Loaded Cheesy Nachos

A festival of cheese and a celebration of mediterranean flavours – these loaded cheesy nachos are piled high with chorizo, cannelini beans, sunsoaked tomatoes, olives and avocado.

To celebrate their relaunch, I’ve been challenged by Cathedral City Cheddar as part of their #LoveCheese campaign to come up with a recipe that really makes the most of their delicious Mature Cheddar, and nachos were the first thing that came into my head. When it comes to cheesy food, this is definitely my favourite.

While my boys adore cheese, they aren’t really huge fans of spicy food, so instead of the traditional chilli-based Mexican style toppings, I went for a milder mediterranean spin. The smooth and creamy quality of the Cathedral City Mature cheddar is really child-friendly and bubbles up a treat under the grill.

This recipe is ridiculously easy, with lots of little manageable jobs like grating, chopping and sprinkling that are great for getting kids involved in the kitchen.

It makes for a quick and summery light lunch or something to put in the middle of the table at a party or barbecue. Make sure you get in there fast before someone else grabs the cheesiest, most loaded nacho!

Loaded Cheesy Nachos

Serves 4
Prep time: 10 mins
Cook time: 5 mins

Ingredients
200g tortilla chips
150g diced chorizo
230g cannelini beans, drained and rinsed
200g sunsoaked cherry tomatoes, in oil
75g green olives, pitted and sliced
175g Cathedral City Mature Cheddar, grated
1 ripe avocado, sliced
1 small pot soured cream
handful chives, chopped
handful coriander, leaves picked and chopped
1 lime, cut into wedges

Method

1. Line a baking sheet with greaseproof paper and spread out the tortilla chips evenly across the surface.

2. In a pan with a tablespoon or two of the oil from the cherry tomatoes, gently fry the chorizo and beans for a few minutes until the chorizo releases its paprika spiked oil into the beans which will soften a little.

3. Remove from the heat and scatter over the top of the tray of tortilla chips. Scatter the tomatoes and sliced olives and then blanket the lot with grated cheese.

4. Spark up the grill and pop the tray of loaded chips underneath and watch it like a hawk. After a few minutes the cheese will melt and start bubbling. Keep checking its progress until its perfectly golden. It’s SO easy to let it go too far and end up with black tortilla chips which really isn’t appetising, so don’t go anywhere while you’re grilling them!

5. Bring the tray out of the grill and then pile up the top with slices of avocado, generous dollops of sour cream and a good scattering of chives and coriander. Place the lime wedges at the side for people to squeeze over themselves and serve immediately for a gloriously cheesy festival of snack age.

My ‘Cheese Rules’

As part of the #LoveCheese campaign, Cathedral City really want to know about your ‘Cheese Rules’, so I thought i’d kick off by fessing up to my own cheesy habits:

• Find the cheesiest most loaded nacho in the pile and lay claim to it immediately, never mind that it causes an earthquake on the plate and sends the other nachos flying.
• Cheese sandwiches have to have salad cream in them. Fact. A sprinkling of salt and vinegar crisps is a particularly classy flourish.
• Any toasted bits of cheese that have oozed out of toasted sandwiches and are lying dormant on the grill are definitely chef’s perks. And if no one’s looking so are those frilly crispy bits on the side of the toastie that can quickly be snapped off undetected!

Love Cheese? Welcome to the club! I’d love to hear YOUR Cheese Rules!

Let me know in the comments below, nip over to the Cathedral City Facebook page, or tweet using the #CheeseRules or #LoveCheese hashtag.

Disclosure: I have been commissioned by Cathedral City to create and share this recipe with you. All views and images are my own.