Quesadillas with guacamole

A quesadilla is basically a Mexican-style stuffed pancake, like a toasted sandwich, made with two tortillas sandwiched together with a cheese-based filling. They are warmed through and served with guacamole and sour cream. They are one of my favourite things to eat – Jools and I tend to have them every Saturday because we love them!

To make the guacamole I use 2 or 3 ripe avocados, 2 or 3 ripe deseeded tomatoes and a couple of deseeded red chillies, and I throw all this into a food processor with a handful of peeled and chopped spring onions and a good handful of fresh coriander. Once this has been chopped up nice and fine, I add a couple more chopped tomatoes, a good pinch of salt and half of another avocado, chopped, to give it a nice chunky texture. Transfer everything into a bowl and season carefully with sea salt, freshly ground black pepper and a good squeeze of lemon or lime juice. If you decide to buy ready-made guacamole, which is a bit lazy but probably very realistic, you can put it into a bowl and chirp it up a bit with a squeeze of lemon juice, a little extra salt and a bit of chilli to give it a kick.

To fill the quesadillas you will need a couple of big handfuls of grated Cheddar and/or red Leicester cheese, some finely sliced spring onions, a couple of handfuls of chopped fresh coriander, and a red pepper and some red or green chillies all deseeded and finely chopped. Mix all this up in a bowl and then sprinkle half a handful between two layers of tortilla. You can make up 4, 10 or even 20 quesadillas and keep them in the fridge until you need them if you want.

Some people like to fry them in oil, but this makes them greasy and is not all that healthy. You can grill them, but I like to put them in a dry non-stick frying pan on a medium heat, so that after about a minute and a half on each side you are left with a really crispy outside and an oozy, stringy filling. Serve the quesadillas cut into quarters, with the guacamole, sour cream and a beer.

PS You can also posh them up a bit using grilled chicken or seafood, leftover pork, shellfish, or a selection of grilled vegetables.