Souper Freak

I’ll keep this quick — as quick as it was to make this easy and delicious gourmet dish! Perfect for a quick filling snack or a small lunch or dinner.

Today my sister Cara and I went to the farmer’s market, then spent the afternoon visiting in my kitchen while I whipped up an off-the-cuff cold soba noodles dish to take for lunch this week — complete with a delicious soy/sesame/ginger/garlic dressing, fresh veggies, pan-fried tofu, and homemade tamago (Japanense sweet egg). But that’s not the dish I’m here to describe! After all this chopping and cooking but no eating, we got pretty hungry, and THAT’S what I’m here to tell you about.

I had some olive oil multi-grain tortillas I’ve been meaning to use, and an avocado that’s at that perfect ripeness point. So I decided on some sort of quesadilla, and made it up while I went along. First I put a tortilla in a hot, slightly oiled pan and added a light layer of freshly grated Parmesan cheese (much much less than the huge gobs of cheese you usually find inside a quesadilla). When the cheese melted, I folded over one side of the tortilla and kept it cooking. I had a jar of artichoke hearts in oil, and I tossed a few into the open side of the pan. After they quickly fried up, I sauteed a few basil leaves in the sizzling artichoke oil, and then added the basil and artichokes to the cheesy center of the tortilla. To finish it off, we added a garnish of sliced green onions, slices of avocado and freshly ground pepper. Repeated this, and had one for each of us in less than five minutes.

So easy. So simple. So delicious. So gourmet! Yum.