This is Recipe Roundup, Episode 77. Today’s recipe is a reminder for me that it’s always really easy to elevate a common snack into something truly delicious with just a little bit more effort. Growing up, I could generally count on flour tortillas and shredded cheese being in my parent’s fridge. Paper plate, assemble and Microwave for 30 seconds and you have what might be considered a quesadilla. This is still the foolproof way to go about it if your only focus is getting food into your mouth as soon as possible. But it doesn’t take much more time to take this from old reliable calories to a delightful expression of cheesy self care. 

Feel free to add or remove ingredients to suit your tastes, but I would suggest the following: 

Cooked and Shredded Chicken

Cooked and crumbled Bacon

Mexican Blend of shredded cheese

Jalapenos, pickled or fresh

Finely Diced Tomato and Onion

Sour Cream 

And Pico De Gallo or another cilantro forward salsa

Although I am personally partial to corn tortillas, Large Flour tortillas are the perfect match for a good pan fried quesadilla. This is a recipe to prepare in the pan, so make sure you have all of your fillings handy as you start the process. 

Heat a nonstick skillet over medium heat. Once you can feel the heat coming off of it, add in a generous amount of butter – I refuse to make quesadillas in plant oils but to each their own. Once the butter is completely melted, make sure it is spread around the entire skillet and place your first tortilla in. 

Begin assembling the quesadilla immediately.  First, sprinkle a healthy layer of cheese on the tortilla. Then arrange your chicken, bacon, blue cheese, jalapenos, and a small amount of tomato and onion – Too much liquid will make it difficult for the quesadilla to stay together, so stay mindful of your wet ingredients since you can always put more on the outside. Then sprinkle again with another layer of cheese. At this point, cover the skillet so that the cheese has a chance to get melty and hold the whole thing together, this should take about 1 minute at most. Once the cheese is sticky enough, place the second tortilla on top. Very carefully flip so that you can brown the second tortilla. Continue flipping if you want extra color on the outside. 

When you are done, transfer to a plate and let rest for at least 3 minutes. Then Cut into pieces and serve with Sour Cream and Pico De Gallo – which you can make yourself from the diced tomato, onion, and  jalapeno with a squeeze of lime and some chopped cilantro!

All of my recipes are online at alleghenymountainradio.org. You can share your own recipes with the show by sending them to sage@amrmail.org. For recipe Roundup this is Sage Tanguay.