CHICKEN & CHORIZO QUESADILLAS

This past weekend I seem to have come over all Mexican, what with fajitas (recipe to follow another time) for dinner on Friday, chilli con carne (recipe here) on Saturday and quesadillas for lunch on Sunday. It wasn't planned – it just happened like that!

Quesadillas make a really tasty a weekend lunch. The great thing is that you can vary the fillings to suit each person – for example, my husband doesn't like the spring onion so I'll leave it out of his tortilla, and the kids don't like the spring onion or red pepper but will have extra sweetcorn instead. The recipe below is for my favourite version but feel free to swap and change the filling ingredients to suit your own tastes (chopped fresh chillies and coriander make nice additions). The only thing I would say is that some kind of cheese is pretty essential as it 'glues' the two halves of tortilla together.

I guess I make my quesadillas in a fairly unconventional way because they're usually made by sandwiching the filling between two tortillas, whereas I fold each tortilla in half. I like my method because I find it easier to flip the individual tortillas, plus I think they hold together better when you're eating them too.

Everyone in my family likes to have something to dip their quesadilla into so I'll serve natural yogurt (which is lower in fat than soured cream) and occasionally some guacamole alongside. PLEASE NOTE that however many quesadillas you think you need, I'd highly recommend adding one more. We usually manage to get through five between the four of us – and that's bearing in mind that the toddler only has half of one!

Chicken & chorizo quesadillas

Makes 2
2 flour tortillas
80g ready-grated Cheddar and mozzarella (sometimes called 'pizza cheese')
40g red pepper, diced
2 spring onions, chopped
30g frozen sweetcorn, thawed
30g diced chorizo
40g cooked chicken breast, shredded
vegetable oil, for brushing
natural yogurt, to serve

Place the first tortilla on a flat surface (such as a chopping board or the worktop). Sprinkle 20g of the cheese over one semi-circular half of the tortilla, leaving a small gap around the edge. Scatter half of the red pepper, spring onion, sweetcorn, chorizo and chicken over the cheese-topped side of the tortilla, then top with another 20g of the cheese. Fold the tortilla in half to cover the filling. Repeat with the second tortilla and the remaining filling ingredients.

Brush a frying pan large enough to hold both tortillas (I use a 24-cm saut̵é pan) with oil and place over a medium–high heat. Once hot, place the tortillas into the pan with both folded edges in the centre. Cook for 3–4 minutes, or until golden brown underneath. Carefully turn each tortilla using a fish slice and cook on the other side for a further 2–3 minutes.

Transfer the quesadillas to a chopping board and cut into wedges (I find it easiest to use a pizza wheel to do this). Serve with natural yogurt for dipping.