Dan Bites

For Meatless Monday last night I made some quesadillas with sautéed mushrooms and poblanos. I served them with some mashed black beans, simple salad, and some white rice.

The first thing I did was make the mushroom and poblano filling. I heated a couple of tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat and threw a sliced red onion in to saute for about 5 minutes. Then I added a couple of minced garlic cloves for about two more minutes. After that I added two sliced poblano chilis. I let that all cook down for another 5 minutes. I had sliced a bunch of shiitake, cremini, and button mushrooms (not sure how many of each, but a lot since they cook down) and threw them in to cook down. That took about 7 minutes or so. I seasoned with some salt, pepper, chili powder, and cumin. Once all the flavors were mixed in I took it off the heat and let it all rest.

To make the quesadillas I had to do them one at a time since I don’t have a big griddle. So, I melted a little butter in my big saute pan and laid down a 10 inch flour tortilla. I topped half of it with some of the mushroom-poblano mix and then topped that with a little shredded jalapeno-jack cheese.

Then I carefully folded it over and let the tortilla crisp up for a couple of minutes on each side. To keep them warm I put a baking pan in the oven on warm and let them sit in the heat while I made up the rest. It’s that simple.

To make the mashed black beans I heated a tablespoon of vegetable oil and sautéed 5 minced garlic cloves for about 3 minutes. Then I dumped two cans, partially drained, of black beans. I let them heat through for a few minutes and then mashed them with a potato masher. I added some salt and pepper to taste and that was about it. If it got too thick I’d simply add a tablespoon of water at a time until the texture was right.

I dressed the salad with a shiitake vinaigrette. I garnished it with sliced tomato and avocado. I garnished the entire plate with some cilantro.