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Mexican Tortilla Chip Salad
Nachos are something which has earned a lot of popularity with people of all ages. The crunch of the chips, the creaminess of the cheese, the heat of the jalapeno peppers (if you are using them), it all adds up to a truly classic snack which it is hard not to love.
This recipe adds a little to the traditional formula of chips, cheese, and hot peppers by including grilled summer squash, grilled eggplant, and a touch of fresh green onions to the mix as well as by using fresh jalapenos rather than the picked kind usually seen in nacho recipes.
The result is a dish which is a hybrid of a plate of nachos and a grilled vegetable salad; and it is also a great way to get kids to eat their vegetables, since no one can resist a dish of nachos fresh from the oven. This is a great snack recipe for the summer, since you can grill the vegetables outside (in the fall and winter, you could also sauté or oven roast the veggies, though the flavor of grilled vegetables will make for a much better dish.
Mexican-Style Nachos With Vegetables
Ingredients -
Tortilla chips
1 cup sharp cheddar or Monterey Jack cheese, shredded
1 zucchini, sliced into 1 inch chunks and grilled
1 yellow summer squash, sliced into 1 inch chunks and grilled
1 small eggplant, sliced thin and grilled
1 small red onion, cut into 1 inch pieces and grilled
1-2 jalapenos, sliced
Green onions
Olive oil for grilling
Preparation:
This is a recipe where the measurements are not quite exact. The quantities of the ingredients you use will depend a great deal on your appetite and the number of guests who will be at your table; the recipe given here should suffice for four people, but feel free to adjust things according to your needs.
The preparation is simplicity itself; simply slice your vegetables, brush them with a little olive oil and grill them (using skewers will make this easier to do). Once they are grilled, preheat your oven to 425 degrees while you prepare your nachos. On a baking sheet or oven-safe plates, layer tortilla chips, vegetables and cheese and bake for about 10 minutes or until the cheese is melted and browned slightly on top. Sprinkle with sliced green onions and enjoy with salsa or hot sauce.
(Serves 2)
Photo Description:
This is a wonderful variation on standard-issue nachos, thanks to the addition of grilled vegetables, whose hearty flavor adds an entirely new dimension to this well loved snack. There are a lot of people out there who are not crazy about eggplant, but chances are that they have never tried it prepared this way - sliced thinly and grilled to perfection before being layered into a mouthwatering plate of nachos! It is a recipe which is likely to convert even ardent haters of eggplant and summer squash into lovers of these versatile but not always universally loved vegetables.
The grilled vegetables entirely aside, however, this is a version of nachos which is miles beyond the fast food variant with liquid cheese; using high quality, freshly shredded sharp cheddar, or Monterey Jack makes a huge difference, as does the substitution of fresh jalapenos for the canned, pickled variety. While pickled jalapenos do have their place in many recipes and are indeed good for nachos, you may just change your mind after trying them fresh in this recipe; if the heat is a little too much for you, then you can defang them a bit by deseeding the peppers when you slice them.
