Friday, March 20, 2009

A Tale of Three Quesadillas

Apparently it's been quesadilla madness in my kitchen. And not just any quesadillas. I've been putting together entirely new combos and concoctions that, while I never would have thought of them on my own, are absolutely delicious. I highly recommend all three, and urge you to try out the recipes for yourself. Yummo!

Ever since baking a batch of asparagus spice cookies, I haven't been able to get enough of this vegetable. So naturally my first quesadilla was an asparagus and goat cheese combination, inspired by an AllRecipes recipe. This was so delicious! I didn't realize quite how good goat cheese can be. Although I probably should have considering how much I enjoy goat's milk yogurt. I served this with a side of raspberry asparagus, which was interesting but a little odd. I'm glad I tried it but probably won't make it again, unlike the quesadilla, which was a winner.

The second quesadilla was also goat cheese-based (I had to use up the goat cheese, after all!). The recipe for this goat cheese and roasted corn quesadilla is from this month's (March 2009) edition of Cooking Light. I saw it while leafing through the magazine when I was waiting on the check-out line at Safeway, where, incidentally, I had just been shopping for ingredients for the first quesadilla. When I saw this recipe, I knew I had to try it. The mixture of corn, green salsa, and goat cheese is amazing, especially when spread between crispy corn tortillas. This was probably my favorite of the two goat cheese quesadillas.

For quesadilla numero tres, I left goat cheese behind for this sweet potato, apple, and cotija quesadilla from The Duo Dishes blog. I used canned pumpkin, and thought that this recipe topped them all. I've never used cotija before, which is a part skim Mexican cheese. It really added a distinct Mexican flavor, though, and I adore it. I think I may have to use it in place of cheddar in my southwestern dishes from now on! If you only choose to try out one of these three quesadillas, this one is it.

I can't believe how many new recipes I tried! Usually I'm all for browsing recipes online and then making them my own, but with these I pretty much stuck with the authors' original plans. And it paid off! Tinkering in the kitchen has its place . . . but so does following directions. I think I need to try it more often. What about you -- do you like to free-form cook, or are you a devout recipe-follower?

2 comments:

  1. Wow, three different quesadillas - and very unique combinations, love it! Btw, the comment form is working now!

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  2. Glad you enjoyed the recipe. Isn't cotija amazing? We were inspired to try three completely different recipes with it--that's how much we loved it! All of the quesadillas you whipped up sound delish, especially the goat cheese/roasted corn combo. It must've smelled amazing.

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