tikichris

I love buffalo wings. Sinking my teeth into a spiced up piece of deep fried chicken is a carnal delight that registers way over on the right side of my pleasure spectrum, especially when its extra spicy and brings on a mega rush of endorphins. However, making proper Buffalo wings leaves a proper mess, and I don’t want to have to go eat out somewhere just to get my Buffalo fix. Besides, I consume much more meat and fried foods than I probably should anyway.

So … working from home one day with lunch o’clock closing in, I started craving something Buffalo-y but didn’t have the time to hit a restaurant or to do all the shopping, cooking and cleaning up required to make my own wings. Scrounging around in my kitchen, I cobbled together some things for a quick lunch to get me through the afternoon and appease my need for heat. That meal turned out way better than I had expected. Since then I’ve tweaked my recipe eventually settling on what you can read below.

My vegetarian Buffalo nut quesadillas are quick and easy to make and very tasty. The sort of vegetarianism applied in this recipe comes more from me being a lazy cheapskate than from any ethical or health-related concerns. The aim (which I think I achieved) was maximum flavour through minimum effort. That said, the dish is meat free and features a few superfood ingredients which are very nutritious.

Buffalo nut quesadillas are an awesome snack or meal as well as a fun treat to serve at casual get-togethers.

BUFFALO NUT QUESADILLAS Yum

Ingredients (makes four quesadillas)

• 4 small flour tortillas (I use Old El Paso’s Flour Tortillas);
• 6 tablespoons of Gorgonzola Cremosa (You can try using another blue cheese – just make sure it’s creamy);
• Dill (about a teaspoon);
• Cayenne (to taste – a pinch does it for me);
• 1 Small carrot;
• 1 Small stalk of celery;
• 1 Spring onion;
• Half an apple (I like Braeburns best);
• 4 Slices of pickled jalapeños;
• Frank’s RedHot Xtra Hot Pepper Sauce (to taste – for this recipe’s quantity I’d add about  12 generous dashes, but I like mine hot!);
• Walnuts (to taste; I’d say use 3 or 4 halves per quesadilla).

Method

You can cook these on low heat in a frying pan if you wish, but I find it’s a lot less hassle and just as delicious to bake them.

• Set out the Gorgonzola cremoso so that it’s already a little oozy by the time you’re ready to spread it;
• Preheat oven to 200ºC (400ºF);
• Lay out the flour tortillas on a baking sheet;
• Finely dice the celery, spring onion, jalapeños and half an apple (peel the apple if you like but I prefer it with the skin on) and place all the ingredients in a bowl together;
• Grate the carrot and place in the same bowl;
• Crumble up the walnuts by hand (but not so much that they’re reduced to dust) and place in the bowl;
• Add the dill, cayenne and hot sauce to the bowl;
• Mix all the ingredients in the bowl thoroughly;
• Slather a tablespoon each of Gorgonzola onto half of each tortilla (judge for yourself if you’d like a thicker layer) but keep the outside edge of the tortillas clean;
• Place the open tortillas (don’t fold them over yet!) in the oven and cook until the cheese begins to melt;
• Take out of the oven and turn the temperature down to 100ºC (210ºF);
• Add a thin layer of all the items from the bowl evenly across the top of the cheese on each tortilla;
• If you have leftovers ingredients, save them for later, munch on them like a salad or serve with the quesadillas like a fresh salsa;
• Spread another thin layer of Gorgonzola across the other halves of the tortillas;
• Fold over each tortilla to make a semicircle, covering the half with all the ingredients;
• Carefully flip over each folded tortilla;
• Place the tortillas back in the oven and bake for few minutes;
• Take out of the oven once the top of the tortillas start to brown;
• Let cool.

Serve

Buffalo nut quesadillas are best served hot and whole, but they’re still yummy when cold and as slices.

If you’re having a Buffalo nut quesadilla as a meal or snack, one or two would be satisfying and filling enough on their own. But serving alongside a salad or with a bowl of soup or chilli certainly isn’t a bad idea. I recommend folding your quesadilla over another time to make it more manageable to eat with your hands.

To serve as a starter or hors d’oeuvre, you can slice the quesadillas as you would a pizza and serve as a finger food or cut it into little squares to be served with toothpicks. It’s best to cut them while still hot.

Read more tikichris recipes.