Recipe - Quesadillas (fried, filled tortilla/ flat bread) Time (20mins) Skill (easy) Eating (medium)

I like pizza. But it's quite hard to eat, in that it needs a bit of chewing and my fingers get messy.  I have found Quesadillas are a good alternative, easier to eat and can be very quick to prepare.

This Quesadilla was made with 2 plain chappattis, and a filling of chopped onion, red pepper and sweetcorn with a bit of garlic paste.


What is it? a fried sandwich of tortilla (though I often use plain chappatti) with a filling of your choice.

Time required? Depends on what you have in it, if you need to cook the filling, it's going to take about 20mins, if you don't it takes less time.

Cooking Skill required? Ability to mix the filling and ability to turn the quesadilla half way through frying (using a filling that glues the tortillas together helps).

Eating ability required? Medium. Because you need to be able to chew the bread, you can make it easier or harder depending on the filling.

QUESADILLAS

Portion size:  serves one

Ingredients
-2x Soft Corn Tortillas or Wraps or Plain Chappatti or Flat Bread (Ikea does a really nice one with caraway seeds in). These need to be able to fit into your frying pan lying flat.
- vegetable Oil - to moisten the frying pan so the tortilla doesn't stick
- tomato paste - spread sparingly on one side of both tortillas.
-The filling:  This can be anything you fancy. Generally I have Protein, Vegetables and something to stick it all together:
Protein - Cold already cooked meats like ham, chicken, turkey etc or chopped boiled egg
Vegetables - sweetcorn, avocado, onions, red peppers, celery, tomato.
Sticking agent - grated cheese or mayonnaise or yoghurt etc. Something to moisten the filling without making it soggy.

Preparation:

1. If any of your ingredients need cooking, like onion or red peppers or the avocado isn't quite ripe etc, or some of your ingredients are frozen like sweetcorn etc then put a bit of oil in the frying pan and cook them gently. Once cooked, remove from the pan and put in a bowl. Once it's cooled a little if you're using mayonnaise or yoghurt, mix that all together in the bowl.

2. Take the Tortillas (or other flat bread you're using), and spread ONE side of each Tortilla with tomato paste. Be sparing!

3. Add a bit of oil to the frying pan (no need to wash it, the flavours of what you cooked at step 1 will make it taste better) and put the first Tortilla in the frying pan (tomato pasted side UP).  Let the tortilla warm for a short time, then spread whatever filling you've cooked/ decided to use on top of the tomato pasted Tortilla. 

4.  Let the filling warm for short time (particularly if it's a filling that doesn't need cooking and has just come out of the fridge. If you're using cheese, sprinkle the grated cheese over the top.

4.  Put the second Tortilla on top of the filling. Tomato pasted side DOWN. 

5. After a couple of minutes, once the top tortilla has warmed up and the filling is all melting together, the bottom tortilla should have been fried enough to be a little hard, using a fish slice or similar, turn over the 'sandwich' so the top Tortilla is now at the bottom. 

6. Fry for a little longer until the Tortilla is fried enough.  Tip out onto a plate and cut into slices.

Alternatives: For a smaller meal you can use a single flatbread, and at stage 3, put the filling on one half and fold the other half of the tortilla over it. This makes a half moon shaped tortilla. There's lots of different fillings to be found if you google Quesadillas online.

It's a particularly good way of using odd bits of leftover food from the fridge as a nutritious & yummy lunch!

Can it be reheated?  Yes absolutely. It's not so great in the microwave, is better reheated in the oven or under a grill, but is still edible if microwaved, just loses the crispness of the tortilla. Make sure it's gone completely cold before you put it in the fridge.

Can it be frozen? Probably, but I'm not sure how good it will be on defrosting.