Forget cheese on toast ... quesadillas are the ultimate melted cheese experience.

I had a great weekend which consisted of dinner and drinks every night at cheap and cheerful places which produced some wonderful dishes (and one terrible one!).  Friday night we started with drinks at the Canary Club (www.yourrestaurants.com.au/guide/canary_club) and finished with dinner at Ants Bistro in Chinatown (www.yourrestaurants.com.au/guide/ants_bistro/map), which has been a relatively regular Friday night haunt for me over the last couple of years.  Julie, if you read this, I think they've changed the chef!  The Kung Po prawns are no longer deep fried and are way less spicy - although it actually makes for a better dish, as I think the removal of the batter and the need to engage in a chilli eating contest to consume it means one can concentrate on the flavours instead. 

Sunday night we had a slightly odd night in Richmond at the Royal Saxon (http://www.royalsaxon.com/) and the Cherry Tree Hotel (http://www.thecherrytree.com.au/) - the first being a very lowly-lit bar to aid the meat market attendees in looking their best for each other, and the second being totally overlit - white walls and bright lights do not make for a great night time venue!  We finished with dinner at Minh Minh (www.yourrestaurants.com.au/guide/minh_minh), where the tofu with lemongrass was divine and the duck in plum sauce was inedible (note to self: never eat deep fried duck again).

But the best food was on Saturday night at De Los Santos (http://www.delossantos.com.au/) on Brunswick with Narelle, Ngaio and Robyn.  I just looooove tapas and DLS didn't dissapoint.  We had piquillo rellenos (piquillo peppers stuffed with persian feta and preserved lemon served with smoked eggplant puree), ensalada maíz y queso (a salad of roasted sweet corn, witlof, spinach, spiced almond salad, grated sheep's cheese, red onion and sherry vinaigrette), bola de queso y patata (pan fried potato dumplings with toasted pine nuts, brandied raisins and olive oil) and quesadillas - the ultimate mexican toasted sandwich.  The latter reminded me of a phase I went through a couple of years ago when I would make a stack of quesadillas for dinner, so I've dug out the recipes I used to make, including a cheese-free one from back in the day before I discovered I could eat goats and sheeps milk cheese (since cow's milk is not my friend...).  I'm also looking forward to trying a few more variations to add to my repertiore, so Ngaio you'll have to remind me what fillings you use when you make them!  I'm also going to experiment with the cooking techniques - you can cook them in a fry pan or in the oven. 

Potato-filled Quesadillas

As this recipe doesn't have cheese to bind the quesadilla, it may be easier to cook it in the oven.  Next time I'm going to make a fresh tomato salsa to go with it.  Serves 4.

1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 small onion, thinly sliced
1 large floury potato, peeled and cut into 1cm cubes
1 cup vege or chicken stock
Salt and pepper
Eight 20cm flour tortillas
Optional garnishes (I usually go for the tomato): 1 cup sour cream, 1 seeded and chopped tomato, sliced jalapeno peppers

1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees.  Line two trays with baking paper.

2. Heat the oil in a medium frypan over a medium heat.  Gently fry the onion slices, stirring often, until they are golden.  Add the potato cubes and cook for one minute, then add the stock and cook for 8 to 12 minutes until the potatoes are soft and the liquid has been absorbed.  Season with salt and pepper. 

3. Place four tortillas on the baking sheets, and add a quarter of the potato mixture to each, spreading it evenly (but leaving a 1.5cm gap at the edges otherwise it will fall out when you flip it).  Top each with a tortilla, press down and spray or brush with some olive oil.  Bake for five minutes each side (I'll admit, it's not the easiest thing in the world turning them over!) or until lightly browned and hot all the way through.  Serve by cutting each into eight wedges.

Corn, Bean and Onion Quesadillas

Next time I make these I'm going to try finely chopped fresh chilli instead of chilli powder, and maybe I'll add some chopped fresh coriander too.  With the corn my view is that fresh is so much better than frozen if available; it's not hard to cut the kernels from the cob and boil them for a couple of minutes and it's so worth it.  On the flipside, I do usually go for canned beans rather than freshly cooked!  Serves 4.

Eight 20cm flour tortillas
1 cup of cooked corn kernels
1 cup cooked kidney beans
1/2 cup paper-thin slivers of red onion
2 cups grated cheese
1 teaspoon chilli powder
Sour cream (optional)

1. Evenly sprinkle four of the tortillas with one quarter of the corn, beans, cheese and chilli powder, leaving a 1.5cm gap at the edge.  Top each with another tortilla and press down to help them stick together.

2. Heat a large ungreased frypan over a medium heat.  Cook each quesadilla for about 4 to 5 minutes each side until the cheese is melted and the tortillas are starting to get brown flecks.  If the tortillas are a bit dry when you buy them you can coat the pan with a little olive oil spray.

3. Cut each quesadilla into eight and serve (with sour cream if you like).