Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Peach and 'Brie' Quesadillas with Lime-'Honey' Dipping Sauce

I debated long and hard how best to satisfy the requirement for Brie in this recipe. No commercial vegan Brie has hit the shelves yet (hint hint!), but there is a recipe to be had in the 'Uncheese Cookbook' by Jo Stepaniak. Alas, I do not own a copy of the cookbook, and although you can track down the Brie recipe online, I a) didn't have time to make it from scratch and b) didn't want to infringe on Jo's copyright. By all means though, track it down if you want, and you can make this recipe even more authentic!

So that option aside, I next considered a hard 'cheese', like the Vegan mozzarella block from Galaxy Foods. Although I knew this would melt nicely in the quesadillas, I use it a lot for numerous other recipes, and also didn't feel like it was true to the creamy, soft Brie that I remember from my pre-vegan days.

Which led to option three: vegan cream cheese, such as Tofutti's (http://www.tofutti.com/). I knew the cream cheese would marry wonderfully with the peaches, plus be soft and creamy. Hope you enjoy the results!

As for the dipping sauce, use agave nectar instead of honey - nutritionally, they're nearly identical, with the same sweet taste, but agave is slightly less viscuous (a plus, in my book). Plus completely botanical-based. Combine one tablespoon agave nectar, one teaspoon lime juice and 1/4 tsp. grated lime rind in a small bowl. Set aside.

Place 1/2 cup peeled, thinly sliced peach in a bowl. Make sure your peach is not too ripe and mushy - firmer ones will hold up better in this recipe. I let mine get a little too soft in the fridge, since I bought it three days ago, so you might want to make this recipe on the same night that you do your grocery shopping! Add one and a half teaspoons chopped fresh chives and 1/2 tsp. brown sugar (organic) to the peaches, and toss to coat. In a pinch, you can substitute 1/2 tsp. dried chives for the fresh ones (like I did...)

You'll want 1.5-oz total of your 'Brie' cheese for this recipe. If you're using the tofutti cream cheese, that's three tablespoons of it. So divide your 'Brie' between two 8-in flour tortillas, spreading onto one half of each. Top the 'Brie' on each tortilla with half of the peach mixture. Fold the tortillas up in half over the filling, taco style.

Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat and coat with cooking spray. Cook the tortillas for two minutes on each side until lightly browned. Remove from heat and cut into three wedges each; serve with the dipping sauce.

Two quesadilla triangles with one teaspoon sauce come to 160 calories. Serve with an entree salad of your choice to make this a complete supper for a busy weeknight.

Cost:
lime $0.50
peach $4.15
flour tortillas $1.49

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