Quesadilla Night

Yale asked me to write about something he can make. Quesadillas are easy, quick, and satisfying. Plus we made them with avocados. And avocados are possibly the best food on earth. Eating an avocado every day is my idea of paradise. But quesadillas are pretty variable, you can really put almost anything in them.

Step one is of course to assemble your ingredients. The most important ingredient is the cheese. I used a queso chihuahua also known as queso menonita; the important thing is that its a good melting cheese, look for a semi-soft milk cheese. You could also try a queso asadero, jalapeño, or oaxaca (also known as quesillo). Or I guess you could just use monterray jack, fontina, or mozzarella, but what's the fun of that? We used avocados, onions, and tomatoes as well. And hot sauce, you will need hot sauce. The gin and tonic is also optional.

You want to slice the ingredients very thin. The onions work a little better chopped, but its not a big deal. Toss the (corn) tortilla in a hot pan and layer the ingredients on one half - cheese first. Dave likes to put his hot sauce in afterwards which does have the benefit of getting to see gooey cheese and less liquid while its cooking. But I didn't really notice a difference in how they cooked. Also with a good non-stick pan or griddle you don't need to use any oil. But if you want or need oil, use it very sparingly. Otherwise it'll get greasy.

When the cheese starts to melt a little along the edges bring the other half over and smoosh it down. The tortilla will break if its not warm. So you heat it up and make a glue with the cheese. Let it sit for a bit and turn it over when the tortilla starts to bubble up a little. Don't pick it up and try to flip it like a pancake. Instead lift up the open end with a spatula and flip it on the fold. Get it a little brown on both sides and eat!