Fresh Corn & Crab Quesadillas with Avacado Crema

I love crab and I love Mexican so when I came across this recipe in a Hannaford Magazine (that came free with my purchase of $25 or more) I couldn't wait to make it. The picture shown in the magazine had my mouth watering. All I could hope was that it was going to taste as good as it looked and sounded.

Ingredients:

Quesadillas
1 cup fresh corn kernels (cut from 1 to 2 ears)
1/4 cup (2oz) reduced fat (Neufchâtel) cream cheese, softened
2 tsp. fresh lime juice
1/4 tsp. ground cumin
1/8 tsp freshly ground black pepper, or to taste
1/4 cup finely chopped scallions
1 tbsp. minced fresh cilantro
1/2 lb fresh lump crabmeat
4 8" flour tortillas
1/2 cup (2oz) shredded Monterey Jack cheese
1 tsp. olive oil

Avocado Crema
2 tbsp. plain non-fat Greek-style (thickened) yogurt
1 tbsp. minced fresh cilantro
2 tsp. fresh lime juice
1/8 tsp kosher salt, or taste
1 ripe avocado, diced

The How to:
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray.
2. Prepare quesadillas. In a medium-sized saucepan, bring 3 cups water to a boil over high heat. Add corn for 1 minute just to blanch. Drain, rinse with cold water.
3. Combine cream cheese with lime juice, salt, cumin and pepper. Stir in scallions, cilantro, and corn, then gently fold in the crabmeat. (This may be prepared up to one day in advance and stored, refrigerated, in an airtight container.)


4. Place one tortilla on a work surface and spread 1/4 of the corn and crab mixture over one half. Sprinkle 2 tbsp. of the Montery Jack cheese over the top. Fold the other half of the tortilla over the filling, press firmly, and transfer quesadilla to the perpared baking sheet. Repeat with remaining tortillas and filling. Brush tuop of each quesadilla with 1/4 tsp of the oil, and bake on top oven rack 10 minutes, until lightly golden.


5. While quesadillas are baking, prepare avocado crema. Stir together yogurt, cilantro, lime juice and salt in a bowl. Gently fold in avocado.
6. When the quesadillas are done baking, cut each quesadilla into three wedges, and serve warm with a dollop of avocado crema.

The Verdict:
I was the only one who tried these. Since Shaun is still too young for shellfish and I didn't think David would enjoy it I also made Chicken quesadillas (with a little help from the Purdue precut Southwestern style chicken). The Doc decided that he was fine with a chicken quesadilla too. Oh well it was his loss as far as I am concerned. These came out just a I had hoped. The fresh cilantro was key. They were very light and just so yummy! Next time I think I will pan fry them as I do with all of my quesadillas. Some of the edges burned in the oven and the middle wasn't as crispy as I would like. Otherwise I wouldn't change a thing!


Sadly my picture doesn't give the recipe justice as the picture in the magazine did! Ah well!