Quesadillas

These are delightful, easy to prepare snacks which everyone loves. They can be considered like a Mexican version of cheese on toast. You can vary the type of cheese, but either way, they are best served hot and eaten soon after preparation. As a simple food, they are easy to make, but brilliant to experiment with.

You’ll need: (Serves 4)

200g of mild Cheddar or Monterey Jack Cheese (grated) or mozzarella (patted dry and sliced into thin strips)

1 chilli if you want to spice them up a little

8 tortillas

Tomato salsa, sour cream and/or guacamole to serve with.

Method

Warm a large frying pan, with no oil) and place one tortilla in the middle. Sprinkle an eighth of the cheese onto one half of the tortilla and a little chilli if you’re spicing things up.

Fold the tortilla over and press the edges down. Cook on this side for around a minute and then flip it over and cook on that side for a minute. The tortillas shouldn’t be flaccid by the end, but shouldn’t be too crispy either.

Remove from the heat and cut into half or thirds and serve immediately.

These are often eaten immediately after cooking so one or two people will be in the kitchen making them, while everyone enjoys them as they are brought out. They go a little chewy if they’re kept warm or left standing for a while.

Variations

You can of course add other things such as re-fried beans, meat such as bacon, chorizo or strips of beef, ham or pork, thin slices of uncooked onion (one of the less strong varieties), cooked potato, spinach, peppers or a variety of flavourings such as coriander, chives, basil, pepper or cayenne pepper.

You can even experiment with sweet quesadillas – using the sorts of ingredients you might use with pancakes. Your imagination is the limit.