A Worthy Beginning: Chorizo Black Bean Pineapple Quesadilla

I'm from Texas (more or less) and therefore have an eternal love for Tex-Mex. As such, I like to fancy myself somewhat of a Tex-Mex connoisseur. One of my favorite breakfast taco combos is egg and chorizo sausage. The chorizo has a nice smoky, slightly spicy flavor, and tends to ooze a scrumptious red out of the side of the delicious taco onto your hand or plate. I haven't had one of these in quite some time. Believe it or not, they're not as popular here in Hawaii as they were in San Antonio. So when I saw some in my local Safeway recently I picked up a pack to help quench my thirst for it.

Another staple of Tex-Mex is the quesadilla. Some may say that it's not "real" Tex-Mex, but I think the fact that it's on almost every Mexican restaurant menu I've ever seen means that it's legit.
My lovely wife Emily took a shopping trip for the evening, so I decided to do what I love to do-- root around the left overs and come up with something new. And that's what this blog is all about. Trying stuff, cooking new (sometimes odd) things, and eating it. Sometimes it's a flop, other times a home run.
Tonight was a home run night.

To hold me over while I picked out my meal, I grabbed the bowl of pineapple to munch on. Definitely one of the biggest culinary perks of living in Hawaii-- fresh, delicious pineapple.

So while loading up on scrumptious, acidic, yellow bounty, I looked at the stack of (mediocre, store-bought) tortillas and decided to make a quesadilla.

While I would never presume to underestimate the power of melted cheese, I wanted to add a little something more. Opened the fridge. Ding! Chorizo! So I browned (well, reddened) the chorizo to put on the quesadilla. Mmm... smelled awesome.

I remembered that we had some black bean refried beans in a can. (That's the brown lump pictured in the pan above. Not really necessary to warm it first.)

I popped it open, added it to the mix atop the cheesy tortilla. 2 min on each side. Done.

With a crispy tortilla shell and melty, meaty, beany inside, I took a bite and was decently pleased. But it seemed a little flat. It needed something with a little bite. Like pineapple! I took another bite of the quesadilla and then popped a piece of pineapple in my mouth at the same time. Holy smokes! That was amazing!
At that point there was only one thing to do-- make another one with pineapple slices inside. I ate it so fast that I almost missed it, but it was sooooo good.
So I'm officially adding this one to my repertoire-- the Chorizo Black Bean Pineapple Quesadilla. Mission accomplished.

For those who are more organized than I, here's an approximate recipe:

Makes 4 quesadillas

8 medium size flour tortillas

1 10 oz. package of chorizo sausage

1 16 oz. can refried black beans (low fat if that suits you)

16 oz. shredded cheese (or more if you're like me... balances the low fat beans)

1 cup chopped fresh pineapple (small enough so that it's not too lumpy in the tortilla)

Brown the sausage over medium-high heat (that's number 7 on my electric stove, fyi) until it separates and the fat is rendered. 

Put a separate pan on medium heat (number 5) and put in 1 tortilla and top with 1/4 of all the other ingredients: 4 oz. of cheese, 2.5 oz. of the chorizo, 4 oz. black refried beans, and 1/4 cup of pineapple. Put the other tortilla on top and let it cook for about 2 minutes until the beans soften and the cheese is melted. 

Very carefully flip the whole quesadilla over, supporting as much of it as you can with a spatula or other utensil so that the innards don't fall out (a true tragedy). Cook another 2 minutes on that side. 

Remove from the pan, cut into wedges and serve plain, or with whatever sides fit your Tex-Mex fancy-- sour cream, salsa, guacamole, etc.... Repeat the process 3 more times to use all the ingredients.