Loaded Nachos and Ranchera Sauce

These nachos were so good! My sister has recently moved into a new flat and so I went to have dinner with her on Sunday night. We were due to have nachos and then vegetarian chilli, however, we were so full after the nachos that we could only manage a little of the chilli, which was, by the way excellent.

The idea for the nachos comes from a favourite Mexican Restaurant of mine in Covent Garden Cafe Pacifico. They do Nachos Ranchera as a starter and it is really good, so I thought I'd try and recreate it at home. The nachos are basically, corn tortilla chips, covered with refried beans, ranchera sauce, sweetcorn, cheese (I used a combination of mozzarella and cheddar as I couldn't find any Mexican cheese) baked in the oven for 10-15 mins, with a layer of guacamole, a layer of sour cream and then olives on top.



I think the original uses spring onions, but I forgot to pick any up, and doesn't have any sweetcorn, but they were delicious and ridiculously filling, I definitely felt like I was having a food baby that night!

I made the Ranchera sauce from scratch, from a recipe I found somewhere on the Internet but I am not sure where and the kick from the chillies really helped to even out the sweetness of the refried beans etc.



Ranchera Sauce

900g tomatoes
2 serrano chillies, chopped
3 tbsp oil
1 small onion, chopped
1 tbsp minced garlic
Salt

Preheat the oven to 200C. Roast the tomatoes on a baking sheet for 30-45 minutes, depending on the size of the tomatoes, until the skins are wrinkled and slightly charred.

Transfer to a food processor and process until smooth, then add the serrano chillies and continue to process. Set aside.

In a skillet, heat the oil over a medium heat. Add the onion and cook for about 5 mins, or until beginning to colour, add the garlic and cook a minute more.

Add the tomato-chilli puree and cook, stirring frequently, until a bit thickened, about 10 mins. Add salt to taste and cook for a few mins more.