It rocked.
I used to help him out a little when my "tour guide" schedule allowed me to, and he gave me food at half price. I would have paid full price though, 'cuz it was 'effin' good! Damn you Juanito!!! Damn you twice for leaving the beach hell we shared! Ahhh...ay Papi...Anyway, as he was pulling up stakes to move to the D.C. area and try his luck at a more "Urban Donkey", we banged our heads together briefly to try and brainstorm "signature items" that would be both neat and quick treats to make and consume, but also inexpensive to create and items that would be in keeping with the "funky" sort of dressed down atmosphere that he had worked to create. Anyway, one night it hit me....and I laughed,thinking of the two words together, nacho tartlete. I think it could fit in here under a trilogy of recipes entitled : "what to do with the rest of the tortilla chips in the bag when they're already all broken up anyway". But, we'll keep it short, cliffhanger for now, just the nacho tartlete one. So, if you have a mini muffin pan, or you can "get" one somehow, then follow along.
The inspiration of this recipe comes from trying to eat cheese dip with a little pinched crumble of broken chip left overs, and getting cheese on my digits. I was feeling all cave man and so I took the next logical evolutionary step by thinking of a way to jam their two separate goodness-es together, like a little "New Mexican Takeout Leftover Reese's Cup" kind of thing. The first step would be to get the cheese combined with the tortilla chips which involved crushing them into a fine meal, easy. Part two was the "what do I cook it in ?" moment, and non stick muffin pan jumped in, the thought of melting cheese against a surface that it won't adhere to was just too enticing to turn away from. I started thinking of other things that would go great in there, or on top. Chili, taco meat,re fried beans, micro brunoise of lettuce, tomato, olives, fresh hot peppers, sour cream...creme fraiche...what ever...I was high, and it was time to make this! Excuse me..."high"... on life, um...kids. So you should be almost ready to do this without me by now, as it is truly brainless, except for the gathering of the ingredients you wish to use, and the making sure you don't burn the house down when a craving for a little 'snaq' like this one strikes...
ingredients (only suggestions) :
- a non stick mini muffin pan
- about a cup or two of finely crushed tortilla chips ( you can smash 'em pretty good with your hands right in the bag)
- about a cup or two of any cheese(shredded) or cheese dip you may have laying around that fit the flavor of the fever
- about a cup or so of ingredient 3* (chili, taco meat, re fried beans)
- a bunch of garnish stuff, or not
method:
- preheat oven to 400 degrees
- mix about half of the cheese and half of the tortilla crumbs together to form a loose sort of mixture (if you use cheese dip, don't go too wet)
- fill the muffin holes about a third of the way with the tortilla and cheese mixture
- add a dollop of ingredient 3
- top with a sprinkling of the tortilla and cheese mixture to sort of cover and fill the muffin hole
- bake for about 12 to 15 minutes, or until bubbly and browned
- allow the tartletes to cool to near room temp and then carefully remove them
-garnish them as fancy pants as you would like or don't, they will be great as is, trust me
* cooks notes:
- ingredient 3 just means whatever you have, I often use this at home as a different way to enjoy a chili I made, or leftovers from the local Mexican Restaurant, whatever
- you can really dress this up if you want to, use a little leftover chicken breast instead of chili or beans and top with a dice of sweet onion and cilantro, or a nice cool salsa verde,
or dice up some little tomatoes and peppers and paint some sour cream on from a squirt bottle to decorate, turn this bite into a little amuse bouche for your next party, or just eat them in your underwear, standing in the kitchen next to the oven, and the mess you just made at 4 a.m., like the first time I ever tried to make them. DO IT!
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