Tasting platter

Sometimes it seems like I'm constantly choosing my recipes based on the leftovers I have in the fridge. For instance, after making tostadas the other day, I had sour cream, avocado, salsa and refried beans left over. Aside from one vital ingredient, that's practically a recipe for nachos (p152).


There are three variations of nachos: the basic recipe has just cheese and sour cream; the refried bean nachos (obviously) have refried beans as well, and avocado nachos have salsa and guacamole (p196) on top. I'd long ago decided that when it came to doing the nachos, I'd make a kind of tasting platter and try all three versions at once. If I did each version separately, I'd be writing three very similar blog entries, and this way I can directly compare the the three versions.

The first thing I had to do was make the guacamole to put on the avocado nachos. I didn't do a very good job of it actually: not realising that I was supposed to mash the avocado first, I just put all the ingredients in a bowl at once and then tried to mash it all together. It didn't work very well - the avocado, though ripe, was not actually mushy, so I ended up with a slightly greenish lumpy mixture with chunks of avocado in it. One of these days I'll learn to read a recipe...


Next I moved on to the nachos - all three versions had cheese on them so I put all the corn chips in a dish, sprinkled over the cheese and put it in the oven for eight minutes. Well, I set the timer for eight minutes as per the recipe, but at about five minutes the chips were starting to scorch, so I took them out and made three separate piles on a wooden board.

The first one was easy - just dollop a bit of sour cream on top and sprinkle a little more cheese for good measure. Next, the refried bean nachos - I'd heated up the beans while the chips were in the oven, so I spooned some on top of the second pile and topped it with extra cheese and sour cream. Finally, the avocado nachos - the leftover tomato salsa, and a generous dollop of my weird guacamole.


When my nachos were ready - the culmination of about ten minutes work - it was time to taste. It was messy, as nachos always are, but I enjoyed going from one version to the next, comparing the different tastes. Going from dense, salty refried beans to fresh, tangy salsa and creamy guacamole was particularly nice.

As with pizzas, there's a tendency to keep piling things on top of nachos. And, as is also true with pizzas, sometimes simple is best. Each of the three Edmonds versions is simple and tasty - it's up to you to decide which one (or combination) appeals to you.