Grilled Pineapple and Chicken Quesadillas

This Mexican thing is started to become a habit! Could it be the #cheeseslut  in me (see twitterfeed for details)? Could it really? Well, I don't live anywhere close to Mexico, I've never visited, or even spoken to a Mexican person, and yet, the Mexican food (although it may be truly bastardised by the time it reaches my table) really appeals to me! There's few things better on a cold winters night than something ooey and gooey and cheesey and GOOD! And so, when I was looking for something fast and tasty for dinner, I saw these quesadillas on Ree's blog, I knew I'd spotted a winner. And boy, was I right.
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These are sweet and tangy, and with just a few small steps, you can have dinner in 20-25 minutes!

I'll be honest and say that although I did see very cheap pineapples on sale, looking divine, I didn't feel like all that chopping, even though Ree does give the most brilliant pineapple chopping tutorial, I just couldn't face it, so I bought a can. Probably fresh would've been better, but convenience and speed was the name of my game last night, and canned won.

You can even buy Ree's cookbook through Amazon, and from the looks of the recipes on her blog, this cookbook should have a place in my kitchen!

And because I changed the recipe to have a sweeter, less spicey version, here's the recipe. For the original, jalapeno-and-spicy-BBQ-sauce version, visit Ree herself, at The Pioneer Woman Cooks.

Ingredients: feeds 2
4 flour tortillas
2 chicken breasts
4 pineapple rings
1 spring onion
Mozzarella and cheddar cheese, enough to cover two tortillas and to put a bit on top.

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Method:

1. Preheat your oven to 180 C.
2. Take a heavy can, meat mallet, heavy pan and flatten the chicken breasts a little, so they're of uniform thickness. This will ensure even cooking, and if you're slicing it, give you more surface area so you have more slices, and it means there's more surface area for spicing, which means more taste. So, beat it, just beat it..
3. Sprinkle salt and pepper, and any other spice you like, onto the flattened chicken breasts and set aside.
4. Heat a grill pan on the stove, or put in the braai. 
5. Remove 4 rings from your can of pineapple, and place onto the grill pan or grill. Wait quite a while before you turn, because what you want are those blackened grill marks, that show the pineapple has heated and the sugar has caramelised properly. When it has those lovely marks on both sides, remove from pan.
6. Place the flattened chicken breasts in the hot pan, turning it down a bit, since you don't want to cook these too quickly. Turn once or twice, and cook the chicken until the juices run clear when you stick a knife into the thickest part, I think it's about 10 minutes, but test with the juice test. If it runs pink, the meat is still raw inside.
7. Remove the chicken from the pan when cooked, and replace the grill pan with a big, heavy bottomed frying pan.
8. Melt butter in the pan, and heat your tortillas on both sides.
9. Place two heated tortillas next to each other on a cookie tray (in retrospect, I'd've used a rack, since the bottoms got a bit soggy, but its not a train smash), then cover both tortillas with a mix of mozzarella and cheddar cheese.
10. Sliced the cooled chicken breast and chop the pineapple rings/
11. Artfully place chicken strips and chopped pineapple on top of the cheese mixture.
12. Chop some spring onion (I always use scissors, so much faster!) and sprinkle on top, with a bit more cheese.
13. Top with the other tortillas. You should now have two tortilla sandwiches.
14. Pop them in the oven for about 10-15 minutes, or until the cheese is melted.
15. Remove from the oven, slice like a pizza and serve!

Delicious, cheesy, pineappley, chickeny goodness, people!! Enjoy!