Cheese and Pear Quesadillas

Flour tortillas topped with Monterrey jack, brie, fresh basil, sweet onions, hazelnuts, and pear, Quesadillas are pan fried to a golden brown color, and topped with a delicious pear salsa.

Ingredients -

4 (8 inch) Flour Tortillas
1/2 cup shredded Monterey Jack Cheese
1/2 cup sliced Brie Cheese
3 tablespoons sliced Fresh Basil Leaves
2 tablespoons chopped Sweet Onion
2 tablespoons chopped Hazelnuts
1 yellow, Pear, cored and thinly sliced
2 teaspoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Pear Salsa:
3 Bosc Pears, cored and chopped
1/2 cup chopped Sweet Onions
1/4 cup chopped Fresh Cilantro
1/4 cup Fresh Lime Juice
1/4 cup Mint
1 Jalapeno Chili Pepper, seeded and chopped
1 Red Bell Pepper, diced
1/2 teaspoon Salt

Preparation:

1. Sprinkle equal amounts of cheeses, basil, onion and hazelnuts on one half of each tortilla.

2. Top cheese with pear slices.

3. Fold the tortillas over.

4. Brush outside of tortillas with olive oil.

5. Preheat non-stick skillet over medium heat.

6. Place tortillas in skillet. Cook 2-3 minutes per side, until tortillas brown and cheese melts.

7. In a small bowl, combine pears, sweet onions, cilantro, lime juice, mint, chili, red pepper and salt.

Variations and Recipe Ideas:

Appetizer Tips -

Quesadillas

Like a pizza, quesadillas offer a great opportunity for coming up with new and imaginative ideas for tasty new quesadilla appetizers. Instead of pears in this recipe substitute peaches or mangoes and adjust your salsas.

Appetizer Tips -

Fresh Cilantro

Fresh cilantro leaves are readily available in supermarkets, specialty produce stores and farmers markets. Cilantro is also known as coriander, although coriander often refers to the whole and ground dried seeds of the plant.