I have a friend who makes a mango and brie quesadilla that is delicious and decadent, if a quesadilla can be decadent. First, of all, it’s made with brie, so it’s a little bit expensive. And, brie is a nuisance to cut and surgically separate from its rind, and mango is sort of a nuisance to peel and cut, and, then, it has fresh, slightly spicy peppers, that have to be roasted first before they’re put into the quesadilla. And then the flour tortillas are fried in butter. The whole thing is a little over the top (especially if you’ve anything at all to eat before the cocktail hour and the treadmill looms large before your eyes.) But it’s great. It’s completely great.

A few weeks ago, we were sent from a company in Maryland called Mackenzie Limited, hand-made lobster quesadillas that per instruction, we popped back into the freezer. They were made with flour tortillas and lobster meat,  two kinds of cheese - a mexican cheese and jalapeno jack cheese - and a fresh tomato salsa. Then I had the genius idea that I could serve them with mango salsa (because we live in California and you can actually buy fresh mango salsa in the grocery store year-round) and it reminded me of my friend Nancy’s brie quesadillas.

We served them at a dinner party as appetizers and they were completely fabulous, and since they have lobster and cheese, you don’t actually have to have them as an appetizer, you could serve them as an entree with a salad and feel like you had a whole meal. They’re so rich, you can use the oven cooking method and just brush them with butter instead of frying them... And, then, you wouldn’t feel too guilty about the dollop of sour cream you put on top.