We begin this week's tale with a confused me wandering about the Wegman's cheese section in search of the mysterious and elusive oaxaca cheese. What kind of cheese is this? What does it look like? Unfortunately I didn't have the answers to either of these questions. Luckily, my shopping resource did and obliged me by reading the Wikipedia excerpt on this cheese over the phone. I shall include it here for your edification:
Queso Oaxaca or Quesillo Oaxaca is a white, semi-hard cheese from Mexico, similar to un-aged Monterey Jack but with a mozzarella-like string cheese texture. It is named after the state of Oaxaca in southern Mexico, where it was first made. It is available in several different shapes. It is also known as quesillo Oaxaca or thread cheese when shaped like a ball. Shaped in bricks for slicing, it is called asadero (meaning "roaster" or "broiler") or queso quesadilla.
Even with this useful information I was still having difficulty finding it. Need I remind us all what the Wegman's cheese selection looks like?:
Again, this is just ONE SMALL SEGMENT of the cheese department. There are at least three more refrigerator cases and a central cheese island with two cheese experts at it ready to distribute samples and answer any questions. Surely I could just ask one of them! "Excuse me, where is your ox-aca... ermm...ax-aca?... I mean...wa-hah-kuh cheese?" Yeah, looks like asking was out of the question as I couldn't even close to pronounce the name and was too embarrassed to just point to my cook book and demand to know where said cheese could be found.
Luckily there were a few cheeses in the case that had Mexican flags on them and that looked like they might vaguely resemble mozzarella and/or monterey jack. I had heard of queso fresco and queso blanco, but for whatever reason decided to go with a new option: Panela (insert Wikipedia description here):
Queso Panela (Panela Cheese), also called "Queso Canasta" or "Queso de la Canasta" (Basket Cheese) because it carries the impression of the basket in which it molds itself, is a white, fresh and smooth cheese of pasteurized cow milk, served most often as part of a appetizer dishes such as nopal salads or quesadillas. It is derived from the Greek word for basket cheese. The cheese also has similarities to the Indian cheese paneer.
Oh good! It's used in quesadillas. Looks like we're back on track despite this minor hiccup. Now I had all the ingredients (or what I deemed a close substitute if not).
As usual, the first step was the prep work. Thinly slicing 1/2 of a large onion, slicing the sausage into 1/4" thick pieces and grating the cheese. This was one of the more interesting cheeses I've worked with. It was double wrapped in saran wrap and I could tell why as it was REALLY wet once I got it unwrapped. But just because it felt covered in water didn't mean it was actually runny-- in fact it was strangely firm and crumbly. As I was grating it pieces would just fall off in crumbly chunks. This was my first sign that this may not be quite as similar to the oaxaca cheese because that cheese was described as very stringy. Oh well! I took a taste test and found it pretty mild, but it had a very salty flavor, which was interesting.
Step one was cooking the sausage over medium heat for about 10 minutes, or until it turned 2 shades darker than it was when I started and much of the fat had cooked off. I'm not a big sausage fan, but as it was cooking it definitely smelled good!
Next I was to transfer the sausage to a plate lined with paper towels to absorb additional fat and discard all the fat in the pan except for one tablespoon, but it looked like there was less than one tablespoon in the pan, so I just left it all.
I used the fat to cook the onions for about 8 minutes (until they were limp and yellow, but not brown and caramelized).
Once the onions were ready, in went about 20 medium sized shrimp (I added a few more since I was using small shrimp). These two should cook together for about 2 minutes (until the shrimp turn pink), but I was using frozen shrimp that had already been cooked, so just let these items cook for 2 minutes so the flavors could co-mingle.
I transferred the cooked onions and shrimp over to the other half of the plate holding the sausage so I could prepare the pan for quesadilla frying. I wiped out the bottom of the pan to clear out some of the excess fat, but didn't wash it so as to retain some of the fat's flavor.
My sous chef helped me prepare the tortillas-- this involved brushing one side with some olive oil and then placing it oiled side down so it was ready to be filled.
First the sausage:
Then the shrimp and onions:
And finally, the cheese:
It should be noted that this recipe makes four quesadillas, so each of these quantities represents 1/4 of the total.
Now it was time to fry them up which (as you probably guessed) involves folding it in half and plopping it in the pan :-)
From here it was pretty standard operating procedure: cover the quesadilla and cook for about two minutes on one side before flipping, repeat until both sides are browned and the cheese has melted.
As I checked on whether the cheese was melted I was intrigued to find it looked like this:
You may not be able to tell from the photo, but this was basically cheese that had melted and yet somehow had stayed congealed and not at all gooey. Innnteresting...
Anyway, a short time later all four were done and ready for consumption!
Taste Review:
This was probably the sandwich I was least excited by during the cooking process. Usually I'm super anxious to take my first taste, but this time I wasn't so enthused. Who knows why? Maybe because I was still questioning my decision on the cheese substitute-- I think mozarella may have been a more accurate sub.
Before we even tried it we realized that it looked like it was begging for some sour cream and/or salsa. Unfortunately I had neither, but for once I agreed with Colin that adding a condiment would have enhanced the flavor.
The very first flavor you get when you take a bite is SALT. I think the saltiness of the sausage and the cheese were very overpowering. As I chewed I noticed that the sweetness of the onions helped to balance out the saltiness, but the more I ate the more I concluded it wasn't quite enough and the salt was too strong (further argument in favor of sour cream). By the end I actually removed the sausage from mine and gave it to Colin because it was too much salt for me.
One thing we both liked and agreed on was that the quesadilla was just the right amount of chewy.
As for the cheese itself, there wasn't a strong cheese smell or taste and the lack of gooeyness made me wonder if it was even there. The cheese basically seemed to sit there and serve as an aid in keeping the filling in place. Even then I struggled with keeping everything in the quesadilla. I had shrimp, sausage and onions falling everywhere and had to sort of fold the quesadilla up to try to contain it. Colin didn't have this same problem, so maybe I'm just a messy eater.
Colin asked if I had ever tried Chihuaua Cheese and commented that it might do better since it's a little creamier. Wikipedia description as follows:
Queso Chihuahua or Chihuahua cheese is a soft white cow's-milk cheese of Mexican origin available in braids, balls or rounds. The cheese is named after its place of origin, the Mexican state of Chihuahua.
Queso Chihuahua is good for melting, and is similar to a mild, white cheddar or Monterey Jack. It may be used in queso fundido (fondue like melted cheese), choriqueso, quesadillas, chilaquiles, chili con queso, or sauces.
Looks like, much like the mozarella, this would also be a good option (and perhaps more like the oaxaca cheese)?
FINAL RESULTS:
Sandwich: | Oaxaca Cheese, Chorizo and Shrimp Quesadilla |
Gooey-ness: | 1 |
Aroma: | 1.5 |
Appearance: | Nicely browned exterior, but not very colorful filling |
Taste: | C+ |
Gooey Scale | Aroma Scale |
| 1 = still cold/hard | 1 = can’t smell a thing |
| 2 = slightly melted but still firm | 2 = tender waft |
| 3 = melted evenly | 3 = makes your stomach growl |
| 4 = melted and slightly runny (starting to get those cheese strings between your sandwich and your mouth when you take a bite) | 4 = strong scent |
| 5 = runny | 5 = overpoweringly pungent |
| 6 = sloppy mess! |
Colin voted B+, and I definitely would agree that with some modifications it could be better-- but the fact that I had to remove ingredients in order to finish eating meant that it wasn't up to snuff just yet. I think the taste would probably be improved by the use of the oaxaca cheese as the cheese that we used ended up intensifying the saltiness rather than tempering it. Make no mistake-- it wasn't bad, just salty.
Next week: Time to try a dessert grilled cheese-- Chocolate-Hazelnut and Goat Cheese Melt.
P.S. Shout out to my loyal reader, the Cheese Whiz Kid :-)
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