Green Pesto & Scrambled Egg Quesadillas

Cook Time: ~15 Minutes

Quesadillas are mostly known for containing chicken, beef, or pork. This refreshing alternative contains no meat, but doesn’t skimp on the protein with the use of eggs, nor does it skimp on the melted cheese, the good fats derived from avocados, or the satisfying crunch of the tortilla shell. Depending on the variety of tortillas you purchase, this can be a deceptively low-carb way of feeling like you are having a satisfactory cheat day. I typically prepare this dish for breakfast or lunch, and it is best consumed directly after cooking. In the past, I have prepared this dish the night before consumption, at which point you can simply reheat it in the oven for 3-5 minutes to regain that much-desired crisp on the tortilla shell. Here, I suggest that this serves 2-4 because it ultimately depends on how hungry you are.

Serves: 2-4

Time: ~15 Minutes

Information - What you require

Serving Size of 2-4 Individuals

Ingredients

• 200g of Mature Cheddar Cheese

• 50g of Spinach

• 4x Large Tortillas

• 2x Avocados

• 4x Eggs

• Butter

• Green Pesto

• Ground black Pepper & Salt

• Tobasco

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Optional Ingredients & Notes

• Tobasco: I personally think this is a superstar ingredient that truly elevates the finished result, whether applied generously over the Quesadilla or used as a dipping sauce.

• Cheese: I opted for mature cheddar here, but grated mozzarella works perfectly fine too, and makes for a more stringy cheese experience. I personally prefer to grate my own cheese as the texture is fluffier than pre-grated. In essence, you can choose whichever cheese you like best.

• Green Pesto: Jarred pesto is perfectly fine, and is what I typically use. It just so happens that I had some fresh pesto in my fridge when making this recipe.

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Equipment

• Cheese grater

• 1x Small pan

• 1x Large pan

Mise En Place - Food preparation

Take your 200g of cheese and grate into a bowl; ensuring to use the finest section of the grater to allow for faster melting. Place your four eggs into a bowl, and beat them. For the avocados, you want to ensure that they are ripe (soft). As a general rule of thumb, hard avocados make for terrible guacamole on account of their unripe, bitter, taste and the fact they are not readily squishable (yes, that is a word). Take your two avocados, remove the pits, remove the flesh from their skin, slice thinly, and place them into a bowl. From there, take a fork and mash the avocado into a guacamole-like consistency and apply a sprinkle of salt and a generous helping of ground black pepper.

Whilst we are on the topic of avocados, here is a little tip on how to remove the pits. Spoiler alert, you don’t need a knife.

Conor Mac @InvestmentTalkk

I spent a decade awkwardly sticking a knife into avocado seeds and twisting them out. But now, after learning that you can simply apply pressure to the back of the half with the seed in it and watch it effortlessly fall out, I am shook 🥑

Cooking Process

Before we turn our attention to the stove, a little more mise en place is required. Lay out your four tortillas and apply green pesto across the base of each, much like you would do when spreading tomato sauce across a fresh pizza base. From there, apply a surface layer of spinach and then a generous helping of cheese. Apply the avocado to one side only.

Mise en place over, we can now grab the small pan and prepare our scrambled eggs. Typically, I make my scrambled eggs in a pot, using a whisk to repeatedly churn my eggs into a smaller form factor. For this dish, I opt to use a pan and a spatula, creating larger, chunkier, pieces of scrambled egg because I want the egg to have more ‘bite’. To do that I will apply butter to the pan, place my beaten eggs into the pan once the butter has melted and allow the base of the egg to cook slightly, as though I were making an omelette. Once the base has cooked ever so slightly, I begin to break up the egg, delicately, and allow the rest of the beaten eggs to cook.

Nobody likes a rubbery scrambled egg and in this dish, it is particularly important that you take the pan away from the heat the second the eggs are cooked. Err more on the side of undercooked here, because the eggs will be placed back into the heat shortly. This process should only take 2-3 minutes. Once cooked, season with ground black pepper and salt, and place the scrambled eggs onto one side of each of your tortillas.

Now fold each tortilla in half, keeping the weighted side (the one containing the eggs and avocado) on the bottom. Take out your larger pan, bring it to moderate heat, and apply some butter to the pan. Alternatively, you may use coconut oil if you are not a fan of butter. Place two of your tortillas into the pan, side by side, and cook until the skin is crisp and golden brown on both sides. This should take ~3 minutes for each side. Repeat the process for your other two tortillas.

Once both sides are crisp and brown, remove them from the pan and cut into quarters. At this stage, I personally like to spritz tobacco sauce over the quesadillas and keep some to the side as a dipping sauce; the combination is electric. There is something deeply satisfying about green pesto, cheese, eggs, and crisp tortilla shells that can’t be fathomed until you try it for yourself.

If you do attempt this dish, please let me know how it goes, and if you variate the recipe in any way. Also, this newsletter relies upon word of mouth, so if you feel you know someone who would enjoy this publication please share it.

Thanks for reading,

Conor