Swedish Taco Night Fridays: What to do with Leftover Tortillas

To the average European, this is the ONLY Tortilla available. A tortilla made with the main ingredient which is nothing more than wheat flour. My flavourite Tortilla however is made from Corn or Mais. Having said that, in any Friday Night Taco Feast, there are always left over Tortillas. So what do you do with them ?

by Jessica Harlan

Yahoo News had a great article and video the other day on November 6, 2012 with Jessica Harlan explaining uses for leftover Tortillas which most people will either throw away or put in plastic and shove away in the freezer. She's also written the book called "Tortillas to the Rescue Cookbook". For most folks who have been raised up on or around Mexican Foods, the tortilla may bring to mind countless Mexican dishes like Tacos, Taquitos, Quesadillas, Enchiladas, etc , etc, etc. But to a Swede, it's simply Tacos. Everything is Tacos. Okay, I'll post over the next several weeks more uses for Mexican ingredients recipes other than Tacos, but for now, what about the leftovers after a Friday Night Taco Feast ? Here's the Yahoo article link and video below:

http://shine.yahoo.com/at-home/unexpected-and-yummy-recipes-using-tortillas.html

And for a more detailed recipes ideas you can print out and follow, here is a page right off Jessica Harlan's website. 

Jessica Harlan's - Tortillas to the Rescue on Yahoo! Shine

This was a typical old time version of a Quesadillas you could order at a average Mexican Restaurant back in the 1950s & 60s. Most people would order one of these as an appetizer while they waited for their main course.

You can still make a plain old cheese quesadilla from your leftover flour tortillas and package of grated pizza cheese purchased from your local ICA, Willey's or Hemköp stores. It's so simple even a child can do this. Simply take a cookie baking sheet and depending on how big the Tortilla sizes are put one or two large tortillas on the sheet and sprinkle with grated pizza cheese and put in oven at moderate heat and bake until crispy, but not over done. Take out and let it cool. Serve at the table as a snack or watching your favourite Fußball team on TV. Okay so here's what I do now days instead. Take a long drooling look below.

Over the years times have changed and so have the preferences of those who love Mexican Quesadillas. You can literally do anything you want with them as a fun experiment. But below is a simple recipe I usually do.

I could have easily titled this post "Quesadillas". After a Friday's Taco Night however, there are usually a number of ingredients leftover for Saturday. Minced Beef, Minced Chicken (Kyckling), Onions, Salsa, Guacamole, etc, etc, etc. It's really simple and no real need to write down, because you basically can create what appeals to you. We often just take a large flour tortilla and put it into a large frying pan which is slight greased with butter or Canola Oil (same as Rapseed) to prevent sticking, put on a thing layer of shredded cheese(whatever flavour Cheese you wish) and then some minced beef or chicken, along with onions, bell peppers and sprinkle again with another thin layer of cheese. Then another tortilla on top of all of that. Put a lid on the pan and fry at a medium heat and check for burning, then flip to other side. The cheese melts, blends and actually makes a perfect cohesive component to the Quesadilla for it not to fall apart. Then set it off to the side and repeat as necessary. I have also done the above in a microwave using ingredients on only half the tortilla and folding over the other half which gives it an instant taco appearance. Works very fast and easy. Something like this final picture below. You can then when still hot, open it up and add the Salsa and Guacamole as an after addition. It's to messy to do all at once in the microwave, oven or frying pan.

Enjoy!