Let’s face it. Dinner time is a nightmare 90% of the time. I don’t know why all Heck breaks loose at exactly 5pm, but it does. Sometimes I’m prepared but lots of times I’m not. I need something fast to feed my HanGry monsters. Quesadillas are a classic 5 minute meal. I love them, my kids love them. We all do. Adding fontina quesadillas to the rotation will make your dinner feel more like a REAL MEAL, even fancy enough for company. And it’s easy to subtract them for picky little eaters.

Fontina is a beautiful little cheese. It melts like a dream and has a rich, nutty flavor. I buy this at my discount grocery store for almost the same price as normal cheddar, most likely found with the other deli cheeses. It’s creamy texture make it perfect for melting on pizzas, flat breads and in this case, quesadillas.

I love the uncooked tortillas from Costco. I adore the crispy brown spots they get from the pan. The first recipe that I want to share uses salami and mushrooms. Add sliced mushrooms to a skillet and brown in olive oil for about 8 minutes with salt and pepper. Then place on the tortilla with the fontina and a couple slices of salami. It’s easy and your taste buds will be thrilled. Add a handful of baby arugula and dinner is served. Easy, right?

Yield: 6 quesadillas

Mushroom and Fontina Quesadillas

Ingredients

6 oz. spicy salami
6 flour tortillas (10 inch)
1 tsp olive oil
1/2 pound mushrooms
salt and pepper
8 oz. fontina cheese

Instructions

Layer the salami on half of the tortilla. In a large skillet, heat 1 tsp olive oil over med-high heat. Add mushrooms and cook, stirring occasionally for 8 minutes, until brown. Season with salt and pepper.
Place mushrooms and cheese on top of salami and fold tortilla over the filling. Place quesadilla in a skillet and cook over medium heat until the cheese is melted, about 3 minutes per side.

Fontina Quesadillas Try these three killer combinations (7)

This next quesadilla combination uses my favorite recipe for caramelized onions. They are slow roasted with a little rosemary and lemon. These take a little time so the best way to make them is to go big and freeze them. It’s just as easy to caramelize 1 onion as it is to do 6 onions. Make up a batch, place the extras in a Ziploc and flatten out the bag into a 1/2 inch layer. Freeze, then break off a little chunk of onions for omelets, pizzas, sandwiches, hamburgers, soups, etc.

And of course caramelized onions taste amazing on our little fontina quesadillas. Add them to the cheese with a couple slices of prosciutto or sliced ham. This combination is truly scrumptious. (This makes a fabulous pizza as well, using olive oil instead of pizza sauce.)

To caramelize the onions place as many sliced onions as you can in a large frying pan with a little olive oil. Caramelize them over low heat with a couple sprigs of rosemary. When they are golden season with salt, pepper and a few drops of lemon to bring out the flavor. Plan on 20 minutes or so for this step.

The last combination is on the sweet side. Fontina cheese sometimes has a little hint of honey in the flavor and consequently pairs perfectly with it. One of my favorite dishes at a New York restaurant was a little cheese baked with honey on top. I don’t know why it works so well but you have to try it. Just make up a quesadilla with fontina and drizzle with honey. Not much to it, but holy cow, it’s heavenly.