I adore avocados

We often cook simple Mexican food at home, especially quesadillas, because they're so tasty and easy to cook up for weeknight meals. I refer to quesadillas as "Mexican grilled-cheese sandwiches," which I think is a pretty accurate description. You can mix and match all sorts of different ingredients, depending on what you have in your fridge or pantry.

Lately I've been buying avocados from Trader Joe's, because they're very reasonably priced, but they only sell them in packs of four. I love avocados, and this veritable glut has forced me to branch out beyond my standard guacamole recipe. Last week, I decided to change things up a little bit and make an avocado and tomato salad to accompany a new quesadilla recipe. I totally winged both recipes, but they turned out really well. These are definitely "keepers" in our house.

The Judge's Avocado-Tomato Salad
1 semi-ripe avocado, cut into large chunks
1 tomato, diced
1/4 red onion, diced
1-2 TBSP cilantro (to taste)
juice from 1/2 lime
1/2 chopped jalepeno pepper OR a few dashes of habenero pepper hot sauce (I like Melinda's brand)
1/4 tsp salt

Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl until well blended. Serve with tortillas, chips, or anything else!








Smoked Gouda and Caramelized Onion Quesadillas
(adapted from an Epicurious recipe)

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter
1 white or yellow onion, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon golden brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon white wine vinegar
1 1/2 cups grated smoked Gouda cheese
6 10-inch-diameter flour tortillas

Melt 2 tablespoons butter in heavy medium skillet over medium heat. Add onion, brown sugar and vinegar; sauté until onion is golden brown, stirring frequently, about 25 minutes. Remove from heat. Cool to room temperature.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Sprinkle cheese over half of each tortilla, dividing equally. Sprinkle sautéed onion over cheese. Season with pepper. Fold other half of each tortilla over cheese mixture.

Brush heavy large skillet with some additional melted butter or oil. Place over medium-high heat. Working in batches, cook quesadillas just until brown spots appear, brushing skillet with butter or oil between batches, about 30 seconds to 1 minute per side. Transfer quesadillas to heavy large baking sheet.

Bake until tortillas are golden and cheese melts, about 5 minutes.