Mushroom Quesedillas

If you take a peek through the archives, you'll probably figure out that I love my Mexican food. What I don't love, however, are mushrooms. I place the blame squarely on my mother for that one - when I was a child she used to serve a fricassee of chicken and mushrooms, which to my mind looked exactly like vomit on a plate. Really! I used to spend the meal pretending I had to cough, and then race out of the room to spit into a tissue. Truly, it was that bad.

So, as an adult, I've rather tended to shy away from anything containing mushrooms, which is actually a silly thing to do, as mushrooms are full of vitamins and minerals, including that elusive (for vegetarians) B12. This is a recipe I found in an old copy of Vegetarian Times. Theirs calls for 8 oz. of mushrooms. Being a metric girl, I have no idea how much an oz. is, let along 8 of them but it sure sounded like a lot, so I reduced mine to one cup of chopped mushrooms. Try as I might, I just can't handle too many at once! Besides, it means that you don't end up with too much filling, which I have learnt from past experience can make for a messy quesedilla.

Mushroom Quesedillas

1/4 cup pepitas
4 tablespoons olive oil
8 cloves garlic, peeled and roughly chopped
1 cup chopped button mushrooms
1 smalled red chilli, finely chopped
1 small handful coriander (cilantro), roughly chopped
2 flour tortillas per person
2 cups grated mozzarella cheese
1 lemon, quartered

1 - Warm a non-stick fry pan over a medium high heat, and cook the pepitas for 5 minutes, or until they have turned brown and begun to pop. Set aside.

2 - Heat two tablespoons of the olive oil over a low heat, and cook the garlic for 8 - 10 minutes, until it is tender and golden. Add the garlic and onion to the pepitas.

3 - Heat the rest of the oil in the pan, then add the mushrooms and chilli. Cook gently for 5 or so minutes, or until the mushrooms are dark and tender. Add the coriander, and pepita mix, and heat through.

4 - Heat either a flat non-stick pan or a sandwhich maker, and brush with oil. Place a tortilla on the press, spreading a good dollop of the mushroom mix onto the torilla, then top with the mozzarella. Place the other tortilla on top of the first, then grill for a minute or so, or until nice and crisp.

5 - Using a spatula, transfer the tortilla to the plate, and quarter. Serve with a quarter lemon to squeeze.