For Sports and a Romantic Weekend, Nachos Are the Answer

This weekend offers a trifecta of excuses for making nachos: The Olympics, the Super Bowl and Valentine’s Day. Whether you’re having a gaggle of friends over to watch sports communally, or you want to make something special (and easy) so your mate can take a day off from cooking chores, nachos are the answer.

Nachos have become culinary anathema through the years as movie theaters and gas stations have begun to serve a variation that features hard chips drowning in fluorescent yellow sauce, perhaps with some hot jalapeno slices on top.

A more pure and IMO delicious version is simple to make at home.

The first and hardest part might be finding a ripe avocado. You can often find one at the Sharon Farm Market in Sharon, Conn., and at stores that serve the area Latin community.

I like to use fresh tortillas for my nachos, and my preference is corn not flour, but you can use either. You can use chips too, if you like.

To make the tortillas warm and tender, and please use extra care when you do this, heat the tortillas over a low flame, such as  you’d find on a gas cooktop.

If you have an electric cooktop, you can wrap the tortillas in foil and heat them in a toaster oven or even really in your fireplace. Keep an eye on them, they cook quickly. And, again, be very careful (flames).

Preheat your oven to 350.

Slice your avocado in half, remove the pit, squeeze on some lemon juice to keep it from turning brown, then use a fork to mash the flesh.

Spread about half an avocado on one of your warm tortillas and then sprinkle (generously) finely shredded cheese on top. I like to use the cheddar and colby mix that you can find at most grocery stores.

I don’t add hot peppers but you can. You can also set out some salsa or hot sauce and people can adjust the heat profile as they wish.

Put your nachos on a baking sheet lined with foil and bake (briefly) until the cheese melts.