

Then flip those suckers over as best you can. Really, get creative here. This part was kind of chaos for me, so maybe you can find an easier way than a mad dash to flip it over, shrimp pieces and cheese flying everywhere. Fry until the other side is lightly browned in spots. Take it out and put it on your plate.

Cut in fourths. Put a dab of sour cream in the middle.

Eat it.

Great, now I'm hungry again.

T