Nacho Average Cooknerd Challenge

Nacho Average Cooknerd Challenge:

So I (the Cooknerd) have to be honest, I’ve been lacking a sense of what the blog should be from a cooking perspective, and lacking consistency. But ladies and gentlemen, I think we’ve found the solution! First lets take a look at some of the issues that led to a lack of content:

1. When you buy the ingredients for the same staple meals every week, your leftovers don’t exactly cater themselves to creativity. The need? More VARIETY.
2. Where does the inspiration, technique (or lack thereof), and creativity come from? Copying a recipe is easy when you have the internet. Where is the CHALLENGE?
3. The last reason is the most serious, where does the weekly motivation come from? Life will inevitably get in the way, but this is an outlet and a passion. What will make me willingly ACCOUNTABLE?

So there we have it, the recipe for the Cooknerd requires variety, a challenge, and accountability. The answer?

NEW CHALLENGE CRITERIA!
Having recently gotten our feet under us in a new city, it’s time to venture out from the safety of our local haunts and explore some new places...specifically, places to eat! My new challenge and commitment to the Booknerd is to explore a new restaurant/food truck/diner/etc. every week- a “date night” of sorts. From there we'll select something from our meal to recreate. Armed with nothing but the menu description, our best guess of the ingredients, and the confidence of someone who has watched way too much Chopped, I will attempt to recreate the dish at home - in flavor, in presentation, and in skill (ignorance is bliss); all while staying on a budget.🎯

Now lets get into it!

A bit of backstory for this night out: after coming home from work I found myself with no desire to cook. Knowing it might be a battle to convince the Booknerd to go out, I threw out the suggestion of sushi (her favorite). Promptly, I received a “meh, I was thinking tacos” !!!!!!!! In a fortuitous twist, this was exactly what I was in the mood for. Knowing we’d have to venture outside of Boston to avoid paying $10+/taco, we found the highly rated Casa Verde in Jamaica Plain and I have to say that it did NOT disappoint. Not only was the food phenomenal, but the atmosphere, menu, and staff were great too. While there were plenty of options to choose from that meal, the dish that created the most lasting impression were the three cheese nachos piled high with vegetarian chili and guacamole. 🙌

I’ll admit, not the most daunting or complex dish on paper, but let me tell you, there were plenty of moving parts during the construction of this dish. This was the perfect dish for a sports packed week: Super Bowl on Sunday (nachos were our contribution to the watch party), and Duke/UNC on Saturday? GAME FOR THE AGES!!! Talk about two bookends to a great week! 😈

The Process:


The dish started out with the construction of the chili:

• In a large 5 qt pot, begin by sautéing 16 oz of Mirepoix, 2 bell peppers, and 2 jalapenos (all diced) in several tablespoons of olive oil on medium/high heat.
• After about 20 minutes, add seasoning: ours consisted of a combination of cayenne pepper, red pepper, cumin, salt, pepper, and some taco seasoning mix that happened to be laying around.
• After stirring and simmering for another 5 minutes, add the kidney beans, black beans, diced fire-roasted tomatoes, and vegetable broth. Stir these for five minutes and let the mixture come to a boil.
• Once it boils, turn the heat down and let the chili simmer until it reaches your desired consistency. Since we were using this chili as a topping for the nachos, I let this reach a pretty chunky state to help prevent the chips from getting too soggy during the final plating.

As your chili is simmering, prepare the cheeses and guacamole:

• We selected a grated jalapeno Havarti, a Mexican cheddar blend, and a crumbled cotija cheese as our cheesy trio. 
• For the guac pit 3 small avocados, 1 jalapeno, ½ a red onion, and ½ a bell pepper and throw them into the food processor with some salt, pepper, red pepper, and lime juice.
• Top with sliced radishes and jalepanos for garnish 

Worth noting: admittedly, I messed up on my timing. The goal was to bring this dish piping hot to the neighbors Super Bowl party. I have to caution you that if you let this dish sit, your cheese may create a solid layer while the chili soaks into the nachos creating an extremely dense final product.

To put it all together: 

• Put a layer of chips down in an iron skillet, followed by a layer of the jalapeno Havarti and Mexican cheddar blend
• Add a thin layer of chili and repeat with another cheese layer on top of the final layer of chili
• Mix in some of the crumbled cotija cheese. Pop the skillet in a hot oven (250 degrees) and let the cheese melt and the chili juices soak. 
• Remove once the cheese is melted and top with the guacamole.

Overall, I think Casa Verde must have a secret ingredient we didn't figure out, but the nachos were incredible nonetheless - we'll definitely be making these again!

Full list of ingredients here:

Vegetarian Chili:

• 16oz of Meripoix
• 2 Bell Peppers
• 2 jalapenos
• Olive Oil (use at your discretion)
• Cayenne Pepper (a few pinches)
• Red Pepper Flakes (a few pinches)
• Cumin (a few pinches)
• Salt
• Pepper
• Taco Seasoning (a few pinches)
• Kidney Beans (1 can)
• Black Beans (1 can)
• Fire roasted tomatoes (1 can)
• Vegetable Broth (2 cups)

Guacamole:

• 3 Avocados (small)
• 1 Jalapeno
• 1/2 Red Onion
• 1/2 Bell Pepper
• 1 Lime
• Red Pepper Flakes
• 1-2 Radishes 

Nachos:

• Yellow Corn Tortilla Chips (1 large bag)
• 1 block of Jalapeno Havarti Cheese
• 1 bag of grated Mexican Cheddar
• 1 block of Cotija Cheese