In the beginning, there was grilled cheese, and it was good. How could it not be — creamy melted cheese, bread crisped in butter? And then, of course, came the panini, once a simple Italian snack bar staple, turned seemingly ubiquitous. Now it looks like it may be the quesadilla’s turn. And, really, the only thing to be said is: It’s about time.Granted, making quesadillas is not going to earn you a reputation among your friends as the next Top Chef. Not unless it’s at the end of a long day of work and they’re hungry. At times like that, a well-prepared quesadilla, made from a good corn tortilla and stuffed with something like mushrooms and goat cheese, or braised greens and feta, is pretty darned delicious.And hey, quesadilla queen Nina Garcia won the Vendy award a couple of weeks ago, beating a half-dozen other street food vendors, including, among others, someone serving an apple-and-brie grilled cheese.Still, I can already hear some of you muttering to yourselves. Quesadillas do have a reputation as a kind of dumbed-down sandwich — fold a flour tortilla over shredded cheddar, stick on the griddle, and there you go.And, in truth, there are times when even that simple version is not a bad thing to eat. I’ll happily confess that there are nights when I get home late from the office and one of those quesadillas, served with a green salad and a Lakers game, seems infinitely more pleasurable than even a foie gras torchon at Melisse.But that shortcut version is not the best way to make a quesadilla, though I do think calling it “degenerated,” as Mexican food authority Diana Kennedy does, is kind of mean.

Get creativeI’ll happily agree that quesadillas made with fresh masa are dreamy beyond belief. In real life I am quite satisfied to settle for packaged corn tortillas cooked on the griddle. I’ve had good luck with the ones Trader Joe’s calls “handmade.” They seem to have a slightly more pliable texture and fresher taste than most others. Of course, if you have a favorite tortilleria in your neighborhood, that should be the first choice.I’ve made quesadillas filled with nothing more than fresh requeson, or ricotta, mixed with herbs, and in the summer they’re terrific filled with quickly cooked zucchini blossoms. Lately my favorite fillings have been sautéed mushrooms cloaked in fresh goat cheese, and braised cooking greens dotted with feta or queso fresco. I even made the latter with cooked trimmings of bolted lettuce from the garden and it was terrific.Quesadillas come together in minutes and they’re simply terrific. The tortilla toasts just enough to crisp slightly and enrich the corn flavor; the filling gilds basic ingredients with the irresistible allure of melted cheese. Serve it with a salad and you’ve got a great dinner.One of Garcia’s special twists seems to be melting the cheese on the griddle before adding it to the quesadilla. Maybe it was my cheese (I use low-moisture mozzarella, “pizza cheese”), but when I tried this at home, the results weren’t very good — the cheese clumped up and crisped, but without adding appreciably to the flavor. I prefer to scatter it over the top and let it melt into the filling.

Ready, set, roastIndeed, while chowing down on a quesadilla the other night, I couldn’t help but think about the incident last month when my friend cookbook author Michael Ruhlman created such a stir by (to paraphrase) calling nonsense the notion that people were too busy to cook, and by calling out some recipe writers who push “quick’n’easy” shortcuts to home cooking.In one way, he was right, of course. Cooking dinner doesn’t need to be a project, and there are plenty of things you can feed your family that don’t involve picking up packaged food and reheating it.But in offering a solution, Ruhlman revealed a tone-deafness to the way many of us are having to live today. In its own way, his recommending roast chicken as the perfect weekday dinner alternative to, say, popping a Lean Cuisine in the microwave, is just as wrong-headed as pointing to the drive-up window.It’s not that I have anything against roast chicken; it’s one of my favorite Sunday dinners and it’s a dish that should be in the repertoire of every cook. There is no meal that offers as high a pleasure-to-effort ratio. But proposing it as a weekday after-work dinner is just crazy.Ruhlman’s reasoning was that it takes only an hour to roast a chicken. Technically, that’s true. Not in real life, though. I tried it the other night just to see. I left my office downtown at the normal 6:30 p.m. An hour on the Blue Line got me to Long Beach at 7:30. Stopping by the grocery to pick up the chicken made it 8 by the time I got to the house. It takes 20 minutes to heat my old O’Keefe and Merritt oven to 400 degrees and then 50 minutes to roast a chicken (plus a 10-minute rest to let the juices settle).Sorry, I’m just not European enough to sit down to dinner at 9:15 on a weeknight.The real problem goes deeper than a simple roast chicken, though. It’s that old black-white, all-nothing attitude that either you are doing things exactly the right way (you know, the way they’ve always been done), or you might as well be eating fast food.There were any number of examples of perfectly fine, realistic dishes Ruhlman could have cited that wouldn’t have made anyone without two hours to spend getting dinner on the table on a Wednesday night feel like a loser who might as well be scarfing up Double-Downs.He could have talked about an omelet, or pasta with butter and Parmigiano, along with a salad. Maybe even a quick risotto.And, of course, now that all the cool kids are eating them, quesadillas.

QUESADILLAS STUFFED WITH MUSHROOMS AND GOAT CHEESE—Yield: 4-6 servings

2 tablespoons butter1 pound sliced or quartered mushrooms1 teaspoon salt1/4 cup minced shallots1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint leaves1/4 cup fresh goat cheese2 teaspoons oil12 corn tortillas1/2 pound low-moisture mozzarella, finely dicedProcedure:1. Heat butter in small skillet over medium-high heat. When butter has stopped foaming and bubbling, add mushrooms and sprinkle with salt. Cook, stirring frequently, until mushrooms have given up their moisture, about 5 minutes.2. Sprinkle with shallots and cook until shallots have softened, moisture has evaporated and mushrooms are quite tender, about 5 more minutes. Remove from heat and stir in mint and goat cheese.3. Heat oil on griddle or in large skillet over medium heat; use spatula to distribute it evenly over surface. Add one or more tortillas and cook on one side until softened, 1-2 minutes. Flip and spoon 3-4 tablespoons mushroom mixture into center. Sprinkle with some of the mozzarella and use spatula to fold tortilla in half around filling.4. Cook until tortilla begins to brown on one side, about 2-3 minutes, then flip and cook until tortilla browns on that side and mozzarella is melted, about 2-3 minutes more. Repeat if necessary to use up all of the tortillas and filling.5. Serve immediately, or keep warm in a 250-degree oven until all the quesadillas have been made.

QUESADILLAS STUFFED WITH GREENS AND FETA—Yield: 4-6 servings

Oil1/3 cup minced onion1 pound mixed cooking greens, such as kale, mustards and collards1 teaspoon salt1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper2 teaspoons minced garlic1 cup diced feta cheese1/4 pound low-moisture mozzarella, finely diced12 corn tortillasProcedure:1. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in large skillet. Add onion and cook until it softens and begins to color, 3-5 minutes.2. While onion is cooking, rinse greens in colander but don’t dry them. When onion is ready, add greens along with any water that clings to the leaves. Season with salt and red pepper, sprinkle with garlic and cook, stirring frequently, until greens are quite tender, about 15 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in feta.3. Heat 2 teaspoons oil on griddle or in skillet over medium heat; use spatula to evenly distribute it on surface. Add one or more tortillas and cook on one side until they have softened, 2-3 minutes. Flip and spoon 2-3 tablespoons greens into center. Sprinkle with some diced mozzarella and use spatula to fold tortilla in half around filling.4. Cook until tortilla begins to brown on one side, 2-3 minutes, and then flip and cook until brown on that side and mozzarella is melted, about 2-3 minutes more. Repeat if necessary to use up tortillas and filling.5. Serve immediately, or keep warm in a 250-degree oven until all the quesadillas have been made.

A well-prepared quesadilla, made from a corn tortilla and stuffed with something like braised greens and feta, is a quick, delicious meal. Photo by MCCLATCHY