Never Nasty, Normally Nice Nachos!
This past Saturday, arkanefyre and I hung out all afternoon watching Torchwood with her dogs, while thunderstorms raged outside. Naturally, we got hungry. So, after a brief expedition to the local grocery store, we made nachos! Here is our fabulous recipe.
Foodstuffs You Will Need to Manufacture Amazing Nachos:
- One (1) 300 gram bag of tortilla chips. We used these, but feel free to substitute your favourites.
- One (1) 500 millilitre jar of salsa, whatever level of spicy you can tolerate. We are wimpy and went with mild.
- One (1) can of baked beans in tomato sauce. We went with Heinz Deep Browned Beans in Tomato Sauce, because one of us is vegetarian (HI!), but you can get one with meat as well if you insist.
- One (1) bag of shredded mozzarella and cheddar cheese. You can shred your own cheese if you prefer, but this is a recipe designed for lazy people, so we went with pre-packaged.
- One (1) bunch of chives. I don't think they come in a standardized size, so, uh, a small handful-ish.
Non-edible Items You Will Need to Manufacture Amazing Nachos:
- One (1) oven or toaster oven. Must be big enough to hold pan.
- One (1) baking pan, of sufficient size to hold amazing nachos. (Use your judgment.)
- One (1) spatula, for spreading stuff. A big spoon will also suffice.
- One (1) knife for chopping the chives.
- One (1) hard surface for chopping the chives on. Probably best to protect the counter with a cutting board, but not strictly necessary.
- Two (2) oven gloves. Practice safe baking! Don't get burned!
Steps to Follow to Manufacture Amazing Nachos:
ONE: Turn on the oven or toaster oven, and pre-heat to 350 degrees Farenheit.
TWO: Open bag of tortilla chips, and dump the tortilla chips into the baking pan. They should be evenly spread within the pan, and three or four chips deep.
THREE: Open salsa jar, and carefully pour out over the chips. Use the spatula to spread it out as evenly as possible.
FOUR: Open can of beans. (Make sure not to cut yourself on the sharp edges!) Drain off a bit of the sauce if you are going for crispier nachos. Then pour the beans out over the chips, using the spatula to get them out of the can if they are being stubborn. Spread evenly.
FIVE: Open cheese package and sprinkle over the top of the chips. Evenly!
SIX: Rinse chives in water. Shake dry. Use a knife to chop them into roughly inch long pieces. Sprinkle (EVENLY) over the chips. Keep a couple of handfuls in reserve for later sprinkling purposes.
SEVEN: Put on oven gloves. Open oven or toaster oven and put pan in. Wait around for about five to ten minutes, until the cheese on top of the chips has melted. (You can fit a summary of the plot of Doctor Who and Torchwood into this time! I know this from experience.)
EIGHT: When cheese has melted sufficiently, turn off the oven, then put on oven gloves. Take the pan out of the oven and place on some sort of heat-resistant surface (a grill, a mat, the top of the stove, etc).
NINE: Sprinkle the remaining chives on top of the nachos. This way there will be non-wilted ones on top when you serve it, which looks better.
TEN: EAT! :D (The nachos might get a bit soggy in the middle, but just make sure you have a fork and napkins handy and everything will be alright.)
This is wonderful university student cooking, because it's fast, doesn't require much equipment or skills, and uses pre-packaged ingredients that are readily available. It would feed anywhere from two to four people, depending on how hungry you all were, but you can also vary the amount quite easily. Just use more or less and you can feed yourself, or an army! (Or both, if you are an Army of One.)
Credit where credit is due:
arkanefyre - idea of making nachos, kitchen and ingredient provision, picture taking, dangerous things (can-opening, chive-chopping, oven-touching)
mintroses - recipe (vaguely based grandma's 'salsa pizza'), spatula wielding, Photoshopping, LJ entry writing
TA-DA!
Foodstuffs You Will Need to Manufacture Amazing Nachos:
- One (1) 300 gram bag of tortilla chips. We used these, but feel free to substitute your favourites.
- One (1) 500 millilitre jar of salsa, whatever level of spicy you can tolerate. We are wimpy and went with mild.
- One (1) can of baked beans in tomato sauce. We went with Heinz Deep Browned Beans in Tomato Sauce, because one of us is vegetarian (HI!), but you can get one with meat as well if you insist.
- One (1) bag of shredded mozzarella and cheddar cheese. You can shred your own cheese if you prefer, but this is a recipe designed for lazy people, so we went with pre-packaged.
- One (1) bunch of chives. I don't think they come in a standardized size, so, uh, a small handful-ish.
Non-edible Items You Will Need to Manufacture Amazing Nachos:
- One (1) oven or toaster oven. Must be big enough to hold pan.
- One (1) baking pan, of sufficient size to hold amazing nachos. (Use your judgment.)
- One (1) spatula, for spreading stuff. A big spoon will also suffice.
- One (1) knife for chopping the chives.
- One (1) hard surface for chopping the chives on. Probably best to protect the counter with a cutting board, but not strictly necessary.
- Two (2) oven gloves. Practice safe baking! Don't get burned!
Steps to Follow to Manufacture Amazing Nachos:
ONE: Turn on the oven or toaster oven, and pre-heat to 350 degrees Farenheit.
TWO: Open bag of tortilla chips, and dump the tortilla chips into the baking pan. They should be evenly spread within the pan, and three or four chips deep.
THREE: Open salsa jar, and carefully pour out over the chips. Use the spatula to spread it out as evenly as possible.
FOUR: Open can of beans. (Make sure not to cut yourself on the sharp edges!) Drain off a bit of the sauce if you are going for crispier nachos. Then pour the beans out over the chips, using the spatula to get them out of the can if they are being stubborn. Spread evenly.
FIVE: Open cheese package and sprinkle over the top of the chips. Evenly!
SIX: Rinse chives in water. Shake dry. Use a knife to chop them into roughly inch long pieces. Sprinkle (EVENLY) over the chips. Keep a couple of handfuls in reserve for later sprinkling purposes.
SEVEN: Put on oven gloves. Open oven or toaster oven and put pan in. Wait around for about five to ten minutes, until the cheese on top of the chips has melted. (You can fit a summary of the plot of Doctor Who and Torchwood into this time! I know this from experience.)
EIGHT: When cheese has melted sufficiently, turn off the oven, then put on oven gloves. Take the pan out of the oven and place on some sort of heat-resistant surface (a grill, a mat, the top of the stove, etc).
NINE: Sprinkle the remaining chives on top of the nachos. This way there will be non-wilted ones on top when you serve it, which looks better.
TEN: EAT! :D (The nachos might get a bit soggy in the middle, but just make sure you have a fork and napkins handy and everything will be alright.)
This is wonderful university student cooking, because it's fast, doesn't require much equipment or skills, and uses pre-packaged ingredients that are readily available. It would feed anywhere from two to four people, depending on how hungry you all were, but you can also vary the amount quite easily. Just use more or less and you can feed yourself, or an army! (Or both, if you are an Army of One.)
Credit where credit is due:
arkanefyre - idea of making nachos, kitchen and ingredient provision, picture taking, dangerous things (can-opening, chive-chopping, oven-touching)
mintroses - recipe (vaguely based grandma's 'salsa pizza'), spatula wielding, Photoshopping, LJ entry writing
TA-DA!