As you may have noticed earlier in the week, my latest foray into the delights of the #readcookeat challenge over at Chez Maximka resulted into a hugely popular family feast of nachos. As I was pondering what to do with the leftovers, I idly browsed through some recipes on google and stumbled across an intriguing mention of Mom’s Frito Taco Salad with Catalina Dressing over on the Scattered Thoughts of A Crafty Mom blog. That appealed to me on a number of levels - globecooking, #KitchenClearout and a salad recipe that kids love. What's not to like? Catalina Dressing is apparently something that you can buy ready made, but google came to the rescue again with a Homemade Catalina Dressing recipe over on Epicurious. Using these two recipes as my inspiration and tweaking it all to suit my leftovers, the resulting dish was just as popular as the nachos the night before, even with the salad ! Definitely one that I'll be using again.
Leftover Nacho Salad
ingredients :
a couple of handfuls of shredded iceberg lettuce
a good handful of cherry tomatoes, halved
a handful of grated cheese
leftover chilli (see recipe for nachos above)
sweetcorn, cucumber, olives, spring onions, any other veggies you want to sneak in there !
a handful of Doritos/tortillas
for the dressing :
2tbsp ketchup
2tbsp sugar
2tbsp red wine vinegar
a shake of garlic powder
a shake of paprika
Chop the lettuce and tomatoes and put them in a big bowl.
Add the cheese.
Add the leftover chilli - I wasn't sure whether to warm it up or use it cold. I opted for cold and it worked very well, so this would be great for taking to work for lunch, but I'm sure it would work hot too. Add any extra salad ingredients you want.
Crush the tortilla chips in your hands and add them to the bowl. Give it all a good mix.
Mix the salad dressing ingredients in a separate bowl. This is sweet but very tart so use sparingly. The kids didn't like it but I loved it because it really perked up the salad.
Tuck in ! This is such a great way of clearing out the veg compartment of the fridge and using up leftovers.
Adding to the #KitchenClearout linky.
*** Fancy trying out some more US cuisine? Don't miss my country-by-country globecooking recipe index ! ***
Great idea for using leftover nachos. Like the sound of the dressing. Eddie loves everything with ketchup, it might be just the right new thing for him to try.
ReplyDeleteCould be - I'd add the vinegar a little bit at a time until you get the balance of flavours that you want, otherwise it's very tart !
DeleteBrilliant idea; one of those dishes that really could be useful for so many different leftovers.
ReplyDeleteThis is fab. I would love it
ReplyDelete