As mentioned, the ingredients were easy to find-- tortillas (already had these), smoked salmon (1/4 pound), cream cheese (4 ounces), diced red onion, capers, lemon juice, pepper, butter and 8 ounces of brie. There were a couple of varieties of brie ranging from mild to strong. I know I like brie, but I didn't know specifically what kind of brie I like best. I figured I'd split the difference and go with medium (it was described as "buttery," and we all know that's a good thing ;-)).
OK, so prep was actually very easy. In a small bowl I combined the cream cheese, 1 Tbsp capers, 1 tsp lemon juice, and 2 Tbsp diced red onions.
I had left the cream cheese out to soften, but it still required a little work to get the mixture to just the right point (where the red onions and capers were evenly mixed in throughout).
While I was finishing that up, my sous chef worked on buttering one side of four tortillas and placing them buttered side down on a plate for me-- although I guess stacking buttered tortillas means all but the one on top will end up buttered on both side. Oh well! If I've learned one thing from Paula Dean it's that more butter is never a problem.
It was then up to me to spread half of each tortilla with the cream cheese mixture.
Easy enough. Next came the brie. The recipe advises to cut the brie into 8 slices with the rind removed. After channeling my fourth grade spatial relations skills I figured out how to cut four (relatively equally sized) slices of brie from a triangle wedge and proceeded to slice the rind off of each. Once this was done each tortilla got two slices of brie (I cut some slices in half again to make sure it was evenly distributed so as to allow for easy melting, but even this left some pretty big pieces that didn't quite melt easily).
Voila! Time to fry. I cooked the tortillas on medium heat (the recipe advises medium high, but my gas stove will have none of that) for about 2 minutes on each side (while covered, of course) to make sure the cheese melted.
Once I removed the quesadilla (and let it cool for a second), I opened it back up and added a slice of smoked salmon (luckily the 1/4 lb. pack I bought was already separated into four slices-- makes my life easy).
Now, time to eat!
Taste Review:
Strangely enough, the first thing we smelled was the cream cheese (you would think the salmon would take charge). The quesadilla itself had a perfectly crispy tortilla-- it was nice and thin and crunchy. I like this better than cooking a tortilla in oil and having grease ooze everywhere (then again this may have more to do with the amount of butter used than the fact that butter was used).
I didn't notice a huge salmon taste, but that may be because I actually like salmon. Colin isn't a huge fan and his immediate comment was "I don't like the salmon, this would be better with turkey." That may be, but I know the whole salmon/cream cheese thing is a popular bagel topping, so I have a feeling plenty of people would be happy with this combination.
I was pretty skeptical about the capers, but at first they provided a good bite to contrast the creaminess of the cream cheese and brie. Sadly, the more I ate the less I liked the capers. The sandwich would be bland without them, but when you get a bite with a caper in it the flavor is so strong it drowns out both the red onions and the salmon (two pretty strong flavors in and of themselves). In fact, for awhile I forgot there were red onions on the sandwich at all! There's no doubt that some sort of additive is necessary to keep things from getting too bland, but I don't think capers are the answer. Colin suggests pepper instead (like a green bell pepper), but I think that might just add one more flavor. Instead, I would go with more onions and no capers. The onions would balance out the blandness whereas the peppers might override it.
Speaking of additives-- as soon as I handed Colin his plate he said "I'll get the salsa!" I pointed out that salsa with salmon, cream cheese and brie may not be the best combination. He agreed and said he would wait to taste to decide what to add (oh ye of little faith-- not all sandwiches need a condiment)! Anyway, he didn't actually end up adding anything, but (per above) that doesn't mean he wouldn't have changed/amended things if he could have.
As for the cheeses, there was no real distinction between the cream cheese and the brie. In one bite I got a nice big piece of brie and loved how mild and creamy it was! The brie and cream cheese made the quesadilla very rich, but in a good way. I didn't feel sick when I was done eating, just like I had had a decadent treat.
FINAL RESULTS:
Sandwich: | Quesadilla |
Gooey-ness: | 3.75 (oh man! getting into quarter points!) |
Aroma: | 2 |
Appearance: | Crispy brown exterior with interesting pink and white interior. |
Taste: | C+ |
Next Week: Perhaps a meat grilled cheese (even though I'm still not sure they're truly grilled cheeses, I've gotta make them all)! And/or a sweet grilled cheese.
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