Mexican munchies

Tonight's feast is brought to you by FH.  I selfishly went out to meet my lovely friend (although I am biased) for a swift cocktail or two, and left the man at home to prepare the constituent parts for the dinner, so that I could stumble through the door, chuck it all together and take all the glory.  He even did the washing up - I am too spoilt.

On the menu tonight:

Quesadillas with avocado, mexican cornbread and chill jam

The quesadillas are our own recipe, but the cornbread comes straight from The Meat Free Monday Cookbook.  The recipe can be found here.  As I say, I didn't cook this one, but FH said that it was very easy.  His exact quote was "Chuck it all in and cook until brown."  I'm not sure if that's exactly how it went down, but it was delicious either way.  For the UK version of the recipe, the oven should be at 180 degrees/gas mark 4, and a "heaping cup" of polenta means 175g.

On a side note, it's odd how even in this one short recipe, there are so many divergences from UK cookery to US.  Aside from the above, you also have cilantro and scallions.  I've also seen some confusion over polenta/cornmeal/cornflour.  Pfft... you'd think we spoke different languages, or something.

The quesadillas are so easy to make that they hardly need a recipe.  The filling is two sliced onions fried in a little oil on a high heat for about 20 seconds until they just begin to catch at the edges.  Then turn the heat down to medium and add two sliced red peppers and a handful of sliced mushrooms.  Fry for two-three minutes, depending on your preference for crispy/crunchy then add just over half a teaspoon of smoked paprika, and a tablespoon or so of chopped coriander.  Sometimes I like to add a tablespoon or so of orange juice at this point.  It adds a sweetness to the paprika and makes everything a little sticky.  We don't drink much juice now though, so this got missed this time.  Turn the heat back up for a minute, and you're all set.

When you're cooking the quesadillas, heat a dry pan big enough to comfortably accommodate your flour tortilla.  Pop it in and cook on high for 10 seconds.  Then spread with a teaspoon of sour cream, dot on some pickled jalapeños to taste, two tablespoons of the pepper mix, and grate over as much cheddar cheese as your arteries can take.  I would usually hoy on some salsa too, but our pantry let us down and there was none to be had.  This recipe is adapted from one that I would usually stick left over roast chicken in, but actually I don't think it loses much in the meat-freeing process.

Finally, serve with avocado seasoned with chilli salt.  Chilli salt is amazing and very easy to make.  It comes out almost like chilli sherbet.  Mix a tablespoon of chilli flakes with equal parts sugar and salt and the zest of one lime.  Mix and keep in a jar until needed.  We don't keep ours in the fridge and there's no sign of mould a few months later.  On that note... yum yum.

Lime and chilli salt