Veggie Quesadillas

prep time: 10 minutescook time: 5 minutes + 10 minutesservings: 2

I am a sucker for different textures and sensations in a dish and one of my favourite combinations is crispy & gooey as well as spicy & cooling and one recipe that checks all the boxes are veggie quesadillas.

Quesadillas are made with tortillas, thin, round flatbreads, that are widely used in Mexican and Latin American cuisines. Tortillas are a very versatile ingredient and used in many well-loved dishes such as burritos, tacos or fajitas. They are often made from corn, wheat or a mix of both of them. To make a quesadilla, the tortillas are filled with veggies, (meat), and cheese, folded and pan-fried until the outside is golden and the cheese on the inside has melted.

Tortillas are nowadays widely available in supermarkets (check the import section), though most often you will find the wheat-based versions. Personally, I prefer the yellowish corn tortillas, which have a more robust texture and more pronounced flavour compared to the softer wheat flour tortillas, but honestly, both will turn out great. This time around I used wheat, corn as well as rye tortillas.

In Europe, good quesadillas are hard to come by, and I have been disappointed time and time again by bad quesadillas in many restaurants. Either the filling was strange, they used the wrong type of cheese, or too much of it and worst of all, the tortillas were not crispy but soggy. This kinda forced me to come up with my own version of this dish, which I loved so much while staying in the US. If you are looking for a place to eat a great quesadilla, check out La Bodega Negra in London, where they serve an open-faced quesadilla.

Some typical ingredients, such as Mexican queso fresco, are hard to find where we live, so I have to skip them and try to use as many accessible ingredients as possible. This recipe instead calls for cheddar. Whether you grate it yourself or buy the pre-grated kind is completely up to you. I personally prefer the full-flavoured cheddar to other cheeses such as mozzarella, which is too mild in flavour, or Emmental, which I find too sweet. Plus, cheddar is a great melting cheese and our go-to cheese for grilled cheese sandwiches. So, I really recommend you go with cheddar on this one.

The filling can easily be adapted to your liking, veggie or non-veggie, it's completely up to you. However, I find that there are some no-go's for me, such as broccoli or carrots, ingredients I personally never want to see again in a quesadilla (I am still traumatized from one terrible quesadilla experience a couple of years back). My choice of veggies: peppers (any colour you like - I prefer green or red), onion (red, white or yellow - shallots also work), corn and chillies or jalapeños. Make sure to check your pantry for other ingredients, such as beans, they work great in quesadillas and don't hesitate to use last night's meat leftovers such as chicken, pork or sausage. After all, you’re the filler of your quesadilla. And yes, that's a Chef John reference.

Start off by washing your pepper, take out the seeds and white parts and cut into small pieces. Peel your onion and chop it finely. Drain a small can of corn. Chop up one or two jalapeños or red chillies. Not a fan of spiciness? Simply forego this step. Heat 2 tablespoons of olive or plant oil in a large frying pan, add your chopped up veggies and sauté on high heat for a couple of minutes until the veggies start to soften up and have some colour (watch out not to burn them).

Season your veggies with salt, pepper, (smoked) paprika, garlic powder and a pinch of cumin (be quite generous with your seasoning, except for the cumin). If you are lazy, simply get some ready-made fajita spice mix. Transfer to a bowl and let the mixture cool down. Clean out the pan and set aside, you can use the same one to fry your quesadillas later.

It is important that you let your veggies cool down to room temperature before the next step. Often times, restaurants just go overboard with the cheese, making the quesadilla too heavy or the cheese and veggies are not evenly distributed in the tortilla. To counteract this and help control the amount of cheese, I like to mix my cooled veggies and the grated cheese before filling them into the tortillas (at this point add your meat if you want to). This will ensure that in each bite you will have a balanced amount of veggies and gooey cheese. I have found that this also cuts down the amount of cheese I use overall and makes the assembly process easier. If you mixed the hot veggies with the cheese, it would just turn into a clumpy mess.

Take a tortilla and lay it out flat. A large cutting board is a good surface to work on. Scope 2-3 tablespoons of your veggies-cheese mixture on one half of the tortilla and evenly spread it out on only one half, leaving a little edge. Fold the tortilla into a half-moon shape and gently press down with your flat hand to help your tortilla keep its shape. Repeat for all the other tortillas. I prefer not to overfill my tortillas as it makes frying them easier and too much filling can make them quite a heavy dish.

Get your pan and let it heat up to medium-high. Add a bit of vegetable oil and spread it evenly in the pan with a paper towel. Be careful not to burn yourself. Depending on the size of your pan and your tortillas, you should be able to fit at least two. Add them to the pan with the folded edge facing each other. Fry until you see the edges of the tortilla turning brown and crispy. Flip and finishing frying on the other side. By the time the second side has nicely browned, the cheese on the inside will have become nice and gooey.

Quesadillas are traditionally served with tomato salsa or some sort of dipping sauce, such as guacamole or sour cream. My personal preference is sour cream because I feel that the creamy sauce goes great with the hot, spicy and crispy quesadilla. Add a squeeze of lemon or lime juice, a bit of salt, garlic powder and (smoked) paprika to the sour cream. Cut your quesadillas into thirds and serve while hot. You will need about 2-3 medium-sized or 1-1,5 large tortillas per person. If you are making a big batch for a lot of people, keep your quesadillas warm in the oven!

This is a really satisfying and easy dish to make with ingredients you should be able to find in your local supermarket. Plus, the filling is adjustable to your liking. If you love cheesy dishes, this one is for you! You will love the different textures and the combination of spicy chillis with the refreshing sour cream.