We just got back from our honeymoon a few days ago and came home to an empty refrigerator. . . which I did on purpose because I did not want our food to go bad while we were away. So our first full day back after travelling for 30 hours from Malta back to southeast Florida, I went to the store to stock back up.
I bought things that were going to be easy to cook and require minimal effort. I bought stuff like fresh raw chicken tenders (they cook up so quick!) for a busy night, some frozen turkey meatballs, some standard items like tortillas, bread, cheese, etc., and some fresh fruit that was on sale.
One thing I love about living in south Florida is that fruit is generally almost always pretty cheap - especially at the produce stands. Whole pineapples were on sale for $2 and mangoes were on sale for $1. I knew the hubs would appreciate the pineapple for snacking (it is definitely one of his faves) and I could maybe use mango to both snack on and maybe on top of chicken or something. So last night I got home a bit late from work and wanted something easy. I opened the freezer to see what we had and decided to take out and thaw the chicken tenders (to thaw, just place the unopened package in a wide, shallow container and cover with room temperature water - they thaw fairly quickly which is why I love to have them on hand! Way faster than breasts).
Then I looked in the pantry and refrigerator to see what I could do with the tenders. I saw the tortillas and the cheese and thought, "Voila! Quesadillas."
While cooking up the thawed chicken tenders in my skillet, I went to grab the olive oil and much to my dismay, learned that we were all out of that, too! Oi vey. So I checked in the cabinet and saw we had virgin coconut oil. Virgin coconut oil has a much stronger coconut flavor than non-virgin, so I wanted to use it sparingly. I have used a bunch of it before and cooked as normal and it just tasted too funny. It really requires flavors that pair well with coconut.
Well, a huge glop fell out of the jar and into the pan - exactly what I did not want to happen! So at that point I just thought, "OK. We are having coconut chicken quesadillas." So I looked in my cabinet to then find spices and flavorings that would go nicely with coconut. I found yellow curry powder and thought that could make for an interesting quesadilla. I added it to the chicken along with garlic powder, salt, pepper, and just a sprinkle of Italian herbs.
I then checked back in my fridge to see what other items I had that would pair well with the flavors. I found honey barbeque sauce and the pineapple and mango I had just bought. Then I was like, "OK! Tropical quesadillas! Let's see how this works out."
Long story longer, I put everything all together on a buttered tortilla, folded it in half, and slapped it on my panini grill (which was sooooooo much easier than pan-frying and worrying about flipping the quesadillas without the filling falling out. Plus it grills both sides at the same time cutting down on cook time!)
I plated those suckers up and watched hubs take the first bite with nervous eyes. To my delight, he loved them! But then again, I could put pineapple in just about anything and he would probably love it. But still - he thought they were delicious. I replied to him by saying, "They say it's rude to compliment your own food, but damn! These are good!" He then asked me if I got the recipe on Pinterest. To which I replied, "No, from my brain." He then suggested I put the recipe on Pinterest to give back to all the lovely people out there who have made our breakfasts, lunches, dinners, snacks, and desserts more delicious over the last couple years.
So below, please find my recipe for my accidental, on a whim, made-up-as-I-went-along, Island In The Sun Quesadillas.
Ingredients
1 package (about a pound or so) of raw chicken tenders or breasts
6 tortillas (8 inch size)
2 cups of shredded cheese of your choice (1 package)
Pineapple
Mango
2 tbsp. virgin coconut oil
Butter or your favorite buttery spread
Barbeque sauce
Yellow curry powder
Garlic powder
Salt
Pepper
Italian seasoning/dried herbs (any you have on hand will work - or none at all - totally optional)
Directions
1. Heat up a large skillet on medium to medium-high heat with 2 tbsp of virgin coconut oil
2. Cut up chicken into bite-sized pieces then add to hot skillet and let chicken brown about 1 minute
3. Add desired amount of yellow curry powder (I used probably about 1/2 tbsp.), garlic powder (I used about 1 tbsp.), salt, pepper, and a sprinkle of dried herbs.
With a wooden spoon or spatula, mix up the chicken and seasoning in the pan so that all chicken is coated with coconut oil and flavorings.
Continue cooking the chicken about 5-7 minutes until the inside is no longer pink.
4. While chicken is cooking, cut up pineapple and the mango. Cutting mango can be tricky if you have never done it before. I used a YouTube video to help me out after butchering my first mango years ago!
5. When chicken is done cooking, turn off heat, take skillet off the burner, and place chicken aside.
6. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Butter one side of a tortilla. Flip it over and drizzle barbeque sauce on the non-buttered side.
On one HALF of the tortilla, sprinkle just a little bit of cheese over the barbeque sauce to act as glue.
Then, spoon on some chicken over the cheese, sprinkle on some pineapple and mango, and then top with a more generous desired amount of cheese.
Fold the tortilla in half by pulling the half with just barbeque sauce over the half with the toppings.
7. Carefully place folded stuffed tortilla on sandwich press, a countertop griddle, or a large heated skillet on the stove.
If using a sandwich press, close the top so that it grills both sides of the quesadilla at the same time. Check periodically to make sure your tortilla does not burn.
If using a griddle or skillet, cook on medium to medium-high heat for about 3-5 minutes and then carefully flip the quesadilla over to cook the other side.
8. When quesadilla is cooked on both sides to your desired crispness, place on a greased baking sheet and place in the oven to keep warm while you assemble the others.
9. Repeat steps 1 through 8 with your remaining 5 quesadillas.
10. Enjoy the deliciousness!
