I Cooked: Shrimp Quesadillas

I felt like cooking tonight. I actually feel like cooking every night but sometimes I lack the motivation (and ingredients) to follow through with it. I happened to have a craving for Mexican something or other, and I also happened to have a lot of ingredients in my fridge for said craving: shrimp, pepper jack cheese, onions, peppers, mushrooms, spinach, tortillas. Put those together and what do you get? shrimp quesadillas!

Ok so here's the bottom line with these. I'll be honest. They were good (especially with a little salsa for dipping), but HUGE mistake not shredding/grating the cheese. What the F was I thinking? Slices?? NOT essential for what I like to call the "cheese glue". You know, that ooey gooeyness that bonds the ingredients and tortillas together. It was still ooey, but it could have used a little more gooey. Anyway..see below for some instructions and pics.

Yields: 2
1 tsp butter
1 tbsp olive oil
8-10 cocktail shrimps, chopped (this was all I had, otherwise I would use fresh or frozen)
Half of a small yellow onion
1 clove of garlic
half of a large red bell pepper, chopped
3-4 white button mushrooms, chopped
2 cups of fresh chopped spinach (sounds like a lot – it wilts. If you have frozen, by all means use 1 cup of that)
SHREDDED Pepper Jack cheese (I used 3-4 slices, so this would probably be about 3/4 cup shredded)
2 whole wheat tortillas (any flavor would do)
Salt & pepper to taste
 
Chop all the veggies and shrimp roughly. Set aside.
 
Quesadilla - garlic
Garlic….mmm
 
Quesadilla - mushrooms 
 Mushrooms
 
Heat a large skillet with the butter and olive oil and throw in the onions, peppers and mushrooms. Sautee until the onions are translucent and the mushrooms/peppers are tender.
 

Quesadilla - sautee

Add in the spinach and garlic. Sautee for another few minutes until the spinach has wilted and toss in the shrimp (remember the shrimp is cooked here so you're just heating it up). 
 
Quesadilla - sautee shrimp 
Sizzling shrimpies
 
Scoop out the mixture into a bowl and set aside. Turn off the heat for a moment on the skillet. Lay out your tortillas and spoon roughly 2-3 tablespoons of the mixture onto one tortilla and spread out to the edges (this should be about half of this mixture). Add the cheese on top (again – SHRED it – don't be a dummy like me) and lay the other tortilla on top. Put the heat back on medium-low on the skillet and add your quesadilla to the pan. Let sit for a few minutes and press down with a spatula a little.
 
QUesadilla - assembly
Assembly..
 
Time to flip! Ok, so here is where I think the cheese glue was needed. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't bad – I only lost a few pieces of vegetables to the flip. And maybe a piece of shrimp.
 
Quesadilla slip
Veg overboard.
 
After heated through and cheese glue is ooey and gooey, remove from heat.
 
Plate it…
 

Quesadilla done

 
slice it…
 

Quesadilla split 2

 
and eat it!
 
Quesadilla bite
 I bit it.
 
 
 

5 Comments

  1. Nice play-by-play Chef!

  2. Let sit for a few minutes and press down with a spatula a little.

  3. So fun article is! I agree the idea!

  4. To be honest. How nice! Very good, and we share information! Too amazing things. Thank you for your masterpiece, worth reading.

  5. Your article is too interesting, I was deeply attracted to your work, let people indulge in pleasures without stop I enjoy your articles

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