Chicken and Bean Quesadillas with Corn, Avocado and Tomato Salad

Recipe originally appeared on Nadialim.com

INGREDIENTS

Quesadillas

• 600 g chicken thigh boneless and skinless, cut into 2cm strips

• 2 tablespoons Cajun spice mix*

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 1 can black beans drained and rinsed

• 1½ cups grated cheese

• 8-10 flour or corn tortillas GF

Salad

• 1 cooked corn cob kernels removed

• 1 firm avocado flesh diced

• 1 punnet cherry tomatoes halved

• 2 sticks celery diced

• 2 spring onions finely sliced

• ¼ cup coriander roughly chopped

• 1 tablespoon olive oil

• 1 lime juiced

INSTRUCTIONS

• Pre heat oven to 50 degC/120 Fahrenheit.

• Heat a drizzle of oil in a large grill or fry pan over medium high heat. Cook corn until bright yellow and a little charred, about 5 minutes. Remove from pan and set aside to cool.

• Pat chicken dry with paper towels and combine with Cajun spice and salt. Heat a good drizzle of oil in a large pan (you can use the same as the corn) over medium high heat. Cook for about 5 -7 minutes, or until just cooked through. Remove and combine with black beans. Clean the pan so it can be used for the next stage.

• Heat the same pan over medium high heat. Do not add any oil. Lay a tortilla on a chopping board or workbench. Add a sprinkling of cheese over half the tortilla, then top with some chicken and bean mix, followed by another sprinkling of cheese. Fold the tortilla in half to encase the filling.

• Cook in the pan until the tortilla is crisp and the cheese has melted, then flip and repeat on the other side. It helps to use a fish slice to gently press down on the quesadilla while it it cooking. Remove and keep warm in the oven. Repeat with remaining ingredients. Gently mix together corn, tomato, avocado, celery spring onion, coriander and lime juice. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

• To serve, divide quesadillas and salad between 4 plates. Enjoy!

NOTES You can buy a Cajun spice mix from the supermarket or make one by combining 1 teaspoon each of smoked paprika, paprika, ground coriander, ground cumin and dried oregano (or mixed herbs). Quesadillas also make a great snack whilst entertaining or watching sport, and they look pretty cool all piled up on a board served with the creamy chipotle dressing from this recipe to dip them into. These can also be eaten cold and would go down well in a kids lunch box I bet! This recipe was in My Food Bag and was super popular with our Foodies!