SOUTHWESTERN-ASIAN DINNER (Duck!!)

SOUTHWESTERN-ASIAN DINNER

Duck!!

We were planning a dinner for some new friends last week, and Sherry decided to do a Southwestern-themed dinner.  Main course was a spiced-rubbed and marinated London Broil with Sweet Potato Fries, grilled and smoked over charcoal, but Sherry wanted to have an exotic appetizer to serve first.  We decided to begin with an amazing Asian-southwest fusion dish - Duck Quesadillas.  The essential ingredient is a whole smoked duck from the Asian market or Chinatown - you see them hanging up in rows. (Photo)  The butcher will chop up the duck into pieces (and doesn't include the head!) for you.  While it's labor-intensive to pull off all of the meat from the bones and discard the skin and fat, the end result is totally worth it.  We use a hoisin-chipotle sauce, along with goat cheese and Pepper jack cheese (which seals the quesadilla), and it's served with an optional fresh garlic-tomato salsa, and either plain greek yogurt or sour cream.  Our guests were amazed by Sherry’s creativity.

DUCK QUESADILLA

Ingredients:

•   Shredded Jack Cheese

•   Goat Cheese (chèvre)

•   1 bunch cilantro

•   1 bunch finely julienned scallion

•   1 whole roasted Chinese duck

•   1 1/2 cups hoisin sauce

•   Adobo sauce from chipotle in adobo

•   Kosher salt

•   Dry Sherry

•   12 flour tortillas

Method:

1.    Remove skin from duck and de-bone duck.  Then shred or pull the meat into bite size pieces.  Please the meat and drippings in a covered baking dish and warm in the oven (300 degrees).

2.    Mix the adobo sauce and hoisin in a small pot and add a Teaspoon of dry sherry. Warm the mixture over medium heat and then remove.

3.    Heat fry pan to medium high.  Place one tortilla in the fry pan.  Spread one to two teaspoons of the hoisin/adobo mixture evenly over the tortilla. Place a small amount of jack cheese in the center of the tortilla and make an outer ring of jack cheese along the edges of the tortilla.  The jack Cheese will serve as the "glue" for the quesadilla.  Begin dotting the open spaces with goat cheese, duck, scallion and cilantro. Cover with another tortilla.

4.    After a few minutes, flip the quesadilla and cook on the other side.  The quesadilla should be browned evenly on both sides. 

5.    Cut into eighths and serve with fresh salsa and fresh greek yogurt or sour cream.