Apricot Salsa Quesadillas

So I came home from school early today, and it was lunch time plus I’d woken up at 6 to write some super scary biology essay about antibiotic resistant bacteria (Jeez you guys, superbugs are cray. Promise me you won’t misuse or overuse antibiotics, ‘kay?) so I was insanely hungry.

Now usually, for lunch I go for something with eggs because I want some protein to hold me over for the next few hours, but today I really wasn’t feeling it. That’s when I spied some mini tortillas in the fridge.

I was initially going to make some kind of flat bread type thing. Like chop up some basil and tomatoes and throw it on there with cheese, then shove it under the grill. Then I realised if I just put some bell pepper in there, it would start getting Mexicany, and a memory of quesadillas (from like 2 years ago, literally.) popped into my head and I decided to go with it.

I’d never made a quesadilla before this.

I’d never read a quesadilla recipe (not that I can remember anyway)

I don’t even think if I’ve even pinned a picture of a quesadilla (which also made styling this kind of a shot in the dark)

and only ever had them a handful of times, but I just remember them being TOTALLY ACE and that was enough to make me want one right then + there.

I just went with the flow of things, using the basic flavour profile that I imagine they had: tomatoes, bell pepper, Mexican spices, onion and some lime juice (I was considering adding apple cider vinegar, but spied the half lime on the counter and thought it was more appropriate).

Then

another memory came up.

You know how Whole Foods is like a food sample Mecca? Yeah, well one time, they had this pineapple salsa sample that was utterly fab (great story Izy..great story..).

We didn’t have pineapple

buttttt

we did have fresh apricots! The acidity/sweetness of which I think of as kind of similar to pineapple. SO IN IT WENT.

Cheese was a must, of course

so that got sprinkled onto the tortilla that I dry fried in the skillet

and thus, I made a quesadilla.

So this is why, when you read this recipe, it’s probably not anywhere like a traditional quesadilla (I mean, I’ve googled them now, and… I cooked the salsa.. :/ soo… ).

and I’m sorry if that harms your quesadilla loving hearts (seriously, the instagram of this was basically as popular as my chocolate chip cookie one, so I now think of everyone as quesadilla lovers) but I literally don’t care because it was so good that I think all quesadillas from now on should contain fruity, cooked salsa.

(p.s. If you did see the instagram picture of it, I HOPE YOU LIKED THE PUN. I laughed at it for about 10 minutes. Alone.)

(p.p.s the chocolate chip cookie recipe is also coming this week)

Notes

- Instead of using an apricot, try out other fruits like 1/2 a peach, 1/4 cup diced strawberries or 1/4 cup diced pineapple, orrrr you can leave the fruit out.
- I served my quesadilla with sour cream and some chopped cilantro + basil + some lime zest
- You can totally add cayenne, tabasco, sriracha or chili pepper to the cooked salsa
- Okay, I’ve made the name plural ‘Quesadillas’ but this makes one quesadilla, but it’s pretty simple to just double the recipe and make multiples if you want.

Print

Apricot Salsa Quesadillas

2-3 tomatoes (depending on size)

1 fresh apricot, de-stoned (see notes)

1/2 green bell pepper

1 shallot

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp smoked paprika

juice and zest of 1/2 a lime

3 tbsp grated Red Leicester or Cheddar Cheese (or some other cheese)

2 small tortillas

Peel, halve and finely slice the shallot.

Roughly chop up the tomatoes, bell pepper and apricot together to make a salsa.

Fry this in a small skillet with a little oil, along with the sliced shallot, cinnamon, paprika, lime zest and juice. Cook over a medium heat for about 5 minutes, until the shallot is slightly translucent.

If you're going to use this skillet to heat the tortilla, then remove the vegetable mixture to a plate and set aside, then clean and dry the skillet. Or, if you're just going to use a different skillet, just set the veg mixture aside.

Either way, heat a clean, dry skillet and place one tortilla into it. Sprinkle the cheese over the surface of the tortilla and heat on medium-low until the cheese melts and the underside of the tortilla is golden-brown. Quickly spoon the vegetable mixture over the cheesy tortilla, top with the second tortilla and carefully flip the whole thing over using a spatula. Cook until the underside of this second tortilla is golden brown.

Remove from the skillet and cut into wedges.