Monday, June 7, 2010

Cuckoo for Quesadillas



What's a Tart to do as she waits for the little Tart to arrive? When she's seen every movie, read every book and the baby's room has been finished for months? She cooks. And cooks. And cooks. And nothing simple. Oh no, the bigger the project the better. Anything to distract her from thinking about...the waiting. So this week, we're bring you a carnival of quesadillas made with three different types of tortillas...


...whole wheat, flour and corn. Now, we were of course familiar with the American version, but what we didn't know is the traditional Mexican quesadilla is a corn tortilla cooked in a Comal with a melting cheese like Queso Oaxaca and then folded in half and served like a taco. Sometimes you'll see recipes that use two tortillas, made more like a sandwich and cut into triangles; in Mexico, that is typically called a Sincronizada. We thought we knew, but we had no idea.

So we set up our own little quesadilla bar, with a variety of toppings and tortillas and got down to some serious biz-adilla...


Caramelized Onion, Toasted Walnut and Gorgonzola Quesadillas

1 package flour tortillas
1 1/2 cups Gorgonzola crumbles
1 cup walnuts
1 red onion
1 tsp. agave nectar
olive oil
red wine
salt/pepper

Lightly toast walnuts in a sauté pan over low heat.


Let cool and then coarsely chop. Set aside.

Slice your red onion in half moons.


Heat 1 Tbsp of olive oil in sauté pan over medium heat. Add onions and cook til they begin to soften. Add 1/2 cup red wine and a tsp. of agave nectar and continue to cook until very soft, adding more wine if necessary. (Feel free to sweeten them with brown sugar)
Set aside.

We're pretty confident you know the next step, but humor us...

We don't own a Comal, so we used a cast iron griddle. Heat griddle or pan over medium heat. Spray or lightly oil to keep tortillas from burning. Lay one tortilla flat and on one half, layer with cheese, onions and walnuts...


Sprinkle with salt and pepper, then fold over and press down with a spatula. Cook for about five minutes, flipping to keep from burning. (This griddle tends to cook pretty hot; if you're using a regular pan, you may not have to flip.) When cheese has mostly melted, remove from pan and slice.


Serve right away or keep warm in the oven on low heat while you prepare the rest.

Enjoy! These quesadillas are delicious and will surely be the hit of the party. Just pray this guy doesn't show up...


I've said this before and I'll say it again, "Seriously dude. Beat it."

Be back tomorrow with Quesadilla # 2!

4 comments:

  1. Quesadillas are one of my fav easy things to make. So many delicious versions, and I love this one! You both must be getting excited for the arrival of little tart!

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  2. Yum! Quesadillas are one of my favorite things ever. I love the new factoid of the day about the Mexican ones - gonna have to try that. Here are 2 amazing versions I made, one also using caramelized onion:

    http://www.20somethingcupcakes.com/2010/04/scrambled-egg-quesadillas/

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  3. you can do the foot thing?! WTF?!!! now i realllly can't wait to meet you:)
    see you sat!

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