Nachos are a popular dish of Mexican origin. Perfect for dipping with all kinds of sauces and serving as an appetizer at any celebration, party, meeting… Well, everyone likes them! Everyone loves nachos. They are so famous that they have their own day on the calendar. If you remember our calendar of gastronomic events, every February 24 we celebrate the day of nachos, also known as totopos.Will you join us to celebrate it?
And, although they are known worldwide, let’s see what they are. This simple snack is nothing more than triangular pieces of fried corn tortilla. They are served as a starter, appetizer, side dish… Although, depending on how we serve them, they can be a complete and delicious dish by themselves. We can make a hearty dish with nachos, minced meat or bacon, beans, tomato and cheese. And, of course, a delicious dipping sauce. Since it is typical to serve them with sauces, one of the sauces that cannot be missed if we talk about nachos is guacamole.
They are also the ideal companion for Mexican burritos or tacos. These informal recipes also invite you to have a snack. And, since we have the perfect excuse to indulge ourselves every February 24th, let’s take advantage of it!
But, before we start, let’s go with a little history.
As we already mentioned, this dish is of Mexican origin, specifically, from the city of Piedras Negras. As the story goes, this appetizer was created in the restaurant El Moderno.
It was in 1943, so it is a relatively recent dish. And, as with the vast majority of dishes, its creation was somewhat casual and fortuitous. In fact, it was born from the need to elaborate a rich, simple dish with the few ingredients available. As the story goes, a large group of women, military wives, arrived at El Moderno restaurant just after the restaurant closed its kitchen.
The restaurant’s Chef, Ignacio Anya, did not want to leave his clients without dinner, so he decided to serve them. But, having already closed the kitchen and having very few ingredients (what was left over from the day), he had to improvise in order to create a dish worthy of his restaurant. And one of the ingredients that could not be missing in his kitchen, as it could not be otherwise, were corn tortillas. He decided to cut them into pieces and fry them in plenty of oil and then, still hot, cover them with grated cheese and jalapeños, making the cheese melt with the tortilla pieces.
When the women asked for the name of the dish, since they were very satisfied with it, the chef thought they were asking him himself, so he answered: Nacho, referring to his name. In this accidental way this popular dish was baptized.
They soon spread throughout the United States, as they are very easy to prepare and very versatile. So they became very famous, but they are also very easy to eat, as we can take them anywhere, order them at any time and eat them with our hands.
As with all recipes, this is the most widespread story about their origin, however, it varies slightly from one city to another and there are many restaurants in the area that claim their invention.
Nacho Day, February 24
Being a simple, quick and versatile dish, as soon as it arrived in the United States, its fame began to grow enormously. Mexican food has always triumphed there. That is why nachos have their own day on the calendar. As most of the gastronomic events, it was in the United States where this day was born. Moreover, it is a great excuse to commemorate this Mexican dish and give a good account of it.
Celebrate Nacho Day with some Supreme Nachos
As we said, nachos are a very versatile dish. They can be served with any kind of side dish. They are simply delicious on their own. If we accompany them with a sauce we can be eating nachos until we can’t eat them anymore. But, if we also accompany them with different ingredients we will be making a dish of the most forceful, perfect as a unique dish. Or to make a starter worthy of the best Mexican restaurants.
If we go for this option and do not skimp on ingredients, we will be preparing Supreme Nachos. You can imagine why they are so called, right? To these Supreme Nachos we can add ground beef, bacon, cherry tomatoes, jalapenos, rice, beans, grated cheese, sour sauce and guacamole. Can you think of more ingredients to add to your nachos?
Supreme Nachos Recipe
We are going to celebrate Nachos or Totopos day with some Supreme Nachos. Prepare this recipe as a starter, if you are having guests, or if you are having a celebration. Or simply as an informal dinner.
Despite all the ingredients and the powerful name, it is a very simple recipe. Remember that you can make your own homemade nachos to make a much tastier dish. If you prefer to save some time, you can also buy them already made.
To make Supreme Nachos , the first thing to do is to cook the meat and the bacon. It will be enough to put a drizzle of oil from a frying pan and, when it is hot, cook both ingredients. In addition, we can spice the meat as we like. A good touch will be to add a splash of Perrins sauce, also known as Worcestershire; in addition to the spices that we like the most. When the meat is ready we are going to put it on the nachos, which we will have arranged in a dish suitable for the oven.
The rest of the recipe is nothing more than adding the ingredients we have chosen. For example, cherry tomatoes, previously cut in half, a few beans, some slices of jalapeños… Anything you can imagine will look great. Finally, we are going to sprinkle well with grated cheese. The more grated cheese, the richer; but remember that it will also be a more caloric dish. Now that we have them ready, we are going to put them in the oven, until the cheese melts.
And we serve them hot, sprinkling them with sour sauce and guacamole or leaving both sauces in separate bowls so that everyone can dip them as they prefer.
Supreme Nachos
Ingredients
- 150 g Nachos
- 100 g Minced Beef
- 50 g Bacon strips
- 1/2 Chives
- 120 g Black Beans
- Chile Jalapeño
- 20 Cherry tomatoes
- Mozzarella cheese, grated
For the Guacamole
- 4 Avocados
- 2 Tomatoes
- 1/2 Onion
- 1 Lime
- Fresh cilantro
- Salt
For the Sour Sauce
- 240 ml Liquid cream
- 1/2 lemon juice
- 2 Tbsp Vinegar
- 1/2 tsp Salt
Instructions
First we make the guacamole
- Chop the onion and tomatoes into small cubes. Add them to a bowl.We continue with the avocados. Peel them and remove the pits. Cut them into small cubes and add them to the bowl with the onion and tomatoes. Once ready, add the lime juice and mix well. Add salt to taste, a little chopped cilantro, and, while stirring, lightly mash some pieces of avocado with a fork to give it the desired texture. Reserve
For the nachos
- Let's start by cooking the meat. In a frying pan put a little bit of oil. When it is hot, add the meat and the bacon, and cook to taste. We can add the spices we want to the meat, or sauté with a splash of wine or Perrins sauce. Once ready, we reserve, draining the oil.
- We continue peeling the spring onion and cutting it into small cubes. Wash the cherry tomatoes and cut them in halves.Preheat the oven to 180ºC.
- Put the nachos in a baking dish. Add the cooked meat, the spring onions, the cherry tomatoes and the chopped jalapeño. Open the beans and drain well. Spread them also on the oven tray.On top of our nachos supreme we put some grated mozzarella (to taste).
- Once our tray of nachos is ready, we put it in the preheated oven. About 5-10 minutes. Enough time for the cheese to melt. Watch that it does not burn.
While they are in the oven, we will make the sour sauce.
- In a bowl, mix the cream with the lemon juice. Whisk well until the sauce begins to thicken.Add the vinegar and salt and whisk about 4 minutes, by hand, until it thickens a little more.
- When the nachos are ready, take them out of the oven and add the sliced jalapeño (to taste) and a couple of spoonfuls of guacamole in the center of the tray.Drizzle lightly with the sour sauce, and enjoy your nachos!
And you, do you want to celebrate Nacho Day?
As you have seen in this recipe, this appetizer is very versatile, and we can add as many ingredients as we want. Just use your imagination and prepare your own Nachos Supremos by creating your favorite recipe.
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