Marinades Part 2 - And some Mexican sort of things

I mentioned a while back in this post that I'd received a set of little marinades for Christmas. Well I've finally gotten around to using my second of them, taking the Honey Garlic bottle and some chicken I had in the freezer and combining them after the chicken had mostly thawed.

^{Looks just like you expect when you put chopped up chicken into a marinade}

Ok, so the Chicken is marinating now, what am I actually making with it? Well I'll give you a hint:

^{That's right! I'm mixing a bunch of ingredients that aren't Mexican together into a tortilla and calling it maybe Mexican}

First up I slice up the Onion and Fennel and saute them over a very low heat for a silly amount of time...

^{Diced onion, Sliced Fennel. Butter.}

After some time I added the diced Capsicum to the Fennel and Onion, and let it cook until it was soft. I tipped all that out into a container before using the same pan to cook the chicken in. While I was doing this, I also prepared the refried beans in a saucepan. They were simply a matter of empty the can into the pan, add a can of water, heat over medium low stirring until it's well combined and simmer for about 5 minutes.

^{I also opened a jar of Taco sauce and heated 3 tortilla in the microwave according to packet instructions}

Take a tortilla, put in a bit of refried beans, top with chicken, then the fennel mix, and finally taco sauce. Wrap and repeat.

^{They never look better than this, and boy does that not look appetizing!}

^{Probably why we hide the refried beans away, looks much better already}

^{Now that looks pretty tasty, if nowhere close to authentic}

^{And dinner is ready to be devoured. I think it took me too long to make though and I've lost focus}

As with all things I make, there were leftovers, which I enjoyed for days afterwards, but specifically I enjoyed them as a kind of quesadilla. Instead of layering in a pile, spread the refried beans over half the tortilla, then layer the fennel, chicken and taco sauce on top. Fold over the other half of the tortilla and cook in the sandwich press until crispy.

^{Less refried beans made it better. I assume I just had the balance out in the things I made for dinner}

^{My sandwich press has ridges on both plates. Gives great grill marks, but isn't good for consistent colouring}

The first nights dinner, the chicken was very nice, with the sweetness from the honey coming through slightly. The garlic was completely absent though, but probably more because it was covered by all the other things, as I could certainly smell it while cooking. I really enjoyed the fennel mix, and the taco sauce gave just the right amount of heat. I was pretty sure I put too much refried beans into them, and it was definitely the most dominant flavour in the first one (I reduced how much was in them but it was still too much).

The leftover quesadillas were very good. A thin spread of refried beans still had their flavour in the mix, but it wasn't dominating, which allowed the chicken and fennel to shine more. These were some of the nicest quesadilla I've made, and certainly the best in this house (well, they're the only ones in this house, so...)

Having said all that, this bottle wasn't a good advertising for me buying their marinades, as I'd much rather mix up my own and get more honey and (much) more garlic into the chicken. It was not a bad marinade, but it could easily be better.

Previous Packet Meals

Butter Chicken
Beef and Red Wine Casserole
Country Beef Casserole
Marinades Part 1
Creamy Herb and Garlic Potato Bake
Chicken Korma
Steak, Veggies and Diane Sauce
Farmhouse Chicken Casserole
Pasta Carbonara
Roast Chicken, Veggies and Gravy

^{Upgoats made by the talented @ryivhnn}