Shrimp & Goat Cheese Quesadillas

Wow, these were good and SO simple to prepare.  They definitely taste like they took a lot more work than they did!

It was CH’s birthday on Sunday and I told him that I’d make him anything he wanted for dinner.  I told him lamb, steak, halibut…anything. He hemmed and hawwed, but couldn’t decide. He knew he wanted his chocolate cake and bruschetta – but couldn’t decide on a main dish.  He finally decided… quesadillas.

Quesadillas? Really, over all of those other delicious items?  He said yupp, with a smile, and that was that.  He did demand at least 2 or 3 different quesadillas, so at least I could have some fun! [CH: For clarification, quesadilla is like pizza. Lots of variety in flavour, warm and gooey, and always super delicious.]

I came upon Eat Live Run’s recipe and knew it was perfect.  CH (as we know) LOVES goat cheese and shrimp, so it was a perfect combo. I also liked the addition of the roasted veggies and of course, the spices!  I also sliced my shrimp in half, horizontally, which gave me double the amount of shrimp and ensured that every bite had a good amount of shrimp!  Yumm!

The flavours worked so well together, the warm creaminess of the goat cheese, mixed with the spicy shrimp and sweet roasted peppers – it was definitely a match made in heaven!

I roasted my own peppers (an additional step from the original recipe) and added some garlic powder too, which I feel just really added to the flavour. I also used mozzarella, which blended really well with the goat cheese!  Topped with a little sour cream and fresh guacamole, they were so tasty!

Note – I do my quesadillas a little differently.  I use one tortilla per quesadilla.  I lightly brown both sides of the tortilla, fill one-side of the flattened quesadilla with the goodies and then fold-over the other side and allow to brown a little more on both sides (and blending the flavours/melting the cheeses).  In my opinion, this way is much easier and keeps more of the goodies inside when you cut/serve it.

Definitely give these a try if you love goat cheese (and shrimp) as much as we do!  It will be on our table in the near future, I can guarantee that!

Enjoy!

Shrimp & Goat Cheese Quesadillas

Yield:  2 quesadillas
Prep Time:  15 minutes (including roasted peppers)
Cook Time:  15 minutes

Ingredients:

• 2 flour tortillas
• 8 uncooked shrimp (remove tails)
• 1 tsp extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/4 red pepper
• 1/4 orange pepper
• 1/4 yellow pepper
• 1/4 red onion
• 1/4 cup mozzarella, shredded
• 3/4 cup goat cheese
• 1/4 tsp chili powder
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder
• 1/8 tsp cayenne
• 1/8 tsp salt
• sour cream & guacamole for serving

Directions:

Peppers

Preheat your broiler to the HIGH setting.

Place peppers and onion on a baking sheet and place under broiler.

Allow to cook until each side’s skin is blistering and softened  (around 5 minutes per side or 10 minutes total).

Once all sides are sufficiently blistered, remove from oven, place in a glass bowl and cover with plastic wrap.  Set-aside until ready to use!

Shrimp

While peppers are broiling, prepare the shrimp.

Heat a small sauté pan over high-heat.  Add olive oil and allow to heat for 30 seconds.  Add shrimp to the pan and cook for 1 minute.

Add chili powder, garlic powder, cayenne and salt to the pan and continue to cook for another 30 seconds – 1 minute, or until shrimp are pink and cooked throughout.  (Be careful not to overcook the shrimp – they only take 2 – 3 minutes – at most!)

Remove shrimp from heat and set-aside to cool.

Once cooled, slice the shrimp in half horizontally (essentially butterflying the shrimp but completing separating them).

Quesadilla Assembly

Heat a large frying pan over medium heat.  Place one tortilla in the pan and allow to brown slightly on both sides (around 1 minute per side).

Remove the tortilla from heat (and remove the pan from the element until ready for use again) and scatter mozzarella on one side of the tortilla.

Layer 8 pieces of shrimp (4 whole shrimp) on-top of the mozzarella and scatter the peppers over-top.

Crumble the goat cheese over the peppers & shrimp and fold-over the tortilla.

Press down firmly on the tortilla to incorporate all of the ingredients.

Return the filled-tortilla to the pan and cook on both sides until nice and brown and the cheeses have melted (about 3 minutes per side).

Remove from heat & repeat with remaining ingredients.

Slice quesadillas into quarters and serve warm with sour cream & guacamole (or salsa!)

Enjoy!

Recipe Adapted From Eat, Live, Run