Exploring foreign territory: Quesadillas

When I showed up with my bag of groceries at Wiggins Prep Elementary School in Camden, my plan was to teach these fifth graders how to make a healthy quesadilla.

When I mentioned the Mexican fast-food favorite, I got blank stares. "Don't you go to Taco Bell or other take-out Mexican restaurants?" I asked. They all shook their heads no.

"Then I am going to introduce you to quesadillas," I said, thinking I was lucky they didn't know the greasy, cheesy, high-fat, panfried ones, to compare with the oven-baked ones we were making with whole-wheat tortillas, lean meat, and apples.

I had also come up with a substitute for chorizo, the delicious spicy Spanish sausage that is also high in fat and sodium. But none of the kids had tried chorizo, either.

So, the second lesson became thus: to show the kids how adding paprika, cayenne, and oregano to ground turkey could change the taste from relatively bland to spicy.

Cristina Muriel claimed the task of chopping onions, but I have never seen a child so sensitive to onion vapors, the tears rolling down her checks soon after she began, and without a word of complaint.

"Maybe let someone else finish," I suggested.

Meanwhile, I showed Aa'myrah "Coco" Bethea how to core and slice apples. She was working diligently, but after I stepped away to help José with measuring spices, somehow, the knife slipped, and we had our first casualty - a cut finger and blood.

The cut was cleaned and bandaged up, and not two minutes later, Susan Lore, a teacher, fell victim to the same knife.

"What happened?" I asked her. "I don't even know," she said.

Coco quickly resumed her spot at the prep table. Miss Lore was not so eager. But she was happy to cheer the kids on.

After splashing cold water on her face, Cristina was back in the game, grating cheese, a task she had never tried before. After shaving the block down to a nub, she lifted the grater and watched the shards fall - to her great delight.

"Oh, my gosh, it's like snow," she said, giggling. "Merry Christmas!"

José took the first turn at the skillet, stirring the onions until they became soft, and enjoying the aroma. We added the turkey, garlic, and spices, and the kids took turns stirring till there was no pink remaining in the turkey.

While teacher Dawn Wilson supervised the trimming of the green beans, the girls created an assembly line for the quesadillas: tortillas in a row on the sheet pan; first a spoon of meat from Coco; then an apple from Jatiana Cotto; then a sprinkle of cheese from Cristina. Next, the tortillas were folded in half, ready for the oven.

"Quesadillas are usually fried in a skillet with oil," I said. "But this is not only healthier, it's easier, because we are making so many."

But we had a math problem to solve before we put them in: "The beans cook for 12 minutes, then we add the almonds, and they cook 5 more. So how many minutes altogether?" I asked.

"Seventeen," they shouted.

"OK, now the quesadillas have to cook for 10. So we want them both ready at the same time. Which goes first, and how long till we put in the other?" I asked.

"The beans are first," said José.

"Yes, then how long before we put the quesadillas in?"

The room went quiet as the brains were humming.

"Five minutes."

"No, seven. . . . Seven, seven, it's seven!"

"And then how much longer till we add the almonds?"

"Five."

"Then how long do they both cook together?"

By now, we were all perplexed. But we sorted it out, five more minutes.

"It can be confusing," I said. "I sometimes make a timetable, working backwards with lots of different things to cook, like on Thanksgiving."

"You see how you are using math all the time?" said math teacher Miss Lore. Impressed with her students' cooking skills, she half-jokingly offered extra credit for students who would help her cook Thanksgiving dinner at her house.

In the end, we had to pump the oven temp up to 500 degrees to finish the green beans and crisp the quesadillas. Like many old ovens, this one has two temps: warm and broil. But it ultimately did the job. Though the green beans weren't completely roasted, they were at least cooked through.

Abriana Rodriguez proudly carried the tray of quesadillas out to the table. And they were a smash hit.

"I think the tortillas we made were so amazing and delicious," wrote José.

"I thought it was going to be nasty because of the apples," wrote Jatiana, "but it was outstanding."

And though the kids tried - and even ate - their green beans, they did not get the same raves as the quesadillas. With the exception of one green-bean convert: Jatiana. At the beginning of class, she didn't like green beans at all. But by the end, she loved them; she begged to take the leftovers home.

And that is what it's all about: changing perceptions, one kid, one recipe, one vegetable at a time.

mfitzgerald@phillynews.com

215-854-5744; for previous stories and recipes in "My Daughter's Kitchen," go to www.philly.com/mydaughter

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Makes 6 servings

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1 teaspoon olive oil

1 onion, peeled and diced

1 pound ground turkey

2 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/4 teaspoon oregano

1/2 teaspoon paprika

Salt and pepper, to taste

4 ounces Monterey Jack cheese, grated

2 Granny Smith apples, cored and sliced

12 whole-wheat tortillas

2 limes, sliced into wedges for serving

About 2 dozen sprigs of fresh cilantro, stems removed

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1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

2. Prepare the ingredients: Peel and chop the onion. Peel and chop the garlic. Measure the spices. Grate the cheese. Core and slice the apples. Slice the limes into wedges. Pull the leaves off the cilantro stems.

3. Heat a cast-iron pan over medium-high heat. Add the olive oil.

4. Begin to sauté the onion. When it begins to get soft, add the ground turkey.

5. Add the cayenne, oregano, paprika, salt and pepper, and garlic, and cook, stirring, until no pink remains in the turkey and it is cooked through. Remove from heat.

6. Lay the tortillas on a sheet pan.

7. Spoon the cooked turkey onto one half of the tortilla. Add a few slices of apple. Top with cheese, and fold in half. Continue with all the tortillas.

8. Put quesadillas in the oven for 10 minutes, or until the tortillas are crispy and the cheese is melted.

9. Remove from the oven, and cut the tortillas into thirds.

10. Top with cilantro leaves and a squeeze of lime.

Per serving: 418 calories, 16 grams fat, 97 milligrams cholesterol, 373 milligrams sodium, 40 grams carbohydrates, 6 grams dietary fiber, 7 grams sugar, 31 grams protein.

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Makes 6 servingsEndTextStartText

1 pound of green beans, washed and ends trimmed

1/2 cup sliced almonds (you can buy sliced or slice them)

1 tablespoon olive oil

Salt and pepper

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1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a sheet pan with aluminum foil.

2. Wash the green beans. Trim the beans by snapping or trimming off the ends.

3. Place the beans in a mixing bowl, and toss with the olive oil, salt, and pepper.

4. Place on the baking sheet.

5. Roast in the oven for 12 minutes.

6. Meanwhile, slice the almonds into thin shards.

7. Remove the beans from the oven, and add the almonds.

8. Return to the oven, and roast an additional 5 minutes, until the almonds are golden and the beans are cooked through.

Per serving: 89 calories, 6 grams fat, no cholesterol, 5 milligrams sodium, 7 grams carbohydrates, 4 grams dietary fiber, 1 gram sugar, 3 grams protein.

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