3/20/10

sweet potato quesadillas w/ fig reduction, spicy corn relish and pecans


Aren't quesadillas fun? I mean you can literally put anything and everything in them. Not to mention the vast amount of cheeses out there that can be used in quesadillas is enormous. I have rarely used queso blanco cheese. Not because I don't like it, but because I haven't found what works good with it since it is a very mild cheese, almost like a mozzarella cheese. I just loved the layers of flavors in this sweet potato quesadilla. It has the sweet/saltiness of my fried sweet potatoes, the mildness of the cheese, the sweetness of the fig reduction and then some heat with the spicy corn relish. Of course I had to add my sweet & spicy pecans to it for extra crunch. I got those pecans (as everyone knows who follows me on Twitter) at Trader Joe's. It's gross really how much of those pecans I consume on a weekly basis. Have you tried them? Is there anyone out there that is addicted to them as I?
With these quesadillas, if I was to make them again I might go with a stronger tasting cheese next time, maybe a mild cheddar. Don't get me wrong these were good; I just love to always improve upon my creations the next time, then the next time, and so on.

Also, you may have noticed that my copyright logo/name are getting more bigger and/or prominent on my photos? This is because I have, again, been the victim of someone stealing my photos. But now they are cropping out the copyright stuff. This happened once before and I learned that I should put a visible copyright mark on them. I would hate to have to eventually make a visible watermark in the middle of the food photo. Why people steal others works and photos is beyond me.... If anyone can tell me how to add a visible watermark while retaining the quality of the photo I'm all ears.

Sweet potato quesadillas w/ fig reduction & spicy corn relish
print recipe

I used my sweet potato hash for the filling of this quesadilla.

Sweet potato hash
2-3 sweet potatoes, chopped into 1-inch cubes
EV olive oil
A few TB’s of butter
salt & pepper
caramelized onions
a few dashes of Worcestershire sauce
couple dashes of Tabasco sauce

Caramelize some onions (about 1 giant sweet yellow onion) after it's done caramelizing add a few drops of the Worcestershire sauce, set aside.
Heat up same skillet with some EVOO and fry up the sweet potatoes until nice & crispy, season with salt and pepper. Towards the end of cooking add a few tablespoons of butter to the skillet to melt into the hash. Then add in a few dashes of Worcestershire sauce, mix until combined. If you want a bit of heat like I do then add in some cayenne and/or Tabasco.

Use some of the hash place it the middle of a large tortilla, add a few chunks of queso blanco or queso fresco cheese, a few dashes of Tabasco (optional). Seal edges of tortilla with egg wash, fold over and seal and then fry up in a non-stick pan. The egg wash will seal up once it gets hot. Serve with fig reduction and/or spicy corn relish (see below).

Fig reduction
Is nothing more than this jam cooked over medium heat till it reduces and thickens a bit. If you’re not into making your own jam, then you can buy some premade and heat up. But I do suggest you try this fig jam recipe as it’s really good.

cinnamon fig jam
from eatingoutloud.com

3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1 lb. mission figs (about 10-12 figs)
1 3″ strip lemon zest
1 cinnamon stick
1/2 lemon juiced

Add water and sugar to a pan and place on a medium heat to dissolve.
Remove the stems from the figs and cut into quarters. Add to the sugar mixture along with lemon zest, cinnamon stick, and lemon juice. Bring the mix to a light simmer and leave the pan uncovered. Cook for about 1 hour or until the mix thickens. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

The spicy corn relish is from stonewall kitchen. I buy this stuff by the case -- it’s that good.

42 comments:

  1. Usually at this time of day, the glare from the sun makes it difficult to see what's on my screen, but your quesadillas have no trouble standing out. Awesome plate! (I'm ready to be addicted to those pecans - should look for them at Trader's next time.)

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    1. Sweet potato reduction, spicy corn relish, and pecans it is a delish recipe. I'm a Professional SEO services provider, non any chef but I will be trying Sweet potato.

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  2. Yummmmmmmmmm- how good do those look? I love dillas. And TJs has the best nuts and nut mixes- addicting. Have you tried the sesame covered cashews? ah! Someone is stealing your photos? That is terrible! JERKS! Have a nice weekend sweet lady ;)

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  3. Sweet potatoes AND figs? What a gorgeous combination.

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  4. Us Canadians unfortunately have no Trader Joes here so we head for the border on shopping sprees to stock up on such goodies, so I've heard! Those pecans sound incredible as does this quesadilla dish!

    re: watermark - what kind of graphic application do you have?

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  5. Yeah. Quesadillas are really good. But they sound even better with fig reduction and pecans. Excellent idea.

    ARRGH to people who steal your work. Frustrating!

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  6. You put the weirdest things together and yet somehow it works.

    Ugh, sorry you are dealing with a content poacher again. Some people are so lame.

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  7. I never thought to put sweet potatoes in a quesadilla. That's a really good idea. Genius!!! I'm definitely going to have to try that relish.

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  8. Oooh...my favourite there...sweet potatoes! Looks very delicious. Thanks for sharing.

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  9. Ewwwww, Dawn, I can't believe people are still doing that with your photos!! What a pain.

    But... Hello? YUM. I am a sucker for anything fig and will be dreaming of this for days.

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  10. cinnamon fig jam! reduced! slathered all over cheesy sweet potatoes! with an awesome relish on the side! and pecans on top!
    i'm sorry, was that exclamation-point-abuse? my bad. :) this sounds wonderfully original and delicious, dawn--bravo!

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  11. Que ricas quesadillas te han salido. Tienen una pinta estupenda. Un saludo

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  12. wowsa, so many awesome flavors going on in this quesadilla :) why don't i make more of them? hmm...

    bummer about about your photo stealer :( that's worse than stealing my lunch!

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  13. This looks sooooooooo good!!! flavor combinations i never would have thought of!

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  14. The pecans really bring this home. I am a fan of Stonewall Kitchen stuff too! GREG

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  15. You brought quesadillas to a whole new level. I could imagine that these would be like a flavor bomb going off in my mouth.

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  16. that is a beautiful plate of food!

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  17. Very yum! We went through a quesadilla passion a while back and then forgot about them. Thank you for reminding me. They are the perfect food for hungry teenagers and I'm feeding three.

    I still have some homemade spicy corn relish made from corn I bought from Tim Friary at Cape Cod Organic Farm.

    I'm SO sorry about your photo theft problem. I'd really love to talk to you about this sometime because I have not investigated this properly even though I know it's a real thing that has happened to so many bloggers I love. How did you find out someone used your photos?

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  18. I adore figs. I plan to plant a fig tree this spring. Now your sweet potato quesadillas w/ fig reduction, spicy corn relish and pecans sounds incredible!

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  19. I love the idea of sweet and sour foods. Mixing the sweet potato with saltier components just makes it sound so heavenly. And the homemade fig jam? WHOOOO! :)

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  20. Oh my gosh what a great combination! The stealing thing has been happening to me too, what a pain!

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  21. What a fabulous makeover of a quesadilla! I love the sweet potatoes and spicy corn, and pecans and figs here, terrific flavors!

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  22. BASTARDS..cant they give credit where credit is due?? I mean seriously???!!!!!
    I am gonna start boycotting TJ's since they wont come to Tampa!

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  23. Sweet Jesus, these look incredible! Sorry about your content thief--I need to make a more visible watermark, too.

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  24. My friend, Bethany, puts watermarks on all her photos and said she does this:

    I make a watermark in my photos by creating an image with white text that I save as a .psd with a tranluscent background, then I copy it and paste it as a layer on top of the photo, then change the transparency of the layer till it looks right. There are lots of good tutorials online about how to do it; I am not the right person to teach anyone how to do it, as I barely understand how to do it myself. :-)

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  25. Holy crap, that looks wicked good. I haven't made a quesadilla in years, I need to fix that!

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  26. These sweet potato quesadillas sound really good!

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  27. Such a cool combo of flavors, Dawn. I would love love love that spicy relish and the addition of your sweet & spicy pecans and the fig reduction is way cool. I would be a major fatty if I lived near you. LOL.
    Photo stealers just plain suck. You do all the hard work and they think it's ok to up and steal it since they must be too lazy to take a damn photo of their own. Losers.

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  28. You make me want to quit my day job and get into publishing so that I can offer you a book deal to create these unique flavours and combos.

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  29. Dawn, Dawn, Dawn. Excuse me while I wipe the drool off my keyboard. I just need to have a rag ready because this happens to me every single time I visit your site. This quesadilla ROCKS MY WORLD! Nicely done.

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  30. Those look flippin' amazing. I wish you could cook for me.

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  31. Aw, you used Allen's recipe! I miss him. Anyway, quesadillas are such a big hit with my cousins - they love stuffing it with only stuff they like :) But this is my kind of quesadilla, sans nuts... And of course, I am in love with the (spicy!!) corn relish.

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  32. I love sweet potatoes, I can't wait to try them in a quesadilla. Great idea!

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  33. Wow, these look amazing!
    I'm going to gobble the screen up if I don't make these soon...
    :)

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  34. these look awesome. as for the stealing, it's just sad. it's like people sit around trying to think of new ways of being total jerks (not to mention unethical)

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  35. oh wow!!!!!!! Those quesadillas are making my mouth water. I bet I would love these.

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  36. ooh i have to agree they are fun, more cheese more cheese! will it taste weird if we add in nutella as well? HAHA

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  37. I love quesadillas - often making them from pancakes/crepes. Like the idea of a 'filling' filling.......hmmmmmm

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  38. I don't have a Trader Joes near me, but I visited one while I was in the Phoenix area. I really need one here with me.....
    I must have missed the pecans, but I did manage to bring home some rice. I fell in love with that store the moment I walked in. You are lucky to have one near you.
    Your quesadillas look amazing, and I am sorry you are having trouble with theft. I haven't ran into that problem yet, I don't think anyway.

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  39. Oh that sucks about the photostealing.

    You know i have never thought tot change my quesadillas filling too dramatically but you are absolutely right, you coupld really put so much in them...Time to experiment

    Bright Green Laces

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