Quesadillas with Mexican Salsa Verde

Name: Quesadillas with Salsa Verde
Yield: 6
Cuisine: Mexican
Ingredients: 230g Oaxaca cheese; 12 x 16cm wheat tortillas; Vegetable oil, for greasing; Pico di Gallo, for serving; Salsa Verde, for serving

I love recipes that are so simple they’re hardly a recipe at all – where great produce and flavours shine and I don’t have to do too much. That’s what these simple fried cheese sandwiches are all about, especially served with vibrant green salsa verde. Salsa verde simply means ‘green sauce’ and this Mexican version is creamy with ground pepitas; it keeps for a week in the fridge and is delicious on just about everything, especially eggs. In Mexico quesadillas are cooked on a traditional clay or cast-iron comal, but you can use a frying pan or char-grill pan. Quesadillas with salsa verde make a delicious breakfast, starter or snack at any time of day; I love them with a glass of flinty Soumah Savarro with its citrus tang and hint of spice. Oaxaca cheese, a firmer cousin to Italian mozzarella, can be hard to come by in Australia, thankfully stretched-curd specialists Vannella make a great version. Scatter leftover pepitas over roast pumpkin with an Italian salsa verde (see video below).

Serves 6 as a starter

Ingredients

230g Oaxaca cheese
12 x 16cm wheat tortillas
Vegetable oil, for greasing
Pico di Gallo, for serving

Mexican Salsa Verde

1 cup coriander leaves and stems
1 cup flat-leaf parsley leaves and stems
1 jalapeño chilli, seeded and chopped
2 spring onions, roughly chopped
1½ tablespoons lime juice
¼ cup shelled pepitas (pumpkin seeds)
1 clove garlic, crushed
½ teaspoon cumin seeds, coarsely ground
½ teaspoon salt flakes
200g drained canned tomatillos (or fresh when available)

Method

Preheat a heavy-based char-grill pan over medium heat.
Meanwhile, make Mexican Salsa Verde: place all ingredients in a food processor and blitz to form a coarse paste. Set aside.
Cut cheese into thin slices, then shred with your fingers into strips.
Lightly grease 6 tortillas with oil and place on a chopping board oiled side up.
Place another tortilla on top and rub them gently together, to oil the base of the second tortilla.
Distribute cheese evenly over the top tortillas.
Place cheese-topped tortilla in char-grill pan, oiled side down, top with the second tortilla, oiled side up, press down gently with a spatula.
Cook for 2-3 minutes until well-coloured.
Turn and cook the other side for a further 2-3 minutes, until well-coloured.
Remove from pan, cut into quarters and serve with Pico de Gallo and Mexican Salsa Verde.