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Italian quesadilla … delicious, if not oxymoronic

 

quesadilla with pesto sausage caramelized onions

I bought brown rice tortillas this week, and that means quesadillas in our house. The little tortilla pies are not something we indulge in very often because they just don’t come out great with corn tortillas. Since Owen and I don’t eat wheat, and we find it hard to work with the texture of the sprouted grain tortillas, we weren’t really left with much choice until I stumbled upon these little beauties at Trader Joe’s.

Of course we couldn’t keep it simple — it’s like unleashing a newly released prisoner in Las Vegas, right on Brothel Street. It’s hard just to ease into it once you’ve been given permission to let loose. We made two different kinds of quesadillas tonight, and it was our melding of two cultures that created the masterpiece.

Yes, we put pesto in a quesadilla, along with homemade sausage from the local meat market, two kinds of cheese and some caramelized onions and mushrooms. A little drizzle of aged balsamic vinegar and a thing of culinary beauty was born.

italian quesadilla

Quesadilla with Pesto, Sausage and Caramelized Onion

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Ingredients:

  • 2 tortillas (we used brown rice ones)
  • about 2 tablespoons pesto (we used our homemade pesto)
  • gourmet sausage (about 1 per quesadilla; we used sun-dried tomato basil), casings removed
  • 1 onion, thinly sliced and caramelized
  • 8 ounces mushrooms, sliced and sauteed until just browning
  • mozzarella cheese, shredded
  • feta cheese, crumbled
  • aged balsamic vinegar (10 years of syrupy sweetness)

Cook up veggies while scrambling the sausage in another pan until browned and cooked through, about 5-10 minutes.

Then assemble the quesadilla in the following order: bottom tortilla, mozzarella cheese to taste, sausage, onions, mushrooms, feta, more mozzarella, top tortilla.

In a 12-inch skillet over low-to-medium heat, place the quesadilla with a smaller skillet on top, to squish things together so the cheese acts like glue when it melts. Try for about 5 minutes a side, or until cheese is melty and tortillas brown to taste.

Cut with a pizza wheel into four piece and drizzle with the balsamic vinegar just before serving.

You may never go back to a Mexican quesadilla again.

Photo Credit: Debbie, Keith McDuffee

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