Well filled with simple ingredients make Quesedillas a simple but delicious lunch. You can pack Quesedillas with almost anything that goes into a sandwich, as long as it heats well, and it is a perfect way to use up any leftovers.
This recipe details three different Quesedillas; one with garlic, one with chives and one with sambal (chili paste). If you don’t like one of those options, you can always opt for two (let’s face it, two is plenty as well) or make two of another type.
I have assumed you have small tortillas for sale where you shop, but large tortillas are fine too. You can cut them in half and make quarter-size versions, or make less whole ones. I can highly recommend the sambal and Chinese cabbage though.
Ingredients:
- 3 small flour tortillas
- 5 tranches of streaky bacon
- cheese (Gouda melts well)
- 1 clove of garlic
- lettuce
- Curled part of Chinese cabbage (Napa)
- 4.5 tbs créme fraîche
- 1 tsp sambal
- 1 tsp dried chives
Serves 1 as part of the Budget Challenge
Recipe:
Heat a panini griddle – one of those grills with a liftable grill top, preferably with a tiltable top – while you make the Quesedillas. If you don’t have a panini griddle, use a frying pan.
Heat the griddle to medium hot. You want to bake the Quesedillas as fast as possible as the moisture from the lettuce and bacon can soften the bottoms. They are still delicious but will be harder to lift and sloppier to eat.
Halve the clove of garlic. Smear the garlic over one of the tortillas. Remember which one.
Divide the créme fraîche over the tortillas – all three, including the garlic one, and over the entire area as this provides a sticky surface for the filling. Divide the chives over 1 tortilla without garlic and the sambal over the other.
Sprinkle cheese on the tortillas. In theory you can top all three with cheese but I prefer serving the garlic version without. Personal preference, so feel free to ignore that. Two tablespoons of grated cheese is enough per tortilla. You will fold them so you get double as much as it looks like now.
Cut the streaky bacon into three pieces each. Top half of each tortilla:
Sambal cheese: Chinese cabbage and bacon
Garlic: lettuce and bacon
Chives cheese: Chinese cabbage or lettuce, and bacon
Fold the “empty” side over the filled side and push a little to make it stick together better.
Place them on a hot panini griddle and place the top griddle on top. Bake 3-5 minutes until the Quesedillas have browned nicely and the filling is hot. Time depends on the setting an type of griddle.
In a frying pan they need 2 minutes per side.
Eat piping hot and don’t you dare use knife and fork, these babies taste better eaten by hand.