(Leftover Ham Week) Ham and Broccoli Stem Quesadillas (Quick Take)

I can appreciate the head-scratching that a vegetarian would do upon seeing me wash the farm share broccoli, remove the cabbage white caterpillars that had been feasting on it, escort them outside--away from my garden but with a leaf so they won't starve--then head back inside to dice ham.

What can I say?  I love food, and currently have no medical reason prohibiting me from eating all of it.  Not all at once, of course.  And I love that my farm share doesn't use pesticides on the food my family and I eat.  I can escort a few bugs outside knowing that the food us critters are eating is safe.

I'm happy to say I've finally mailed in my check for this year's summer CSA.  I'd been meaning to for weeks, but now it's a done deal.  Let the countdown begin!  I don't know how we'll handle a large farm share with only 3 eaters, so expect a lot of posts about the 'putting up' of anything that I can put up.  Thanks to Tammy of Agrigirl I've got ideas for lettuces, but today, we're talking about broccoli stems.

You know I hate to waste Swiss chard stems, and broccoli stems are no different.  While living in Richmond I learned how to make a delicious black bean soup that called for diced broccoli stem, and ever since then haven't looked at them as an afterthought.

Note to self--make that soup and blog about it.

After I wrote up this post, I saw this post by Karen of Soup Addict about making an open faced quesadilla with a fried egg on top.  Next time, I'm totally trying that--ham and eggs and broccoli? Yum!

(Leftover) Ham and Broccoli Stem Quesadillas

1/4 cup red onion, finely chopped
1 cup broccoli stem, finely chopped (besides the cowipidders, the composting pigs also got the leaves)
2 Tablespoons parsley, finely chopped
1/2 cup (leftover spiral sliced) ham, diced
1 Tablespoon butter
4 large tortillas
1 cup shredded cheese (I used a Mexican blend, but you could go in a different direction w/ swiss)
salsa, guacamole, other toppings of your choice

Preheat a small or medium skillet (my 'perfect for 2 fried eggs' skillet was on the small side but I survived) over medium heat, and stand by to preheat a large skillet.  In the smaller skillet, add a teaspoon or so of cooking oil.  Sauté the red onion and broccoli stem until tender, 5-10 minutes.
When they're about done, preheat the larger skillet over medium heat.  Add the parsley and ham to the smaller skillet, heat through.
In the larger skillet, (still dry) lay one tortilla.  When it puffs up, flip it over, and place 1/4 of the contents of the smaller skillet along one side.  Top with 1/4 cup cheese.  Fold the tortilla in half, pressing down with the spatula.  Or is it turner?  My daughter learned all the correct terms in her Real Skills class over the summer, and was correcting me right and left, but I've gone back to my old ways.  Anyway, the tool you use to fold the tortilla in half?  Use that tool to press down on it and then use the same tool to flip it over to heat the other side.  If the tool you chose is your fingers, maybe you'd like to rethink that choice.  Remove to a plate and cover to keep warm.
Repeat with the rest of the tortillas and filling.
Serve with the toppings of your choice.

This post is playing with the other kids at the Wednesday Fresh Foods Link Up at Gastronomical Sovereignty,  What's Cookin' Wednesday at Buns In My Oven, Taste and Tell Thursday, What's In The Box at In Her Chucks, the Farm Girl Blog Fest and the Clever Chicks Blog Hop over at The Chicken Chick.