Russ Parsons & SippitySup’s Mushroom Quesadilla

The minute I stumbled on SippitySup’s Say Cheese-Creative Quesadillas Have Arrived entry (& Russ Parsons’ article), I knew that this would be my next “grilled cheese” to try. I had already established that quesadillas are in fact grilled cheese sandwiches so I was free to start cooking.

ingredients:

• Mushroom Mix
• Fresh Mozzarella / Goat Cheese
• Tortilla Shells

the cheese: goat cheese & fresh mozzarella

I have previously used goat cheese and mozzarella in grilled cheeses so I was not sure what to write here. Everyone knows about goat cheese and fresh mozzarella as, in my opinion, they are pretty common cheeses. That was until I decided to tell you a story about how I came across this particular fresh mozzarella.

During the summer, Whole Foods is running Friday Only specials, where one product is on sale for the one day only. One recent Friday, they had Crave Brothers fresh Mozzarella on sale, but only at the Whole Foods that is about 20 minutes from home. Since I was at work, the sous chef called to make sure there still was some cheese in stock. There was, so the whole family traveled to Whole Foods. We headed to the cheese department where, once they realized we were the people who called, an employee pulled us aside. At this point, we had no idea what was going on but were definitely intrigued. In the time that we called and arrived at the store, Whole Foods was alerted to a recall of all Crave Brothers fresh mozzarella, the exact variety that was on sale. They took all of the product in the back and destroyed it, while documenting/photographing every step. Since we called and were told they had cheese available, the nice Whole Foods gentleman gave us two containers of Whole Foods brand fresh mozzarella. For free. And this is why I continue to shop there.

thoughts

The recipe didn’t really call for any specific type of mushrooms so I went with button and portobello. It never hurts to add a little variety into a quesadilla.

This is not the greatest photo (or the greatest cutting board), but I was pleasantly surprised to find mint as an ingredient in a quesadilla. Luckily, all I needed to do was walk out to the backyard and pull some fresh mint out of the ground. My folks have had mint in the yard for as long as they have lived in this house. They brought it to Cleveland when they moved from Cincinnati. Now, 25+ years later, we have many other herbs as well as vegetables growing.

There wasn’t much preparation except for sauteing the mushrooms, shallots and fresh mint…

…and then adding in the goat cheese. It was very simple.

And of course, we had to grill the tortilla shells.

the quesadilla:

russ parsons & sippitysup’s mushroom quesadilla: B+

In my opinion, there was something missing from these quesadillas. They were definitely good, but not perfect. I tried to follow the recipe exactly, but as we progressed, I ended up winging it. Therefore, my complaint is not with the recipe but with my implementation of said recipe. I am not sure if I left something out or did not put enough of something in, but the taste was not complete, not 100% there. Either way, I would definitely give this quesadilla recipe another try.

In addition, this recipe has definitely created quesadilla pandemonium here. Since the sandwich, I have had 3 different types of quesadillas: veggie/egg/cheese, veggie/guacamole/cheese and simply guacamole/cheese. Each better than the previous. One cannot have too many quesadillas in a few day span, that is for sure!

ingredients were purchased at…

• Miles Farmer’s Market (Mushroom Mix Ingredients, Tortilla Shells)
• Whole Foods (Mozzarella,  Goat Cheese)