Sincronizadas - 176

The picture looks like a quesadilla, but it's really a SINCRONIZADA. ¿Cuál es la diferencia?

A quesadilla is your basic tortilla - either flour or corn - with melted cheese on the inside. They can be cooked on a grill, or fried in oil (usually the corn variety). You can add a number of ingredients to the quesadilla, such as meat, peppers, sliced tomatoes, squash blossoms, or salsa while they're cooking.

The quesadilla comes close to being the Mexican answer to our grilled cheese sandwich. Almost everyone knows how to make them, and loves to eat them. Personally, I prefer the corn tortilla variety with a good queso Chihuahua or queso Oaxaca. My favorite kind of salsa is a dark red one made from chile chipotles y tomatillos.

Restaurants have taken notice and are making a killing these days on quesadillas. Have you checked out the prices lately? A couple of our well-known local Mexican restaurants charge $7.95 and up for a plain cheese one, and if you add grilled chicken or beef, plan on paying around $10.95. Some places will also add grilled mushrooms, spinach, crabmeat, or shrimp, but at higher price point.

We make quesadillas here at home when we're too tired to cook anything else, or when we're finishing up some old tortillas and cheese. Any kind of cheese that melts nicely will do. Tonight's SINCRONIZADAS were a simple variation on this theme: they include thinly sliced ham and tomato with the cheese on the inside of the flour tortilla. We used some Monterrey Jack cheese and finished up the whole wheat, low-carb tortillas we've had for the past week.

We always serve quesadillas or SINCRONIZADAS with guacamole y salsa, and tonight was no exception. Tomorrow evening will be something much more exiting!