Quick quesadillas recipe

This quesedilla lunch recipe is so quick and easy it’s ridiculous. It’s a cross between a wrap and a toasted sandwich – and is great for a speedy lunch for kids, but also good for filling lunchboxes the next day if you’ve made a big enough batch.

As long as you’ve got a bit of cheese in there to glue things together, you can pretty much put anything you like in them.

They’re great for those of us on a budget as you can get hold of a packet of supermarket own soft flour tortillas for about £1.20. You can also cut costs with your fillings by using up leftover scraps of meat from the Sunday roast, those bits of ham kicking about at the bottom of the fridge or the end of a block of cheese that’s starting to dry out.

We went for a pizza style filling of tomato paste, chopped ham and grated cheddar cheese. I’d been sent a Taste The Difference Italian Cherry Tomato Puree with basil to try out from Sainsbury’s that made for a very fresh tasting base. Arlo is currently off tomato-based sauces so I smeared some pesto on his. But then of course he asked for ketchup to dip it in… *deep breaths, deeeeeeeeeeep breaths*

Don’t be tempted to overfill your tortillas or they’ll be unwieldy in the pan and also tricky to grapple with when you try to eat them.

Cut into little triangles and allowed to cool a bit, they are perfect for toddlers to get their little hands on. Served up with vegetable sticks, salad and hummus and it’s a pretty nutritious spread.

Cheese, ham and tomato quesadillas
serves 4 with leftovers for lunchboxes

8 flour tortillas
tomato paste
cheddar cheese, grated
sliced ham, shredded

1. Lay out all your ingredients so you’ve got them close to hand. Heat a non-stick frying pan over a medium heat. Spread tomato paste (or pesto) on half of a tortilla then place it in the pan, scatter with the same half with ham and grated cheese.

2. After approx 30 seconds fold the tortilla over to cover the filling and press down with a pie slice so the cheese starts to melt and glues the two halves together. After another 30 seconds carefully flip over with the pie slice and cook for another 30 seconds, and then flip again for a final 30 seconds. The tortilla should start turn golden and the cheese inside melt.

3. Turn out onto a chopping board and then repeat with the remaining tortillas and filling. Allow to cool slightly then cut into triangles and serve with salad or wrap up for packed lunches.

As this is such a cheap and cheerful lunch I thought i’d enter it into Credit Crunch Munch – an event hosted this month by Fab Food 4 All but run jointly with Fuss Free Flavours – check it out for more frugal ideas…