I’ll describe my favorite five-minute snack, a family classic we’ve been making for over 50 years. We were fortunate to learn about this dish 20 years before it gained American popularity. It’s a quick treat when we’re too tired to cook.
I’m just like my parents in that I enjoy preparing elaborate gourmet meals for guests. The dinners we had growing up (with two professionally trained chefs as parents) were incredible! But some days you just don’t have the energy and/or the time. So, here’s our family’s quick and unglamorous fix that gets the job done.
Hold on … let me go make one so I can show readers a picture.
I’ll be eating this as I keep typing here.
My father would make these when we were growing up in Los Angeles where we had access to excellent corn tortillas! With a rich Hispanic heritage in Southern California, there is never a shortage of authentic tortillas! The idea came from a Mexican neighbor. This is essentially a quesadilla, but the neighbors used Oaxaca cheese on corn tortillas. The American version is typically a flour tortilla with cheddar or Monterey Jack and almost always contains meat. My dad decided to borrow ideas from both cultures, combining Monterey Jack with corn tortillas and a unique spice blend that included paprika and cumin.
Now, keep in mind this was the ‘70s. Quesadillas weren’t popular in the U.S. until the ‘90s. So this was a relatively unknown item back then. Lucky for us, our neighbors were from Sinaloa where the quesadilla was invented in the 1500s or 1600s. They introduced a dish to us that was way off the American radar back then.
My father would warm some vegetable oil in a skillet, add a few tortillas, and flip them over after a couple of minutes. He would melt some good quality Monterey Jack on top, a great cheese developed in California by Franciscan friars in the 1700s. As that melted, he would add his spice mixture and then serve it open faced. It was simple but delicious! And because of the spices, it tasted very different from any other quesadilla. Even 20 years later when they became a Mexican restaurant staple in the 1990s and the name became universally known, we realized it was similar to our version but still quite different. Being served open faced also made it unlike the quesadilla presentation.
We ate thousands of them! In my adulthood, I’ve developed a special spice mix that I use on my “tortillas and cheese” including Chile Ancho Molido, cayenne pepper, and sweet pimentón.
I also add cotija cheese on top of the jack cheese for a salty taste, and I fold mine in half like a taco without cutting it into wedges.
I’ve taken this easy dish to a new level without adding any prep time. And that’s my gourmet “quesadilla” of sorts.
For years, every time I visited my parents in Southern California after a lengthy plane ride, when I walked in the door my father would ask me if I was hungry and what I wanted. And I would always request tortillas and cheese which he would make to perfection. It still tasted better than a traditional quesadilla all those years later. It’s too bad he died suddenly a few years ago and I’ll never have that experience again.
I love cooking elaborate meals that take 4–6 hours to prepare. But when I come home late from work or want an easy snack, this five-minute food does the trick while offering complex flavors and textures.
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