Margarita Carrillo Arronte’s – Crab Quesadilla’s

This is an extremely tasty and simple to prepare dish that is great served as part of a Mexican sharing feast, or “Mexican Tapas” style of food and is from the book, Mexico – The Cookbook reviewed elsewhere on this blog.

The crabmeat mixture is served at room temperature in the book, meaning it can be made ahead when you have several dishes to prepare, though it is versatile enough to be warm or cold in my opinion though as crab not really best “hot”. The book also suggests deep frying the tortillas as well as serving them as traditional filled tortilla, which is also a great option I have tried, though personally I prefer a “softer” casing in an empanada style pastry rather than a deep fried tortilla, but that is a personal preference

Somewhat bizarrely this also makes a fantastic pasta sauce to serve mixed through some cooked spaghetti, linguine, penne or similar. Not what was a traditional Mexican recipe but still mighty tasty !! I tried it when had some left over and has now become a recipe in itself.

Ingredients – Serves 6 According to book – Really as part of a feast though

6 x tbsps. Olive Oil

½ small carrot finely diced

4 x tbsps. Finely chopped onion

4 x tbsps. Finely chopped leek (white parts only)

2 x Cloves garlic – crushed 5 x tbsps.

Tomato puree

300g/11oz Crabmeat – I have used less in the past as crabmeat can be expensive – 2 x 125g tubs is my usual

½ cup / 120ml Dry White Wine

1 x tsp. Capers chopped

3 x tbsps. / 40g Butter diced

Corn Tortillas to serve (12 is suggested) , plus salsa of your choice

You will also need a medium saucepan – though I prefer to make in a large frying pan.

Method – this is way I make it, not necessarily the same steps as the recipe in the book!

Heat the oil in the pan and then add the onions, carrots, leeks and garlic and fry gently for about 5-8 minutes (I normally finds takes a bit longer) stirring continuously until the vegetables have softened.

Now stir in the tomato puree and cook it out for about 5 minutes.

Next add the crabmeat and wine and gently stir into the mixture. You need to do this gently so as to allow the crab to keep its texture as much as possible as you don’t want a total “mush”. Cook until the sauce has reduced somewhat.

Add the capers and butter, and stir again until melted into the sauce. Now remove from heat and let it cool completely and serve!

As I say a simple recipe, but extremely tasty! Serve by spooning into warmed tortilla and fold in half with your accompaniments. I normally serve like this, but can also be prepared and then deep fried (180 °C / 350 °F)until golden brown.