Roasted Sweet Pepper and Goat Cheese Quesadillas

My husband has been helping a friend of his build a house, which means most of his nights and weekends are spent there, away from home. After three or four days of only seeing him for maybe an hour before he goes to bed, I tend to get a little cranky. I then insist he’s mine for a night, or a Saturday, whichever comes first. When he’s gone, however, I make myself food—comfort food—that I enjoy, but I probably wouldn’t get him to touch. For example, I love goat cheese, but the mere mention of it makes my husband crinkle his nose. Same with blue cheese and feta and scallops and crab. Love, love, love them all, and he hates, hates, hates them all. To be fair, we have the opposite relationship with beef… In any event, I came up with these quesadillas because a. I wanted something with goat cheese. b. I wanted something quick and easy. c. I wanted something autumn-y.

In a surprising turn of events, I made myself one of these little quesadillas for lunch while hubby was home for a day last weekend, and I got him to try a slice. He said they were damn good quesadillas. Hmmm. That doesn’t mean I have to start eating beef, does it?

Ingredients:

a combination of red and yellow sweet bell peppers (1 per quesadilla is a safe bet)
goat cheese (chévre)
fresh thyme
balsamic vinegar
fresh ground black pepper
part flour/part cornmeal tortillas (if you can find them; they’re new from Mission)
butter

Guidelines:

Roast your peppers. How? Place them under a broiler until the skin is blackened all over, rotating frequently. Remove from broiler, and place in a paper bag, or in a bowl with a towel draped over it, and let them sweat for 25-30 minutes. Once they are cool enough, peel the blackened skin off, remove the stem and seeds, and cut the peppers into strips.

In a sauté pan, toss the peppers with fresh thyme, fresh ground pepper, and a splash of balsamic vinegar. Heat until most of the balsamic vinegar has evaporated.

Butter one side of two tortillas.

Spread goat cheese on the unbuttered side of one tortilla.

In a medium pan, place the buttered side of one tortilla on the pan’s surface. Top with the roasted pepper mixture. Place the other tortilla over the top, butter side up, and cook on medium heat, flipping as necessary, until the top of each tortilla is golden brown and the goat cheese is warm.

Let cool briefly and cut into wedges.