Recipe - Chicken Fajita Quesadillas

Technically this recipe is for chicken or steak fajitas, but sometimes I get lazy and don't feel like rolling out a hundred eight round taco shells, so I make four giant ones and call them quesedillas, instead. Charlie ripped off this fajita spice rub from Steven Raichlen a few years back. While his grilling phase is mostly over at this point, he still mixes up a big jar of this one every so often. We also make our shells from scratch, and this is the recipe that we settled on after quite a few iterations. I can't remember where it came from, but it's written on a 1" x 2" scrap of paper that's paper clipped into my recipe book.


Dry Fajita Rub

1/4 cup paprika
3 tablespoons coarse salt
2 tablespoons chili powder
2 tablespoons cracked black pepper
2 tablespoons garlic powder
1 1/2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 tablespoon dried coriander
1 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice

Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and mix with a fork. Transfer to a jar, cover, and store away from heat and light. The rub will keep for several months. Makes 1 cup.

To make this into a wet rub, add 3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce and 3 tablespoons olive oil to the rub and stir to make a thick paste. Spread this mixture on the meat and marinate in the refrigerator for 1 hour before grilling (note: we didn't grill the chicken, just cooked it up in a cast-iron skillet. And by "we," I mean "Charlie").


Taco/Fajita/Quesedilla Shells

2 cups AP flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 tsp vegetable oil (I've also used olive oil)
3/4 cups warm milk

Mix the dry ingredients, add the wet ingredients, and rest 20 minutes. This dough is pretty sticky, so you're going to need a lot of flour when you roll them out. One batch will make 8 taco shells or 4 quesedilla shells. Divide dough and roll into flat circles. Cook on a skillet for 30ish seconds on each side.

When we make quesedillas we fill them with the chicken, green peppers, onions, roasted jalapenos, and cheddar and queso cheese. Not swiss. Never swiss cheese. Fill the shells and bake for 5 minutes, or until the cheese is nice and melty.