| The Tex-Mex answer to stuffed crêpes, quesadillas are wheat-flour tortillas stuffed with cheese and whatever else comes to hand. American recipes call for Monterey Jack cheese, or sometimes Cheddar, but Wensleydale works wonderfully. Meaty black beans make these quesadillas more substantial, great for a brunch with guacamole, salsa and sour cream trimmings. |
Black "turtle" beans are a variety of Phaseolus vulgaris or common bean that's very popular in the Americas, where the species originated. The beans are now popular around the world and known as karuppu kaaramani in Tamil, frijoles negros in Spanish and feijão preto in Portuguese.
This recipe is featured in Jenny Chandler's books Pulse and its condensed sibling Super Pulses, her seminal collections of bean, pea, lentil, chickpea and other pulse recipes and essential reading for anyone already obsessed with pulses or just keen to cook more.
Serves 4 as a main, 8 as a starter or snack
Ingredients
- 150g Wensleydale cheese, or Cheddar at a pinch, crumbled
- 6 Spring Onion, sliced
- 500g Cooked Black Beans
- 4 to 5 Pickled Jalapeno Peppers (from a jar), sliced (optional)
- Small Handful of Coriander Leaves, finely chopped
-
Salt and Pepper
- 8 Soft Tortillas
- Olive Oil
Tomato Salsas
- 6 Medium Tomatoes or 12–15 Cherry Tomatoes, roughly chopped
- ½ Red Onion, finely diced
- 1 Red or Green Chilli, finely diced (optional)
- ½ to 1 Lime, juice
- Small Bunch of Coriander, finely chopped
- 2 to 3 tbsp Extra-Virgin Olive Oil
- ½ tsp Salt
- Pinch of Sugar (optional)
Guacamole
- ½ Red Onion, very finely diced
- 1 to 2 Chillies, diced very finely
- 1 to 2 Limes, juiced
- 2 to 3 tbsp Ripe Avocados (depending on size)
- 3 Tomatoes, diced
- Handful of Coriander Leaves, roughly chopped
-
Salt and Pepper
To Serve
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Method
For the Tomato Salsas
- Combine all the ingredients and set aside.
For the Guacamole
- Place half of the onion and chilli in a bowl and tip over the juice of 1 lime.
- Now peel and roughly chop the avocados, add them to the bowl and mash roughly with the back of a fork.
- Stir in the tomatoes, most of the coriander and some salt and pepper.
- Taste and balance the guacamole with more onion, chilli, lime juice, salt and pepper as required.
- Mix everything together except the sugar. Taste and season with more chilli, lime juice and salt if necessary. You may not need sugar if the tomatoes are very sweet.
For the Quesadillas
- Mix together the cheese, spring onions, beans, jalapenos and coriander leaves. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
- Divide the mixture among the tortillas and fold them over to form a half-moon shape. You can do this ahead of time.
- Heat a ridged griddle or heavy-bottomed frying pan, no oil required, and then cook the quesadillas two at a time.
- Serve immediately or keep warm in the oven while you finish cooking the remaining quesadillas.
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Extract credit: Pulse by Jenny Chandler (Pavilion Books). Image credit Clare Winfield.
