Quesadillas are one of my all time favourite things to make for a casual snacky dinner on a hot day. They’re so tasty, quick to make and I kind of like the laid back eating with your hands vibe. Enjoy them out in the garden on a hot summer’s evening. I also think they’re a great ‘movie night’ dinner as they’re more substantial than nachos and popcorn and it makes an exciting change from pizza.
The trick to getting them right is not to over fill your quesadillas and also to use enough cheese to make sure the filling and the wrap stick together, otherwise you’re going to have a tough time when it comes to the flipping part. Because you don’t need to over stuff them, this makes them ideal for using up leftovers. I’ve made them many times with the leftovers from a roast chicken. However, since I’ve been trying to really cut back on meat lately, I swapped out the chicken and went for classic Mexican black beans and a medley of roasted veg instead. For maximum variety I picked up a ready mixed bag of chunky Mediterranean vegetables from the supermarket and roasted them for around half an hour. Use whatever veg you fancy though, butternut squash, peppers and courgettes work very well. If you’ve roasted too much, save the rest and use in salads or packed lunches throughout the week.
Ingredients
This recipe makes 2 quesadillas. Serves 2 as a meal or 4-6 as a snack.
4 tortilla wraps
50g grated mature cheddar cheese
1 carton black beans, drained
500g mixed Mediterranean vegetables, roasted
2 spring onions, finely chopped
Olive oil spray
Serve with:
Guacamole
Sour cream
Tomato salsa
Method
- Make sure all of the roasted vegetables for your filling have been diced up small enough so as not to make your quesadilla too bulky. A roughly 1cm dice will be fine.
- In a large pan heat a couple of sprays of olive oil before throwing in your first tortilla wrap.
- Allow to warm for a minute before adding a good pinch of grated cheddar (this should be roughly 1/4 of what you’ve got). You want to ensure there’s a light coating spread evenly across the tortilla.
- Evenly cover with half of the veg and spring onions and half of the black beans before seasoning with salt and pepper and the same amount of cheese again. Place another tortilla on top and press down. You may wish to place a bowl or plate on top to help everything hold together. Cook for a further couple of minutes.
- Now here comes the tricky part. Place a large plate or board over the top of the pan and, being very careful not to burn yourself on the hot pan, flip the whole thing over turning the quesadilla out onto the board. Then gently slide back into the pan so the tortilla that was previously on top is now face down. It took me a couple of goes to be fully confident at doing this but if you do it quickly and confidently you can’t go wrong.
- Cook for a further 3 minutes or so, allowing the bottom tortilla to be warmed through.
- When you’re ready turn the whole thing out onto a chopping board and allow to rest for a couple of minutes.
- Repeat with the remaining ingredients.
- Cut into quarters and serve with sour cream, guacamole and tomato salsa for dipping.
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