Pierogi Quesadillas

First full week of January. Cold week. Twenty Tuesday morning, fifteen Wednesday, with a wind that put it under zero in the wind chill. The greens are mostly done now. The kale survived but is producing slowly. The collards have stopped. The garden is on its winter pause.

Spring teaching plan. I sat down at the kitchen table Sunday with the welding curriculum binder and worked on the spring cohort. Eight slots. Six already filled. Two open and the application deadline is the fifteenth. The cohort director at the cultural center has been pushing me to take ten students. I keep saying eight. Eight is the number where I can give one-on-one time without losing track. Eight is the number where the cohort can become a unit. Ten is two more units of attention I don't have and two more units of injury risk I won't accept.

Indoor work. I cleaned the workshop top to bottom Monday. Reorganized the tool wall. Sharpened the chisels. Oiled the hinges on the bay door. The cleaned workshop is its own kind of pleasure — a workshop in working order is a workshop ready to do good work, and the readiness is half the pleasure. I haven't welded much in the last two weeks because of the holidays. The bay is calling.

Made a Cuban-style black bean soup Wednesday. Black beans from last year's harvest, cumin and coriander and oregano, a smoked ham hock from a pig a friend in Flint had asked me to weld a fence for last summer (I traded the work for the hock and three pounds of bacon), a long simmer. Served over rice with cilantro and a squeeze of lime and a fried egg on top. Not Cherokee food. Not Mexican food. Cuban-by-way-of-Oklahoma food. The fusion is fine. Hannah has been pushing me to expand my repertoire and the soup is the kind of expansion I welcome — bean-forward, slow-cooked, comforting in a January kitchen.

Caleb's pottery is improving. He showed me the latest batch on Saturday. A taller mug than he's done before. A small platter. A bowl with a finger-pull texture that surprised me — he's starting to take risks with the form. I said: that's the move. He said: I know. He said: I'm getting better. He said it as a fact. The move from "I'm getting better in general" to "I'm getting better at this specific thing" is a move I've been waiting for. He's made it.

The Cuban soup got me thinking about what else I’d been avoiding by sticking to familiar lanes — and Hannah’s push to expand my repertoire didn’t stop at one experiment. The next weekend I landed on Pierogi Quesadillas, which sounds like something a food truck would name as a joke but turns out to be exactly the kind of thing a cold January kitchen calls for: potato, cheese, butter, a hot skillet, and the quiet confidence that two good things from two different places can become one better thing together. The fusion, as I’ve been saying, is fine.

Prep Time: 20 min | Cook Time: 25 min | Total Time: 45 min | Servings: 4

Ingredients

2 cups mashed potatoes (prepared, cooled slightly)
1 cup sharp cheddar cheese, shredded, divided
1/2 cup farmer’s cheese or cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup caramelized onions
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
Salt and black pepper to taste
8 large flour tortillas (10-inch)
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
Sour cream, for serving
2 tablespoons fresh chives or green onions, sliced thin, for serving
1/2 cup sauerkraut, drained and squeezed dry (optional)

Instructions

Make the filling. In a medium bowl, combine the mashed potatoes, 3/4 cup of the cheddar, the farmer’s cheese, caramelized onions, and garlic powder. Season with salt and pepper. Stir until the cheeses are fully incorporated and the mixture holds together.
Assemble the quesadillas. Lay a tortilla flat on your work surface. Spread about 1/2 cup of the potato filling evenly over one half of the tortilla, leaving a 1/2-inch border at the edge. Add a tablespoon of sauerkraut over the filling if using. Sprinkle a small amount of the remaining cheddar over the top. Fold the tortilla in half to close. Repeat with remaining tortillas and filling.
Cook in batches. Melt about 3/4 tablespoon of butter in a large skillet or cast iron pan over medium heat. Place one or two folded quesadillas in the pan — don’t crowd them. Cook 3 to 4 minutes per side, pressing gently with a spatula, until the tortilla is deep golden brown and crispy and the filling is heated through. Add butter between batches as needed.
Rest and slice. Transfer finished quesadillas to a cutting board and let them rest for 2 minutes before cutting. Slice each into three wedges with a sharp knife or pizza cutter.
Serve. Plate the wedges and top with a dollop of sour cream and a scatter of fresh chives or green onions. Serve immediately while the exterior is still crisp.

Nutrition (per serving)

Pierogi Quesadillas — When Fusion Is the Move