When I first lived on my own, one of the first meals that became a quick-fix rescue dish on nights when I was too tired and hungry to haul out the pots and pans was the quesadilla.
My quesadillas have gone through many iterations. They started as simple affairs of cheese and white flour tortillas. I’ve added bacon, chicken, spinach, salsa, sour cream, black beans, corn, onions, tomatoes, and, well, anything else you could logically add to a quesadilla at various times.
I’ve also switched to whole-wheat tortillas, although they don’t seem to develop the same crispy crusty texture that the Pinata white-flour ones do, so I might have to go back to those sometime soon.
I have learned the hard way that less is usually more with these things.
I’ve grilled them in the pan with some oil when I crave a crispy crust and a little more decadence, but most of the time, I just bake them in the oven, on a foil-covered cookie sheet that doesn’t get dirty, and therefore doesn’t make getting something decent into my tummy any more difficult.
I keep Sargento’s Mexican-blend shredded cheese on-hand for my queso’s, but several months ago, I was intrigued by an idea I saw in Southern Living.
The magazine suggested a quesadilla with Gruyere and pears. This afternoon, famished and poking around my cupboards, I decided to give it a try.
I had an Asian pear in my fruit bowl that a friend gave me just after New Year’s. I sliced it up and layered it into the tortilla with shredded Gruyere and some walnuts.
It being Sunday, I decided to go all-out and grill it in the pan with some oil. I wanted a crispy tortilla and didn’t feel like pre-heating an oven.
It came out all-right. I think Granny Smith apples would be a nice subsitute for the pears. I felt like the quesadilla needed a little more acidity, a kick from something. I did like the texture of the cheese, fruit and walnuts, though, and gruyere was a nice alternative to pre-shredded mix (and I always prefer cheese I shred myself to pre-shredded stuff).
The good thing about this recipe is that, unlike with my normal Tex-Mex version of queso’s, I don’t feel tempted to drown this one in insane amounts of sour cream. It stands up just fine by itself.
