sweet potato + black bean quesadillas

When Justin and I first started dating and throughout our vegetarian years quesadillas were a BIG part of our lives. It was Justin's go to anytime we went out with friends to a non veg friendly restaurant and it was my go to when I wanted a quick and easy meal on a busy weeknight. Sadly, when we went vegan quesadillas were kind of forgotten about. Justin is not a huge fan of vegan cheese, so finding a quesadilla filling that satisfied him just like the cheesy version was a challenge to say the least. That was until recently, this quesadilla blows the socks off its non vegan counterpart and way more satisfying.

The first challenge was finding a filling that would allow all that veggie goodness to actually stay inside the quesadilla without falling out every time you went in for a bite. In comes the sweet potato, spiced perfectly with a paprika chipotle blend that I absolutely adore from Victoria spices, it is the very same spice that I used in my lentil tacos. The sweet potato acts as the "glue" in your quesadilla.

Because we like to get all crazy in our house, the second half of the quesadilla is slathered with the most amazing black bean spread - I had to stop myself from "testing" the black bean spread or else I wasn't going to have any left for my quesadilla. 

Corn, shallots and green peppers are quickly sauteed in chipotle olive oil // however standard olive oil is great too! I love tucking in a bit of greens any where I can, baby spinach lines the other half of the quesadilla for a burst of freshness.

Once your quesadilla is assembled, it gets a quick pan fry / grill on both sides. 

 It comes together as quick as you can steam the sweet potatoes - about 20-30 minutes from start to finish and you will have dinner on the table. This is the perfect recipe to use up any leftover mashed sweet potatoes you may have laying around.

Sweet Potato + Black Bean Quesadillas

makes 2

you will need:

for the quesadilla filling

1 small / medium Sweet Potato // peeled + cubed

1 tsp Smokey Paprika Chipotle seasoning 

(make your own spice (blend of chili pepper [including chipotle], cumin, oregano), paprika, garlic, sea salt, onion, demerara sugar, natural mesquite smoke flavor)

 1/2 cup pepper  // seeded + chopped

1 small shallot // sliced

1/2 cup fresh or frozen corn kernels

1 tsp  Chipotle olive oil or standard olive oil

Salt to taste

for the black bean spread

2 cups of black beans, drained + rinsed

 juice of 1 lime 

7-10 dashes of  Cholula chipotle hot sauce

salt to taste

(2) 10" Flour Tortillas 

 2-3 cups baby spinach

Dab of vegan butter (about 1 tsp)

extras // salsa, guacamole, vegan sour cream + chives

assembly:

Peel and cube your sweet potato - steam sweet potato using a steamer basket on the stove or in the microwave. Once sweet potato is fork tender, place in a medium bowl and add chipotle seasoning + salt to taste. Using a rubber spatula or potato masher, mash sweet potato and set aside.

While the sweet potato is steaming, heat a medium saute pan over medium/high heat- drizzle olive oil into pan. Add chopped pepper, corn and sliced shallots along with a little bit of salt, saute until peppers and shallots begin to soften, a little caramelize is good too. Remove from heat.

In the bowl of your food processor (a mini processor is great if you have one) fitted with an s blade - add drained + rinsed black beans, juice of 1 lime, salt + Cholula. Process until black bean spread is smooth - about 1-2 minutes.

Lay your tortillas out on your work surface - spread half of each tortilla with the sweet potatoes and the other side of the tortilla with the black bean spread. Layer he veggie mix equally over the black bean side of the tortilla. Layer baby spinach over the sweet potato. Bring the side of the tortilla together as if you are closing a book, repeat with the other tortilla.

Using the same pan as you sauteed your veggies in or a griddle, heat a dab of vegan butter over medium heat. Place quesadilla in the pan and cook until golden brown, flip and cook the other side the same. About 2 minutes per side - repeat with other quesadilla.

Remove from pan, cut quesadilla into 3 triangles and serve with your favorite salsa, guacamole, vegan sour cream or chives!

Enjoy!