Quesadillas
Makes 4 small/2 large
I love Mexican food. It’s so fresh and zingy with spices. One of my favourites to batch cook is the Jamie Oliver recipe ‘Chilli con Jamie’ which is sweet, smoky and deep with the flavour of chillis, enhanced by coffee. It is slow cooked with chunks of beef that are then shredded into the sauce, and it makes for a much more satisfying chilli than one made with mince.
This evening we were going to have fajitas but I decided to mix things up and so decided we’d have quesadillas. I decided to make my own fajita spice mix, but you could always use one from a shop. I made my quesadillas with free range pork, but they would be good with free range chicken or beef too. Likewise, if you wanted to try a veggie version, why not replace the meat with some roasted diced butternut squash or sweet potato; their natural sweetness will go well with the spicy seasoning.
- Ingredients:
- 1 tbsp oil
- 1 onion, small dice
- 1 pepper, small dice
- 300g meat (e.g. pork/chicken/beef) cut in to 1/2 cm dice
- 1 portion of fajita spice mix
- Juice of 1/2 a lime
- 2 tbsp chopped coriander
- 8 small wraps/4 large wraps
- 200g grated cheese that is good for melting e.g. mozzarella
- Oil for frying e.g. Frylight
Step 1: In a frying pan on a medium heat, add the oil, onion and peppers and fry for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally until they are softened and browned slightly.
Step 2: Whilst these fry, combine the fajita spice mix and the diced meat in a bowl and stir to ensure that the meat is evenly coated.
Step 3: Increase the heat and add the meat, fry for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally to ensure all sides of the meat are being cooked.
Step 4: Add the juice of half a lime and cook for a further couple of minutes to allow the meat to finish cooking through, and to evaporate the moisture to leave a dry mix.
Step 5: Remove from the heat and stir through the chopped coriander.
Step 6: Place a separate, non stick frying pan on a medium heat and spray with Frylight or wipe a small amount of oil on the pan. Place 1 small tortilla wrap in the pan, and top with about 1/8 of the cheese, followed by 1/4 of the cooked meat mixture, another 1/8 of the cheese and finally another wrap. Use a fish slice to press the quesadilla down and cook for 1-2 minutes until the bottom layer of cheese has begun to melt and the bottom wrap should have crisped up and turned golden brown. Spray the top wrap with a little more oil and then use the fish slice to flip the quesadilla and cook for a further 1-2 minutes on the other side. Turn the quesadilla out and keep warm whilst you repeat the process with the remaining wraps and mixture.
I would serve two of these (small) quesadillas per adult for a main meal, served with a salad (try mixing lettuce, spring onion, avocado, chopped jalapeños from a jar, and dress with the juice from the remaining lime and a little olive oil).