Monday, November 9, 2015

Loaded Nachos

Slice of nachos

Nachos have come a long way since they were invented in the '40s by Ignacio "Nacho" Anaya. The original nachos were simply fried tortilla chips, melted cheddar cheese, and sliced pickled jalapenos. Since then, nachos have become pretty integrated into Ameri-Mexican cooking and can be found on the menu of almost any bar in the U.S. of A. These nachos are piled high with traditional Mexican flavors and toppings.



Nacho prep Ingredients:

1 lb of Tortilla chips
1 lb Oaxaca cheese or low moisture mozzarella, shredded
1 lb of chorizo, cooked and broken apart
Black bean corn salsa
¼ C of pico de gallo

Disclaimer:

Where I live there are a lot of Mexican grocery stores so I have easy access to fresh, good quality ethnic cuisine. So, I can get a wide variety of Mexican cheeses. Oaxaca cheese is from Oaxaca county in Mexico, and is sort of like Mexican string cheese. It is a fresh cheese, like mozzarella, but it is stretched and folded so it has a bit less moisture than your usual fresh mozzarella. So, if you can't find Oaxaca, or if it's a bit out of your budget, I recommend regular mozzarella, but feel free to use any cheese or blend of cheeses you like best.

Directions:

Preheat the broiler on your oven and place a rack of your oven in the lowest position.

In a baking dish or casserole start with a layer of tortilla chips, bean salsa, pico de gallo, chorizo, and then Oaxaca cheese. Then, add another layer of chips, beans, meat, and cheese, save the rest of the pico to serve alongside. Mine ended up being a bit piled high, so I made sure to put a piece of tin foil down to catch any spills. Depending on how much stuff you like on your nachos and the size of the baking dish you use, you might have some leftovers. I had some cheese and bean dip left over that I'll use for quesadillas or mix in with my scrambled eggs some morning.

Put your nachos on the lowest rack and broil until the cheese is nice and melted. For me this took about 7 minutes. Make sure to keep an eye on it as it cooks to make sure the cheese doesn't burn. Serve immediately.

I serve mine with guacamole and crema. Crema is Mexican sour cream, which is a bit runnier than sour cream, with a bit more flavor, but feel free to use sour cream.

Nachos

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