The Kitchen of Belis

Quesadillas... I was having a quesadilla craving. However, I have been so bored with predictable restaurant-style, cheese filled grease bags you get in most places. Don't the Mexican restaurant cooks know that one doesn't need to be limited with creativity when it comes to making quesadilla? Enough is enough and I decided to make my own :)





Ingredients

15-20 pieces of medium size shiitake mushrooms
15-20 pearl onions in halves (you can use sliced yellow onions too)
2 cloves of garlic, crushed by using the flat side of your knife and coarsely chopped
2 Anaheim peppers seeded, chopped
1 roasted red bell pepper, chopped (TJ's Roasted Bell Peppers work just fine)
Your choice of shredded cheese (mine is Mexican-style soy cheese)
1 TBS tomato paste
2 TBS safflower oil
1/2 TBS of Mexican seasoning of your choice
Salt and pepper to taste
Water to moisten, about 1/4 of a cup
Whole wheat tortilla wraps

Heat the oil in a medium-size pan, on medium heat. Add onions. When onions start turning pink, add garlic and cook for about a minute. Add mushrooms and cook an additional three minutes. Then add anaheim bell peppers. Add your seasoning. Once you feel like you need to add more oil, add your water. Water in this case is a great substitute to oil and keeps the dish healthier. Mix in the tomato paste. Add salt and pepper. Cook until vegetables are tender. Add roasted red peppers. This will be your filling.

Warm the press grill. Warm up the tortilla wraps. Cover one wrap with the filling add cheese and place another one on top. Press cook for about three minutes until the wraps start to blister.

Cut in fours and serve warm.

If you do not have a press grill, that's OK. You can use a tortilla wrap size pan and press with a heat resistant plate.