This morning, I tried bring together four ideas from recent visits with the kids:
- Jo took us to Morning Glory for brunch in Philadelphia and introduced us to frittatas
- Kate made individual quesadillas using 6 inch tortillas in Portland during our visit last week
- Andy made primo breakfast burritos in Moscow, ID during our visit last week using black beans which he had cooked and then frozen in small plastic bags
- Visiting Molly in Tucson last week provided the opportunity to pick up some real south western tortillas
Yesterday, following Andy's lead, I cooked up a pound of dried black beans and froze them in small plastic bags for future use. This morning, I cooked up half a small onion, 2 cloves of garlic, one bag of beans (I got 9 small bags from a pound of dried beans), some dried red pepper from the garden, some Recaito cilantro cooking base (I used Goya's), salt and pepper, all to taste. I beat two large eggs with salt, pepper, and a little dried mustard and a small glug of milk. Spray two 6 inch skillets with Pam, add 6 inch corn tortillas, layer in cooked bean/onion mix on half, pour in scrambled egg, add shredded cheese and cook, eventually folding over and flipping. Serve with salsa.
Given the ingredient list, it's hard for this to not taste good. However, as executed, it definitely suffered from 10-lb-of-shit-in-a-5-lb-sack syndrome. It was hard to cook through without charring the tortillas, was difficult to fold and flip, and did not quite have the characteristics of a quesadilla because it was too puffed up. Next time, I will use less onion and beans (1/4 onion and half a bag of beans to make filling for two 6 inch tortillas should be enough), maybe a little more Recaito for flavor and only one egg for two 6 inch quesadillas. Mom thought it could use less cheese, but I think the cheese is one of the defining characteristics of the quesadilla so I would leave it the same or maybe a little more. With the lighter filling load and a little practice, it should be possible to get the egg cooked and the cheese melted without overcooking or charring the tortilla. If half an egg is not enough breakfast, you can always make two or use a larger tortilla with more filling. Also, you can obviously substitute flour tortillas, more typical for quesadillas, for corn if it suits.
So, an interesting alternative to the breakfast burrito and worth developing, I think. If you try it, post a comment with your experience.
Neat idea! I'm trying to make bigger more proteinaceous breakfasts lately, and always looking for variety. The first thing Suzie said this morning when she woke up was "Dadad, 'dilla! Suzie 'dilla!" So I tried these out this morning. Yum!
ReplyDeleteFor four quesadillas, I used about 1/2 - 3/4 c up black beans out of the freezer + 1/4 c of frozen corn. I added two small cloves of garlic (it's breakfast, so don't want to go overboard), choppped cilantro, and 1-2 t mayonaise (maybe not authentic, but it helps bind and moisten things). I used 2 eggs + milk, stirred it into the rest of the filling (minus cheese still) and scrambled. I grated a mix of sharp cheddar and mont, jack cheeses. I had flour tortillas so that's what I used.
I use our griddle to make things go quickly. I put the tortilla on to warm up, then flipped it over, sprinkled on some cheese,added some filling, sprinkled on some more cheese, then folded the tortilla in half and cooked until the cheese melted.
Cheesy, but not too much. Got good reviews from the fam. I think these will get added to our regular mix. Thanks for the good idea!
I took another run at this this morning using Maggie's idea of scrambling the eggs in with the beans before putting the quesadilla together. Good intentions notwithstanding, I couldn't help but use 1/2 onion and the whole small bag of frozen beans, white this time, plus 3 small cloves of garlic, so I really didn't cut back on the beans as planned previously. But since I used a bigger tortilla this time, it all worked out. Used a large splat of Recaito, a dash of yellow mustard, and a little cumin, plus salt and pepper, of course, to season. Mom wanted to build a burrito with beans and eggs separate, so I split the beans in two and scrambled one large egg into my half. I used a shredded six cheese mix plus some additional shredded cheddar for cheese and didn't skimp. This time I used a full size flour tortilla (good ones from Tucson), which was better than the corn tortilla I used last time. Spray iron skillet with oil, add tortilla, cover half with a layer of cheese, add on the layer of egg/bean/onion mix, another layer of cheese, fold over, and fry on both sides until the cheese was melted. Served with home made salsa.
ReplyDeleteTotal score! With the flour tortilla and the cheese in the right place, this came out tasting like a quesadilla is supposed to. Great breakfast (actually it would make a great lunch or supper, too!)