One of the things I wanted to eat while in the US was nachos. You might be thinking to yourself, “Mariel, they have to have good nachos somewhere in the UK.” And they probably do, but I was burned – and burned bad. So I’ve only had nachos once in London and didn’t want to risk it again.

Here’s what happened: Ryan and I went to a pub to watch the Arsenal match. We had a few pints and started to feel hungry and we thought, “What kind of bar food do we want? Oh, nachos sounds good!” So we ordered them, not thinking about where we were. Because in the US you can have satisfying nachos pretty much anywhere.

When our plate arrived there were some chips, a smattering of cheese, and big dollops of sour cream and watery salsa. No meat, no beans, no veg, no gooey-ness. I mean, we ate it of course, but I was disappointed. Since then I’ve stuck to homemade nachos.

In Colorado, Katy (my sister-in-law) suggested we make nachos for when we watched the Broncos football game. Boden was our adorable little helper who let us dress him as a football. Isn’t he freaking cute? I made a photo of him the background on my phone and it makes me so happy! Ok but I’m digressing, let’s get back to nachos.

So the thing is, you don’t really need a recipe for nachos because there’s plenty of room for improvisation. We used bison meat which I’d never cooked before this! It’s leaner than beef and has a really delicious flavor. We didn’t add much to it in terms of seasoning, but it was so flavorful!  I know you can get bison meat all over the United States, but being at the edge of Plains and having bison meat somehow felt authentically Colorado. Maybe it’s not authentically Colorado, but that’s how it felt. Anyway, instead of bison, you can use ground beef or turkey, sliced chicken breasts, or beans. In fact, go bigger and make a combo and use both meat and beans!

You can also make nachos really homemade or somewhere in between. We bought jarred salsa but we made guacamole. However, instead of chopping up tomatoes, onions, cilantro and jalapenos we bought pre-made pico de gallo. You can find pico de gallo in the refrigerated section on the produce department. Or, if you want to make your own here’s a recipe from the Pioneer Woman. So find your perfect balance and make what you want or buy what you want.

The key to good nachos is layering. Katy’s secret to good nachos is two layers of cheese. First, a layer of chips, then cheese, then meat, then toppings, then cheese, then salsas. Double cheese layers add extra deliciousness and work as a glue to hold all your nachos fillings together. Genius right?

Last thing, Katy is responsible for the beautiful sour cream piping. Those clouds of sour cream are gorgeous! What’s great about nachos is you can make them your own, and so we decided to make them beautiful.(I alternated in the spoonfuls of guac and salsa) But, it needs to be said that I am so impressed with Katy’s piping as I’m terrible with a piping bag. We decided we would be a perfect team in a bakery – I prefer the baking and she prefers the decorating. Win-win baby. Anyway, presentation is important to making tasty food look even more desirable so artfully dollop on your salsas and once you serve people will be dying to dig in.

Messy level: One spoon. Nachos are so easy! For preparation we only needed one skillet and a bowl to make the guacamole. Everything else just gets layers on the main serving platter. Easy and clean – that is until you start eating.

Bison Nachos

 

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A recipe for hearty bison nachos with guacamole. You will have extra guacamole at the end!

Author: Mariel & Katy

Ingredients

• olive oil
• 1 pound ground bison meat (or substitute ground beef or turkey)
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 red bell pepper, cut into thick matchsticks
• 1 green bell pepper, cut into thick matchsticks
• 2-3 ripe avocados
• 1 cup pico de gallo
• 1 lime, sliced in half
• salt
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• ¼ tsp chili powder
• 1 bag of your favorite tortilla chips (we used Scoops)
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (you might not need it all)
• ½ cup salsa
• ½ cup sour cream

Instructions

1. Heat a splash of olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat.
2. Once the oil is hot, add the garlic and ground bison. When 75% of the meat is browned add in the bell pepper. I like adding it here to soften the peppers up a bit and give them some more flavor. Remove from the heat once the meat is completely browned. Set to the side.
3. Cut the avocado lengthwise around the pit. Now you'll have the avocado broken apart into two halves.
4. Using a spoon, scoop out the pit and set it aside.
5. Scoop out the avocado flesh into a medium bowl. Using a fork, mash up the avocado until it is smoother but still with some chunks.
6. Add the pico de gallo to the avocado. Mix thoroughly.
7. Add garlic powder, chili powder, and salt (to your taste) to the avocado mixture. Squeeze half the lime in too. Taste and adjust the seasonings. Add the other half of the lime if you like it, add more garlic and chili powder if you want more "pop." Now you've got guacamole. Add the avocado pits back in to the guacamole. This keeps it from getting immediately brown.
8. Arrange the tortilla chips onto a large serving tray.
9. Sprinkle half the shredded cheese over the chips.
10. Spoon the ground bison and bell pepper mixture evenly over the cheese.
11. Sprinkle the other half of the cheese over the meat.
12. Put the serving tray in the microwave and heat on high for 1 minute at a time, until the cheese is melted.
13. Artfully dollop the sour cream, salsa, and guacamole evenly on top of the cheese.
14. If you have more cheese left over, sprinkle a little more on top.
15. Serve while hot and gooey!

3.2.2925

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I bought the corn when I made barley succotash and I’ve had the leftover bag ever since. When I need to add a vegetable for dinner, I often tell myself I’ll just heat up the corn, but I never do. I like corn on the cob, corn bread, and corn in things. But plain corn on the side isn’t very interesting to me and so the bag languished in the freezer. 

Then I saw a fairly recent post from Amateur Gourmet for corn chowder. I thought this would be perfect, but then he said it wasn’t worth doing with frozen corn. Sigh. It’s the end of the summer and corn season is over so I moved on.

Until it was Monday. On Monday nights I like to go to Zumba. I like to eat before Zumba so I don’t feel faint and famished but I can’t eat too much or I’ll feel sick. But, I also need to make something hearty enough so Ryan has a real dinner and not rabbit food. So I thought back to corn chowder, and advice be dammed, I was going to try it with frozen corn!

I’m so glad I did because this soup is freaking delicious! The soup is wonderfully flavorful. This is one of the best soups I have ever had. The corn gives it sweetness and the cayenne pepper (which is my personal addition) gives just the whisper of heat. And the cream makes it feel so rich, but with only one cup in the whole pot you don’t have to feel too guilty. It is hearty but not heavy (seriously, I went to Zumba and felt fine and thought about the soup the whole time). Ryan gave it a 9 out of 10. I kept loudly saying, “this soup is so good!” I was mad when I had to leave for class and couldn’t have a second bowl. Try it, this is a wonderful soup.

Adapted from Amateur Gourmet who adapted it from Jasper White.

Messy level: There is a lot of cutting prep work for this recipe, that’s the only reason I will give it a 2 spoon rating. Otherwise, it’s just dump it all in the pot and wait for it to get delicious.

Amazing Corn Chowder

 

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Ingredients

• 3-4 cups of frozen corn
• 4 oz of slab bacon, cut into ⅓" dice
• 2 tbsp butter
• 1 yellow onion, diced
• 1 red bell pepper, diced
• 5 sprigs thyme, leaves removed and chopped
• ½ tsp ground cumin
• ⅛ tsp turmeric
• ¼ tsp ground cayenne pepper
• 1 lb Yukon gold potatoes peeled, and cut into ½" cubes
• about 5-6 cups of chicken stock (enough to cover everything)
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 2 tsp cornstarch dissolved in 2 tbsp cold water
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 2 tbsp minced chives

Instructions

1. In a large heavy pot, cook the bacon over medium heat. Cook until the bacon is crisp. Spoon out all but a tablespoon of the bacon fat.
2. Add the butter, onion, bell pepper, thyme, cumin, cayenne pepper, and turmeric. Look at the pretty spices! They will make the soup pretty too. Add a pinch of salt. Cook for 8 minutes, stirring every so often.
3. Add the corn, potatoes, and stock. Turn the heat to high and bring to a vigorous boil. Cover and cook for 10 minutes.
4. Using a wood spoon, smash some of the corn and potatoes against the side of the pot. This will help thicken the chowder. Reduce the heat to medium and taste for salt and pepper.
5. Stir in the corn starch mixture.
6. Bring the soup back to a boil and stir until the chowder has thickened to your liking.
7. Turn off the heat and add the cream. Adjust for salt if you need to.
8. Serve and top with chopped chives.

3.2.2802

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You’re probably reading this thinking, um, Mariel, that’s not hot. I know – I know, I just moved from DC where it’s hotter than hell. In DC low 80’s would feel like a wonderful cold front because summer is usually 100° with about a million percent humidity. But the thing is, high 70’s is hot here because air conditioning isn’t so much a thing here. Our flat doesn’t have air conditioning, the library doesn’t have air conditioning, and when you walk down the street you never pass a store and feel the cold blast of AC. We got a fan and that helps a ton.

Also going on outings helps too. This past weekend we went to the Banqueting Hall. It was a little hot and stuffy there too – but it wasn’t crowded with sweaty tourists so that made it awesome. The Banqueting Hall is the last remaining part of Whitehall Palace. It is the site of Charles I execution and the ceiling has nine paintings from Peter Paul Rubens. What I loved about the space is that it is large, beautiful, and ornate. The best part though, was the bean bags on the floor. We took our audio guides, flopped onto the bean bags, and looked up at the floor. It was cozy and interesting. The audio tour is just a little bit long, but they did the most with what they had.

The last way to deal with the heat is to stop using the oven when cooking. The oven makes our flat a sauna, so I’ve been trying to make easy stove-based recipes for dinner. I like this one because it’s pretty easy, filling, and includes a few different kinds of vegetables. Ignore the roast chicken in the pictures – that I made in the oven and it was far too hot.

This recipe is from Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything Vegetarian.

Ingredients

4 tbsp butter

1 cup pearled barley

salt & pepper

2 1/2 cups water

1 tbsp garlic, minced

1/2 cup frozen lima beans

1 cup frozen (or fresh) corn

1 red bell pepper

2 scallions, thinly chopped

parsley (optional, chopped and used for garnish)

Directions

1. In a medium saucepan, melt 2 tbsp of butter over medium heat. Add the barley toast for 2-3 minutes, stir frequently.

2. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Add the water and bring to a boil. Cover the saucepan and reduce the heat to low.  Cook until most of the water has been absorbed (about 20-25 minutes). Stir the barley occasionally to promote creaminess.

3. In a skillet, melt the other 2 tbsp of butter. Add the garlic and cook for about 1-2 minutes. Add the lima beans and cook for about 5 minutes. Stir to make sure the beans don’t stick.

4. Add in the corn, bell pepper, and scallions. Cook for two minutes.

5. Stir in the barley. Cover and cook, while stirring a occasionally, until the vegetable soften a bit. This takes about 5 minutes.

6. Remove from heat, stir in the parsley if you’re using.

7. Serve!

Messy level: Just two spoons! It’s so easy, only two pans, and very little clean up. It’s yummy, filling, and pretty healthy.

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