Qrazy Qrooked Quesadillas Part 1

Toasted cheese sandwiches are an amazing comfort food when you're either ill, cold, sad, staying at your parents' house or just need a quick lunch. But a 'Wow your friends' recipe? I think not.

However, exchange the bread for a tortilla wrap and call it a quesadilla, and now you're in Wow territory. The only thing is, you can't just leave it there. You need to do some other cool stuff to it to make it into a Potless creation.

A few months ago, I watched a Nigella re-run, where the Domestic Goddess made a quesadilla with a piece of cheese and a strip of ham. And no other ingredients. Quite frankly, it was watching that episode that made me think I may have something to offer the world, with some of my 'special' creations.

I mean, I LOVE Nigella, but I would rather send out for McDonalds than offer my friends a toasted ham and cheese sandwich. I accept that maybe the point of that particular episode was 'comfort food' or something, but not even a spring onion? Come on!

As long as you have tortilla wraps and some cheese (if the recipe doesn't call for cheese, the peanut butter in the recipe below acts just as well - even if you can't strictly call it a 'quesa'dilla) to glue them together, you can make these Mexican-inspired treats with almost any flavours you fancy, and any sauces you like to dip them into. The four fillings and sauces here are really easy to make and are great party food, or supper with drinks when the guys come round to watch movies.

Depending on your ingredients, this dish is a fairly low cost affair (you could use smoked salmon off-cuts to make one of the recipes below even cheaper) at £2 per serving, but even if you use slightly more expensive ingredients, you should still be on budget.

Two recipes are below, with the other two to come tomorrow.

Serves 4 (2 of each flavour, to share)

Smoked Salmon, Crumbled Feta, Ricotta and Chive Quesadilla, with a Horseradish Creme Fraiche Dip

Smoked Salmon, Crumbled Feta, Ricotta and Chive Quesadilla

INGREDIENTS:

100g smoked salmon, coarsely chopped
100g feta cheese, crumbled
100g ricotta cheese
Bunch of chives, finely chopped
4 large tortilla wraps

Combine the salmon, cheeses and the chives to form a stiff paste. Spread half of the paste over one tortilla, leaving a 5cm border. Lay another tortilla over the top and cook in a moderately hot dry frying pan, turning once, until both sides are golden and toasted and the filling is oozing. Repeat with the other quesadilla. Cut them into four quarters and serve with the horseradish creme fraiche dip.

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Horseradish Creme Fraiche Dip

INGREDIENTS

100g creme fraiche
1 tablespoon of prepared horseradish sauce
Juice of a lemon
Pinches of salt and pepper

Combine ingredients in a bowl and set aside for flavours to amalgamate, until needed. 

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Snickers Bar and Banana Quesadilla, with a Peanut Butter and Jam Dip

Snickers Bar and Banana Quesadilla

INGREDIENTS:

2 Snickers bars, cut into 1cm dice
2 bananas, cut into 1cm dice
4 large tortilla wraps

Cover one tortilla wrap with half of the Snickers bar and banana chunks, leaving a 5cm border. Lay another tortilla over the top and cook in a moderately hot dry frying pan, turning once, until both sides are golden and toasted and the filling is oozing. Repeat with the other quesadilla. Cut them into four quarters and serve with the peanut butter and jam dip.

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Peanut Butter and Jam Dip

INGREDIENTS:

100g apricot jam
100g peanut butter
3 tablespoons of apple juice
1 tablespoon of lemon juice

Heat in a microwave until the ingredients have amalgamated (1-2 minutes approx). Serve warm.