Garlic-Cilantro, Lime, Shrimp Quesadillas

My husband and I recently visited St. Augustine, Florida for a short vacation. We only live about 1 ½ hours from there, so we visit often. However, we decided on this trip to visit places we have never been before. We wanted to look at this familiar place as an adventure.

Garlic-Cilantro, Lime, Shrimp Quesadilla

I found The Back 40 Urban Café on a restaurant finder app. I am so glad that we did. The food was delicious Florribean cuisine. We were served huge portions of reasonably priced dishes by very friendly staff. If you are in St. Augustine, I suggest you stop by.

My Garlic-Cilantro, Lime, Shrimp Quesadilla is inspired by the lunch that I ate there. We loved this. My husband asked me to add this to our usual rotation.

Serves: 6 quesadillas (6-8 people probably)

Time:  Active time 15 minutes; Cook: 7 Minutes, quesadillas in 25 minutes

Hardware:  A cutting board and knives, measuring spoons and cups, a strainer, a can opener, a heavy skillet that will work on top of the stove and in the oven (I use cast iron), paper towels, spatula, tongs, oven mitts, cutting board, pizza cutter (optional)

Ingredients:

• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 1-pound large shrimp (21-25 count) You can buy them cleaned without tails
• Salt
• 4 cloves garlic
• ⅓ cup fresh cilantro
• 1 lime
• 1 roasted red pepper 
• 1-11 ounce can Mexican style corn (I used Green Giant Mexicorn)
• 1-7.5 ounce can black beans
• Butter (you’ll need at least ½ stick)
• 6-8-inch flour tortillas
• 3 cups shredded cheese (I used equal parts cheddar and Monterey jack)
• Sour cream, slices of avocado

1.      Cut the garlic cloves into very thin slices. Cut the red pepper into bite sized pieces. Mince the cilantro. Open the corn and beans and rinse in the strainer, leaving them in the strainer while you prepare the rest of the dish. Slice the lime. Set everything aside.

2.      Rinse and pat the shrimp dry. Cut them into bite sized pieces. Sprinkle with salt.

3.      Heat the oil in the pan on medium-high. When it is hot, add the shrimp and garlic. Monitor closely, flipping the shrimp when needed. You should probably only cook the shrimp for 2 minutes per side.

4.      Remove the pan from the heat. Toss in the cilantro and squeeze the lime into the pan.

5.      Pour the shrimp and all the pan juices into the strainer with the beans and corn.

6.      Clean the pan. For each quesadilla, melt 2 teaspoons of butter over medium-high. When the butter is melted add a tortilla. Allow the tortilla to toast a little, maybe a minute or two.

7.      Turn on the broiler.

8.      Sprinkle ¼ cup cheese over the whole tortilla (A.) Place fillings-shrimp, beans, corn, pieces of pepper-on half the tortilla (B.) Sprinkle on another ¼ cup cheese. Place the pan into the oven. Watch it closely. The cheese should be bubbly in a minute or so (C.) Fold the side with just the cheese over the fillings and mash down a little using the spatula (D.) Use the tongs to try pushing the filling back into the shell while mashing.

9.      Wipe out the pan between quesadillas

10.  Use the pizza slicer to cut the quesadilla in half. Serve warm with sour cream and some avocado.

A

B

C

D