Awesome recipe

One of my fall projects is to start cooking more again. I've been doing pretty well. Although considering that I maybe made 5 meals the entire summer that didn't involve Bryan grilling or making something over the campfire, it wouldn't take much to improve.

I'm not an exotic cook. Heck I'm not even a good cook. If the recipe calls for more than oh 5 ingredients, I start breaking out in hives. Even worse if it has multiple steps on top of that. Egads - get the benadryl! But I am determined to get better and to be less intimidated by recipes that are a little more difficult. Today's recipe fit the bill, well it fit my bill. Some of you will probably laugh that I actually considered this recipe diffcult. Well you know what - bite me.

So shut up and post the recipe! Okay then.


Chipotle Pork Quesadillas

Ingredients:

* 2 boneless pork chops (about 3/4 pound)
* Salt and pepper
* 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
* 1/2 onion, chopped
* 1 cup canned diced tomatoes
* 3 cloves garlic, chopped
* 1 chipotle chile in adobo sauce, finely chopped
* 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
* 1/2 cup chopped cilantro, plus leaves for garnish
* 8 medium flour tortillas
* 1 cup shredded monterey jack cheese


Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°. Season the pork chops with salt and pepper. In a large nonstick skillet, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the pork and cook until browned, 4 minutes on each side. Transfer to a cutting board and let cool; cut into thin strips.

2. In the same skillet, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 4 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes and their juice, the garlic, chipotle and cumin and cook over medium-high heat, stirring, until the mixture thickens, about 3 minutes; stir in the pork and chopped cilantro.

3. Heat a grill pan over medium heat. Brush one side of each tortilla with the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil. Working in batches, cook the tortillas oiled side down until grill marks form, 1 to 2 minutes.

4. Arrange 4 tortillas grilled side down on a baking sheet. Divide the pork mixture among the tortillas and sprinkle with the cheese. Top with the remaining tortillas, grilled side up. Bake until the cheese is melted, about 10 minutes. Cut into wedges and top with the cilantro leaves.

Summer's notes (see now I'm an expert!)
1. It's not really needed to bake them really but if you do, I'd spray the heck out of a glass baking dish and bake them in it next time. I had a bit of a mess on the baking sheet today.

2. I omitted the cilantro. I don't even know where to find fresh cilantro. Clearly I have just lost my expert status.


Bryan and I loved it! And I liked that I only had to change it for the kids by making them their own pork chop.