Oh my goodness, I’ve got to quit eating like this soon or I’m going to weigh 400 pounds, but my body just won’t give up on this winter recipe eating regiment. I’ll have to up the workouts or something.
When Neil and I were discussing menus for this week and making our meal selections he recalled a fantastic quesadilla that he’d had at a brewery some time ago. It was butternut squash layered with caramelized onions and gooey cheesy goodness. I decided to try and replicate that from description.
- I started out by cubing up and boiling a butternut squash.
Once it was thoroughly cooked I whipped it up with a smidge of butter, some salt, pepper, and maple syrup, and this concoction was set aside.
- While the squash was boiling away I set two medium-sized onions to sweat in a cast iron fry pan with a bit of olive oil and butter over a low heat.
By the time they were done, they were sweet like candy and a beautiful brown.
- Next up was the assembly. For the first one I placed a soft tortilla on a griddle pan over a medium heat and scattered it with finely shredded monterey jack cheese, then spooned on some of the whipped squash, a layer of caramelized onions, more cheese, and a second tortilla. By the time I was done assembling the quesadilla it was time to flip it over*. For the second one I used some local feta cheese instead for a very different flavor profile.
As for serving, Neil preferred his sweet quesadilla topped with a spicy salsa. I liked mine just as it was. We accompanied this tasty dish with salads of field greens topped with roasted root vegetables (sweet potato, beet, onion and garlic) and a simple balsamic vinaigrette.
Since they were so big, we both had left-overs. I popped mine in the fridge and had it cold this morning as a snack.
*In the future I will make these with just one tortilla, folded in half as there was just too much food in the ones that I made and they were hard to handle (for flipping, eating).
J
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