BIG EASY WEDNESDAY: Chicken Quesadillas

The Big Easy Wednesday recipe of the week is… CHICKEN QUESADILLAS!

It doesn’t get much simpler then this. First I should mention though, this was a part of a three-day meal…

Day 1 : Spaghetti

Day 2: Chicken Quesadilla

Day 3: Home made Pizza

I saved the leftover sauce from the spaghetti… Below is the recipe that I used for the easy chicken quesadilla, then… for the third day, I took the leftover tortilla, spooned some of the leftover spaghetti sauce then topped it with cheese and made home-made Pizza!

Or, you can just made The Big Easy Wednesday recipe of the week…

CHICKEN QUESADILLAS

Ingredients:

• 1 package of flour tortillas
• cooked chicken (I used canned precooked chicken)
• cheddar cheese
• enchiladas sauce

Lay one flour tortilla down, spread across about a spoonful of enchiladas sauce on it. Place the pieces of chicken on tortillas then top with cheese. There is no exact measurements, just place on how much you like. I go cheese heavy.

In a skillet over medium heat, fry the quesadillas. As the cheese starts to melt and the bottom browns, flip it over and continue until the tortilla lightly browns. Repeat for each tortilla you make.

Place the remain enchiladas sauce in a bowl and heat in the microwave for about :45 seconds and serve on the side for dipping. Enjoy!

I made 4 quesadillas which used 8 tortillas. With the remaining 2 I used the next day for the home-made Pizza. It makes for a great thin crust crispy pizza! If you try it, let me know what you think.

Easy Yaka-Mein

If you subscribe to offBeat magazine, or live in the New Orleans area and get it free, OR subscribe to the free weekly emails, you can see in the current issue (September 2012 the “Food Issue”) it has a story on Ms. Linda Green – the Yaka Mein Lady.  I first found out about Yaka Mein in the past year from the television show Anthony Bourdain’s NO RESERVATIONS.  Anthony Bourdain went through a part of New Orleans with Treme star Wendall Pierce.  While on the streets, they met up with Ms. Linda Green.  There I found out about Yaka Mein and have made a full recipe version of “old sober” here.  While it may not be Ms. Linda’s recipe, it was still excellent and one of my favorite meals since trying to learn about New Orleans cooking.  I’ve made this many times.  There’s always one certain time that I make it… always!

The following is from offBeat Magazines weekly free email-zine… sign up for it if you haven’t already – it’s free!

Do you know what ya-ka-mein is?

According to Wikipedia: “Yaka mein is a type of beef noodle soup commonly found in many Creole and Chinese restaurants in New Orleans.The soup consists of stewed beef (such as brisket) in beef-based broth served on top of spaghetti noodles and garnished with half a hard-boiled egg and chopped green onions. Cajun seasoning, chili powder, or Old Bay Seasoning is often added to the broth. It’s sometimes referred to as “Old Sober,” because many people thought it was a cure for a hangover. The soup is well-loved by locals but not well-known outside of the city and its surrounding region.”

The person most-responsible for carrying on the tradition of the cure-all soup is Linda Green, known in New Orleans as “the Ya-Ka-Mein Lady.” Read OffBeat™s story on Ms. Linda in this month’s “Food Issue.”

Ms. Linda Green is quickly becoming known outside of New Orleans also.  She was recently on the Food Networks popular show CHOPPED.  The episode was titled: THE PRIDE OF NEW ORLEANS!  CHOPPED is a cooking competition show that’s all about skill, speed and ingenuity where four up-and-coming chefs compete before a panel of three expert judges and take everyday items and turn them into an extraordinary three-course meal.  After each course, a contestant is “chopped” from the show.  In the episode Ms. Linda was on, she was against three other top chefs from New Orleans.  She had a very good showing…

For the past twenty years, she has sold her Ya-Ka-Mein along Second Line routes, along with running Ms. Linda’s Catering, which specializes in New Orleans Soul Food cuisine for all size events.  You can find out more about Ms. Linda here: http://www.neworleanssoulfood.com/

The times I make Yaka Mein, is after a pulled chicken or pulled pork meal.  I’ve mentioned this before.  Before I’ve made the Detroit sandwich, the Yardbird.  I only used about half of the pulled chicken for the sandwich.  But before I even start making the pulled sandwiches, I set half aside just for the yaka mein.  It truly is an excellent way to help get rid of leftover pulled chicken/pork.

I could write a series about the pride of New Orleans.  Peoples pride in New Orleans.  I’ve made a mention of this in an earlier entry with Red Beans and Rice but it could also be said about Ms. Linda Green and her pride in the city.  It can also be said about her.  The people who love New Orleans who have pride about her!  Anothony Bourdain having her on his show, her appearance on CHOPPED, offBeat Magazine covering her, and fans who follow her on Twitter from across the country… even a kitchen up in Detroit!

If you have leftover pulled chicken or pork, or want to make an excellent noodle dish, here is…

QUICK YAKA MEIN

Ingredients:

• pulled chicken or pork
• hard-boiled eggs
• green onions, chopped
• beef or chicken broth
• spaghetti noodles
• ketchup, Tabasco sauce, soy sauce

Either cook the chicken/pork in a crock pot or heat it up in the microwave.

For each serving, make a hard boiled egg.

Cook the spaghetti noodles.

Heat the broth either in a sauce pan or in the microwave.

To serve, place the noodles in a bowl, cover with the shredded meat.  Pour hot broth into the bowl.  Garnish with a half of a hard-boiled egg along with green onions.  For extra seasoning, add all of either of ketchup, tabasco sauce, and soy sauce.  Enjoy!

Pulled Pork leftovers? Yaka Mein

Here is an extra recipe to the Wednesday Big Easy Recipe of the week, a lagniappe… Yaka Mein!

I know I’ve posted about this a few times but I love making this after making Pulled Pork.  It’s just my wife and I eating the Pulled Pork sandwiches so I have quite a bit leftover and I make the extra just for this reason.

You can make it many different ways with what you have on hand, but this is pretty much the traditional way.  You could use Angel Hair Pasta or and another type of noodle.  Use Pulled Chicken if that’s what you made.  Use whatever but this is a great way to not let food go to waste.  If you’ve never tried this, you might be surprised.  Let me know if you do!

YAKA MEIN

Ingredients:

• leftover pulled pork
• spaghetti noodles
• beef stock
• hard-boiled egg cut in half
• parsley or green onions
• soy sauce, ketchup, tabasco sauce

Hard boil the eggs.  Boil the noodles.  Bring the stock to a boil.  Reheat the pulled pork.

In a bowl, place the noodles.  Add the pulled pork.  Pour the stock over.  Place the half egg on top.  Garnish with the parsley or green onion.  Add the amount of soy sauce, tabasco and ketchup you want.  Enjoy!