Blue Cheese and Brie Quesadillas with a Pear and Brown Sugar Compote

To kick off our gay cowboy Oscar feast, we wanted a gay Tex/Mex red carpet snack. This super gay quesadilla recipe from Emeril is slightly labor intensive but easy and incredibly delicious. We noshed on them Sunday night while waiting for the show and playing a karaoke game on Xbox. You'll notice my karaoke self in action above. He's a pretty animated dancer and is huge in rooftop and honkey tonk venues alike.

Blue Cheese and Brie Quesadillas with a Pear and Brown Sugar Compote

1 tablespoon butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 pound cooking pears, such as Bartlett, cored, quartered and small diced
Pinch salt
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 tablespoon water 

For the quesadillas:
1/2 pound blue cheese, crumbled (recommended: Maytag Farms Blue Cheese)
1/2 pound Brie, thinly sliced
16 small flour tortillas
Vegetable oil, for pan frying 

For the walnuts:
1 cup walnut pieces
2 tablespoons ground cinnamon and 2 tablespoons sugar, combined

In a large saucepan, over medium heat, melt the butter. Stir in the sugar and cinnamon, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Add the pears and salt. Mix well. Cook for 4 minutes, stirring occasionally. Dissolve the cornstarch in the water. Stir the cornstarch slurry into the pears and continue to cook for 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and cool completely.

Place 1/2-ounce of the blue cheese and 1/2-ounce of the Brie over half of each tortilla. Fold the tortillas over and press firmly. In a large saute pan, over medium heat, add 1 tablespoon of the oil. Add a few of the quesadillas and pan-fry for a couple of minutes on each side until golden brown and the cheese is melted, making sure not to crowd the pan. Pan-fry the rest of the quesadillas in small batches.

Fry the walnuts for 1 minute. Remove and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar mixture. Drain on paper towels. Slice the quesadillas in half and serve with the pear compote and walnuts.