Italian Roasted Veggie Quesadilla
Ingredients
Each Quesadilla
- 1-2 tablespoons basil pesto homemade or store-bought
- 5-6 slices roasted eggplant
- 5-7 slices roasted zucchini
- 3 slices roasted red pepper homemade or jarred
- 2-4 tablespoons shredded mozzarella
- 2 gluten-free flour tortillas
- oil for lightly coating pan
Basil Pesto (For a vegan pesto, try Vegan Basil Pumpkin Seed Pesto) (Makes approximately 2 cups - store in refrigerator)
- 2 cups fresh basil leaves
- ½ cup freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano
- ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoons raw unsalted almonds
- 2 garlic cloves chopped
- 1 teaspoon rice wine vinegar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ⅛ teaspoon black pepper
Red Bell Pepper -- 1 -2, depending on how much extra you want
Zucchini - 1-3, cut in ¼ inch slices, depending on how much extra you want
Eggplant - 1-3, sliced in ¼ inch circles, depending on how much extra you want
Easy Balsamic Vinaigrette
- ¼ c EVOO
- 1½ tablespoon balsamic vinegar
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- Garlic powder a sprinkle or to tasted
- Salt to taste
Instructions
Roasted Peppers:
- In preheated broiler, roast peppers for approximately 20-30 minutes, rotating midway through, or until blackened. You want them black so that the skin peels off easier.
- Remove from oven and place in a brown paper bag, seal and let cool for about 15 minutes. Then remove from bag and the blacked skins should peel off easily and the seeds remove easily. Slice peppers into strips.
Roasted Eggplant and Zucchini
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees. One vegetable at a time, gently brush or toss in olive oil and sprinkle with kosher salt. Lay in a single layer on individual baking sheets or bake in batches. Bake for 30 minutes until tender and slightly crisp.
- Pro Tip: The top rack gets them crispiest so consider rotating pans midway through, or move whichever was on the middle rack to the top rack for five minutes at the end.
Grilled Vegetables
- Preheat grill to medium-high heat. One vegetable at a time, gently toss in olive oil and sprinkle with kosher salt.
- In batches, lay in a single layer on grill tray or on grill pan.
- Grill in batches, one type at a time so that they cook at the same rate. Grill, flipping once, until tender and lightly charred, approximately15 minutes.
Roasted or Grilled Eggplant, Zucchini and Peppers keep well in the refrigerator in a sealed container for several days. Peppers also freeze well.
Basll Pesto
- Place basil, garlic and almonds in a food processor and run/pulse several times until finely minced
- Add salt and pepper and pulse a few more times.
- With the food processor running, stream olive oil into the top of the food processor. Scrape down the sides as needed and run food processor until well combined and mixture is smooth.
- Add cheese and process briefly until just combined.
- Add rice wine vinegar and pulse a few times until just combined.
- Can be made ahead and kept in seal container in the refrigerator.
Quesadilla
- Heat a saute pan over medium heat, lightly coat with oil and place one tortilla in the pan and gently heat it about 1 minute or until it starts to bubble up a bit as it cooks and browns on one side
- Add 1 to 2 tablespoons basil pesto atop the tortilla and spread evenly.
- Top with eggplant slices, then zucchini slices, then red pepper slices.
- Then sprinkle with mozzarella to taste.
- Top with another tortilla and cook both sides 1-2 minutes, flipping once, until both sides golden and just crispy.
- Remove from heat, serve and enjoy!
Easy Balsamic Vinaigrette
- Whisk together ingredients.
- Can be made ahead and keeps well in the refrigerator for several days.
What kind of GF tortillas do you use / buy ?
We use a variety of gluten-free tortillas but love Siete Foods Almond Flour tortillas for quesadillas. They hold together well, get nice and crispy and taste great!