What’s the most impressive “go to” meal that you can cook?

A great quick party food for a small group of friends is custom-made quesadillas made on a small panini grill. The ingredients are very simple. You just need tortillas, cheese, and then any fillings you want. Common fillings are grilled chicken, jalapeno hot peppers, baby spinach, onions, tomato, and cilantro (coriander).

If you want to use grilled chicken, you can prepare it ahead of time by slicing it and grilling it on the panini grill. The rest of the ingredients can be put out raw. You can create a buffet so that all of the guests can select their ingredients themselves. The buffet can include all your ingredients and different kinds of cheese. First they will get a plate with a tortilla, then they will put the cheese on half of the tortilla. After that, they can select any ingredients they want and put them on top of the tortilla.

My favorite kind of quesadilla has pepper jack cheese, grilled chicken, jalapenos, and baby spinach. I like it because it is very spicy and I like spicy food; both the pepper jack cheese and the jalapenos are very spicy. One time I used habanero hot peppers, and the quesadilla was very spicy but very delicious. I used to make it after work sometimes as a quick and delicious meal.

After they have chosen their ingredients they can bring their quesadilla to you. Fold the quesadilla in half and place it on the panini grill. You should cook the quesadilla until the cheese has melted. I usually cook my quesadillas a little bit longer because I like my tortilla to be a little crispier as it becomes easier to eat with your hands.

You can serve the quesadilla to your guests now. It is not necessary, but I usually like to serve quesadillas with some salsa. The guests can dip their quesadilla in the salsa for extra flavor. You can buy the salsa at a store or you can make your own. The general ingredients for salsa are lots of tomatoes, onion, hot pepper, and garlic. You can experiment to find the best flavors. Guacamole is also a popular dip for quesadillas.

If you really want to impress your guests you can also make your own tortillas. All you need is corn flour, water, and salt. You mix the ingredients together and form them into small balls. Use a rolling pin to flatten the balls into circles. Then cook them in a frying pan.

As for drinks, you can serve Mexican drinks with the quesadillas. Tequila would go great with them or if you want a cocktail you can find some margarita mix. If you want you could buy margarita glasses to serve the drinks in.

Finally to make your Mexican food party complete you might choose some decorations and music. Probably some Mexican decorations will be difficult to find in Tokyo but you can easily find some good Latin American music online to make your small dinner party complete. With food, drinks, and music you can have a nice Mexican themed dinner party.

Nathaniel

Vocabulary

panini grill (n) – a small grill that was traditionally used to make small Italian sandwiches
ingredient (n) – a food that is used with other foods in preparation of a particular dish
melt (v) – to turn or cause something to turn from a solid into something soft or liquid
crispy (adj.) – pleasantly dry, brittle, and easily broken
experiment (v) – to try many different things without knowing the outcome
impress (v) – to cause someone to admire or respect you