In my defense nachos were never something we ate in my house growing up. And the horrible alien cheese sauce drenched corn chips at the fair or the mall aren't nachos those are just wrong. So I don't have a food memory of this dish to lead me to create a long forgotten favorite recipe. All I had was a strange craving for cheesy corn chips after eating a quick meal at the Great Dane (a locally famous brew pub with good beer and a gluten free menu) and being mocked by the monster nacho plate being eating by people at a neighboring table.
Giving up cheese in Wisconsin is like giving up on snow in the Arctic, it just isn't possible. It is everywhere and it knows where to find you when you least expect it. Once you stop eating it you suddenly notice how prevalent cheese is. Where as you once thought phrases like "cheesehead" or "the cheese state" are just cute metaphorical terms of endearment we use to talk about the area, you know now that the place literally is made of dairy and you can't escape seeing it.
I've gotten pretty good at ignoring all the amazing cheese this town has to offer and hardly mind that everyone around me makes yummy noises while nibbling on their latest gourmet cheese discovery at parties. But everyone once in a while as I happily eat my bunless burger and salad a little rodent somewhere in my head will start screaming "Cheese!" I try to ignore it but it gets more specific, "Ooey gooey sinful cheese drenched macaroni and cheese hot and fresh out of the oven!" Then things go down hill into something along the lines of "Nachos! Nachos! Nachos! Nachos! Nachos!" Until the part of my brain that hasn't been taken over by gerbils riffles my brain to find a solution that will make the cheese obsessed brain animals happy and not make me sick. Anyone who read my vegan mac and cheese post knows that it is no small order to fill.
Thankfully I have a very understanding fella who is no longer surprised that the woman he lives with occasionally (okay on a very regular basis, shut up) goes crazy and insists that directly after lunch we must go to Whole Foods so I can look into making nachos immediately. It probably helps that he usually benefits from my moments of madness by being rewarded with delicious food for the low low price of doing my endless dishes.
So the only way I could see this nacho thing going down was to indulge in goat cheese which I allow myself every couple of weeks because it doesn't seem to negatively effect me too much and lets face it I need some sort of cheese or I really will snap in the face of all this temptation. However the goat cheese dribbled chips burst into flame because nachos under the broiler probably wasn't my greatest idea ever. The cheese sauce I salvaged off of the wreckage on the other hand was amazing! So whereas I cannot suggest asking me to ever making you something as simple as nacho I can tell you that this accidental goat cheese creation is a great dip.
Now world please do tell me how in the hell does one make nachos?
Spicy Goat Cheese Dip
1 5-ounce log goat cheese
1/4 cup heavy cream or coconut milk
1-2 chipotle peppers, chopped
1-2 teaspoons adobe sauce from chipotle peppers
1 jalapeno, finely chopped
Place goat cheese in a oven safe bowl. Heat for 20 seconds or so until it becomes soft and easily mixable. Add heavy cream or coconut milk until the cheese is the constancy you like, you might not need all the liquid depending on the goat cheese you're using. Stir in the chipotle, adobe sauce and jalapeno until well combined. Place in oven at about 375 degrees until cheese begins to brown on top. Serve warm with good quality corn chips.
1 5-ounce log goat cheese
1/4 cup heavy cream or coconut milk
1-2 chipotle peppers, chopped
1-2 teaspoons adobe sauce from chipotle peppers
1 jalapeno, finely chopped
Place goat cheese in a oven safe bowl. Heat for 20 seconds or so until it becomes soft and easily mixable. Add heavy cream or coconut milk until the cheese is the constancy you like, you might not need all the liquid depending on the goat cheese you're using. Stir in the chipotle, adobe sauce and jalapeno until well combined. Place in oven at about 375 degrees until cheese begins to brown on top. Serve warm with good quality corn chips.
3 comments:
This is Tria, formerly of Captel. Our preferred nacho method is to cook all raw ingredients separately (meats, pepper, onion, etc.) and then pile everything on a plate. Because some ingredients need a little extra heat to make everything meld (cheese, mostly), we give it a quick blast in the microwave.
Hi Tria, what a small world. I was just wondering why I never see you at Captel anymore, hope you moved onto something wonderful.
And thanks for the nacho hints. Yours sounds like a much better plan and less likely to cause a fire. I'll have to try method next time the urge for nachos hits me.
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