TOMATO,BACON,AND
CHEESE QUESADILLAS
SERVES6
8 slices bacon
3 large ripe tomatoes, peeled,
cored, seeded, and coarsely
chopped
Salt and pepper, to taste
2 tablespoons chopped
fresh parsley
8 flour tortillas (7 -inch size)
2 cups grated cheddar cheese
In a large dry skillet over medium
heat, render the bacon until crisp,
From silver spoons to chopsticks, across the world’s cultures there
is a wide assortment of utensils used to navigate food to mouth. In
some notable cases, the utensil is itself food, as in the multidimensional
tortilla of Mexico, and, in a big-picture manner of thinking,
its distant relative pasta (used as a wrapper), won tons, pita, and
roti. Traditionally, tortillas are made from dried corn that is soaked
in lime- or wood-ash-treated water to loosen its skins and then
stone-ground. The resulting meal, called nixtamal, is then further
stone-ground to make the more familiar masa, a mixture that by
US standards resembles a coarse flour. The masa is then moistened
with water and formed into small balls that are either patted into
flat circles with deceptive ease or flattened in a tortilla press – two
hinged metal circles with a handle that executes a finished flatbread
– and cooked on a hot griddle called a coma/. Torn and used
for dipping or held flat in the hand like a plate and topped with traditional
Mexican fillings, tortillas not only taste great, but cut down
on the dishes. – Peter J. Kelly
turning it often to brown both
sides. Transfer the bacon to a plate
lined with paper towels.
In a strainer set over a bowl, let
the tomatoes sit for 10 minutes to
drain.
Discard the liquid in the bowl.
Tip the tomatoes into the bowl.
Add salt, pepper, and parsley.
Set the oven at 300 degrees.
Have onhand a rimmedbaking
sheet.
Heat the tortillas ( see left).
Crumble the bacon and scatter a
few pieces on one half of a tortilla.
Add 2 tablespoons of the tomato
mixture on the same half of the
round. Sprinkle with cheese. Fold
over the empty side of the tortilla
to make a half-moon. Assemble
another tortilla.
Return two folded tortillas
to the skillet. Set another skillet
on top to weight them. Cook the
tortillas over medium heat for s
minutes, turning often, until the
cheese melts at the edges.
Tran sf er the quesadillas to the
baldng sheet to keep warm in the
oven while you prepare the remaining
tortillas two at a time.
Cut each quesad.illa into thirds.
Serve at once.