Black Bean and Cheese Quesadillas
Cheese on both sides of the filling so it glues the tortilla shut, and a dry pan so the outside crisps instead of frying.
Nutrition Info (per serving)
- 540
- Calories
- 24g
- Protein
- 26g
- Fat
- 52g
- Carbs
Ingredients
- 1 tin black beans (400 g)
- 8 flour tortillas
- 250 g mature cheddar or Monterey Jack
- 1 onion
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 chipotle in adobo
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 lime
- Small bunch coriander
- Soured cream and salsa, to serve
- Salt
Instructions
- 1Dice the onion, mince the garlic and chop the chipotle. Grate the cheese — grate it yourself, since pre-grated cheese is coated in starch to stop it caking and that starch stops it melting smoothly.
- 2Heat the oil in a frying pan over medium heat and cook the onion for 5 minutes until soft. Add the garlic, cumin and smoked paprika for 1 minute, then the chipotle.
- 3Drain the beans but do not rinse them dry, and add them to the pan with 3 tbsp water.
- 4Cook for 5 minutes, crushing about half of the beans with the back of a spoon until you have a thick, spreadable mixture that will not fall out of a tortilla.
- 5Stir in the juice of half the lime and the chopped coriander, and season well.
- 6Wipe the pan clean and set it over medium heat with no oil. A dry pan toasts the tortilla; oil fries it, and a fried quesadilla goes greasy and limp within a minute.
- 7Lay a tortilla in the pan. Scatter a quarter of the cheese over one half, spread a quarter of the beans on top of that, then a little more cheese on top of the beans.
- 8The cheese has to be above and below the filling. Melted cheese is the glue holding the two layers of tortilla together — filling in direct contact with the top tortilla means it slides apart when you cut it.
- 9Fold the empty half over and press down gently with a spatula. Cook for 2 minutes a side, until the tortilla is blistered and golden and the cheese has fully melted.
- 10Slide onto a board and rest for 1 minute before cutting into wedges, so the cheese sets enough to hold. Serve with soured cream, salsa and the remaining lime.
A quesadilla is cheese in a tortilla — the name comes from queso — and the two common failures are a soggy shell and a filling that falls out the moment you cut it.
Dry pan, no oil
Oil in the pan fries the tortilla. It browns fast, absorbs fat and goes limp and greasy as it cools.
A dry pan toasts it instead. The surface dehydrates, blisters and crisps, and it stays crisp on the plate. It also means you can eat one with your hands ten minutes later.
Medium heat, not high. Too hot and the tortilla scorches before the cheese in the middle has melted.
Cheese on both sides of the filling
This is the structural fix and it is worth understanding. Melted cheese is an adhesive; beans are not.
Put beans directly against the upper tortilla and there is nothing bonding the two layers there. Cut it and the top slides off.
A layer of cheese underneath the beans and another on top means both tortillas are glued to something. It holds together through cutting and eating.
Grate your own cheese
Pre-grated cheese is dusted with potato starch or cellulose to keep the shreds separate in the bag. That coating interferes with melting — it gives a slightly grainy, oily melt instead of a smooth one.
A block and a box grater takes ninety seconds and the difference is easy to taste.
Cheeses that melt well: Monterey Jack, mature cheddar, Oaxaca, mozzarella. Cheeses that do not: feta, halloumi, anything very hard or very dry.
Crush the beans
Whole beans roll. Crushing about half of them releases starch that binds the rest into a paste thick enough to spread, which stays where you put it.
The same technique as bean tacos, and it takes about a minute of pressing with a spoon.
Rest before cutting
Sixty seconds off the heat lets the melted cheese cool just enough to set. Cut it straight from the pan and the cheese is still liquid and runs out.
Nutrition
Around 540 calories a quesadilla, with 24 grams of protein from the cheese and beans together. Black beans bring a lot of fibre and folate, and the combination of beans and the wheat tortilla gives a more complete amino acid profile than either alone.
The bean filling keeps for four days and freezes, which makes this a genuine ten-minute dinner on a second night.
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