You might think that the word “cauliflower” in the title of this recipe means it’s low–carb, and you’d be forgiven for thinking so: America loves the cauliflower only for its utility as a grain replacement, not for its own tasty, wonderful self. Fear not, dear reader. This recipe uses easy–to–find flour tortillas and features roasted cauliflower in all its glory as the flavor in the filling. It’s what we’ve all been waiting for. 

Makes enough filling for 8 quesadillas–– If you don’t want to eat that many by yourself and don’t have friends to share them with (it’s fine!), you’ll be happy to hear that you can refrigerate the leftover filling, put the remaining tortillas on a shelf and eat cauliflower quesadillas all week.

Ingredients (Prices from The Fresh Grocer):

1 small cauliflower, cored and chopped ($3.99)

½ can of black beans ($0.99 for the whole can)

2-3 small serrano peppers, chopped (roughly $0.10 for one)

2 cups of monterey jack cheese, shredded ($4.49 for a 16oz block)

3 scallions, chopped ($1.00 for a bunch)

16 small flour tortillas ($4.69 for a 16-pack)

Olive oil ($6.99 for a 25 fl oz bottle)

Chili powder (optional)

  1. In an olive oil-coated pan, roast the chopped peppers and cauliflower on medium heat until nearly all of the cauliflower pieces are a rich golden-brown color. (These quesadillas aren’t particularly spicy on their own––if that’s what you’re looking for, add some chili powder or an extra pepper to the pan.)
  2. Transfer the contents of the pan to a large mixing bowl; add the beans, chopped scallions, and 1 cup of cheese. Mix thoroughly, mashing the cauliflower and beans a bit, so that the resulting quesadilla isn’t two inches tall.
  3. Coat a (clean) pan in olive oil. Place one tortilla on the pan. Quickly cover the tortilla with––in this order––a half–cup of filling, a handful of the remaining cheese and another tortilla. Flip when the bottom tortilla’s nicely browned, remove from heat when appropriate and voilà! A nutritious (but certainly high–carb) quesadilla.

Adapted from Deb Perelman’s charred cauliflower quesadillas for 1) lifestyles lacking in protein and 2) living situations in which cooking vegetables on high heat until the fire alarm goes off loses you friends almost instantly.

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