3 medium sized zucchinis, ricotta cheese, monterey jack cheese, tortillas, oregano, red wine vinegar, black beans, a jalapeno, olive oil, and a small onion (not pictured). Well, actually, the small onion was not included as I thought I had an onion in the fridge at home-- and I did! But it was moldy :-( Sadly I didn't notice my roommate's extensive onion stash until it was too late. Oh well! I resolved to forge ahead.
Step one was dicing the zucchini into approximately 1/4" cubes and sauteing it in a pan with 2 Tbsp olive oil. This is the step where the onion would've come into play as well, but not this time :-( Also included with the zucchini is the chopped jalapeno (stemmed and seeded, of course).
I let these cook together for about 8-10 minutes, or until the zucchini was feeling soft, but not mushy. Once that was done I added in 1/3 cup of black beans and 2 Tbsp of red wine vinegar.
And stirred and cooked for a little longer while also preparing the tortillas for action (which just entailed removing the tortillas from their baggie and brushing olive oil on one side of them).
Finally came 1/4 cup ricotta cheese. In this recipe the ricotta is intended to hold the zucchini/black bean mixture together, not so much to have an actual taste.
The recipe called for 4 burrito sized tortillas, but taco sized tortillas were on sale, so I think we can all easily deduce which I chose (I would just have to use 6 instead of 4). I had grated 8 ounces of monterey jack and spread some on the bottom half of each tortilla. To that I added about 1/6 of the zucchini mixture.
From there it was fold and fry!
And in no time we were ready to dine.
Taste Review:
I was surprised at how strong the zucchini tasted-- it was the dominant flavor from bite one (which is surprising because usually jack cheese makes its presence known). Even though we had cooked the zucchini it wasn't mushy (like the eggplant got when we made this little number), it actually stayed pretty firm, so I was glad that the ricotta was there to provide some much needed creaminess. But, zucchini as the star of the show meant that the quesadilla was actually sort of bland. It needed some sort of spice (for once, sous chef's desire to add salsa to all foods wasn't off the mark). Luckily we had some good chunky salsa we had used for some Mexican themed fondue on Valentine's Day and were able to add some to the quesadillas. The addition of more vegetables via the salsa muted the zucchini a bit, but not in a bad way-- more in that the zucchini sort of became part of the salsa.
As hindsight is always 20/20, were I to go back and make this one again I would opt for more black beans and less zucchini. Using 3 zucchinis is definitely excessive, so I'd go for maybe 2 zucchinis and 1 cup of black beans. That would probably help to give it a little more sweetness (which I always love) and enhance the Mexican feel of the dish.
Now, on to some serious business. Colin and I agreed on the grade for this one but, when looking at the quesadillas of the past, realized that it definitely outstrips the Salmon and Brie Quesadilla (which initially received the same grade we intended for this one). The end result? Salmon and Brie has been demoted. Check out The Leader Board to see where it ranks now (or just follow the link to that post).
FINAL RESULTS:
| Sandwich: | Black Bean, Zucchini and Monterey Jack Quesadilla |
| Gooey-ness: | 4.5 |
| Aroma: | 2 |
| Appearance: | A green and white interior makes for an interesting color combination. |
| Taste: | B |
| Gooey Scale | Aroma Scale |
| 1 = still cold/hard | 1 = can’t smell a thing |
| 2 = slightly melted but still firm | 2 = tender waft |
| 3 = melted evenly | 3 = makes your stomach growl |
| 4 = melted and slightly runny (starting to get those cheese strings between your sandwich and your mouth when you take a bite) | 4 = strong scent |
| 5 = runny | 5 = overpoweringly pungent |
| 6 = sloppy mess! | |
As mentioned, it was a little bland, but still good. Colin said it best when he observed "There hasn't been a sandwich using jack cheese that I haven't liked."
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