Nachos Rancheros

This spicy, sweet, smoky beef lays on a bed of pitta chips. It's topped with a hefty grating of cheese, grilled, and finished off with sour cream, guacamole and tomato salsa. Yum. This is a great sharing dish, and our mates Soffles make the perfect chip for scooping. Tortilla chips pale in comparison. I happened upon a recipe called 'Rancheros Pie' years ago in a very unassuming slow cooker recipe book, and have been making it ever since. Translating as 'rancher', I take this to be a South American style shepherd's pie. This rendition sees it restyled into nachos. Because... nachos.

Written by
Bea Kabiri

Serves: 3-4
Cooking time: 45 minutes

Ingredients:

2 tbsp ghee, coconut oil or cooking oil of choice

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 large onion, diced

1 chilli, sliced (jalapeño is ideal, but any variety will do)

4 cloves garlic, crushed

1 bay leaf

2 tsp Mexican oregano

1 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp chilli flakes (or more if you like it hot)

½ tsp smoked paprika

½ tsp ground allspice

400g beef mince, organic if possible

1 tin chopped tomatoes

1 pouch (342g) Borough Broth Grass-Fed Organic Beef Bone Broth

2 tbsp sultanas

2 tsp Worcestershire sauce

A wee splash of apple cider vinegar / lime juice, if needed

To Serve:

grated cheese of your choosing (a nice meltable one)

chips of your choosing (we love Soffles’ Chilli & Garlic Roasted Pitta Chips)

guacamole (mashed avocado with finely diced onion, lots of lime juice + salt)

tomato salsa (finely diced tomato, onion, lime juice + salt)

sour cream / yogurt

fresh coriander

limes

Method:

Heat up the oil in a pan. Once it's nice and hot, add the cumin seeds.
After a few seconds of toasting, add the onions and chillies to the pan. Cook until the onion is golden brown.
Add the garlic, stir and cook until the garlic loses its raw aroma.
Add the bay leaf, oregano, ground coriander, chilli flakes, smoked paprika and allspice. Stir to toast for a few seconds.
Add the mince. On a high heat, break this down and cook, stirring, until it loses its moisture and begins to turn a darker colour (if you listen carefully you might notice the sound change, as the meat goes from steaming to frying). Don't worry if it sticks to the bottom - be brave because darker = more flavour.
Once the meat is as brown as you dare push it - please don't burn it - add a tin of tomatoes. Stir, still on high heat, scraping the bottom of the pan to release the sticky brown bits into the sauce.
Once the tomatoes have boiled down for a couple of minutes, add the beef broth and sultanas. Stir and boil this all down until the sauce becomes nice and thick.
While the sauce is thickening, heat your grill to high.
Once the sauce is looking good, season well with plenty of salt and a couple teaspoons of Worcestershire sauce. Taste for spice and, if it needs something more to cut through the richness, add a splash of vinegar.
Get your serving plate / baking sheet ready. Scatter the chips all over the plate, spoon over the beef, and grate a generous portion of cheese all over. Grill until the cheese has melted.
Top with guacamole, tomato salsa, fresh coriander and a dollop of sour cream. Enjoy!

Grass-Fed Organic Beef Bone Broth

Our beef broth is made using grass-fed organic British beef bones and slow-cooked for 24-hours. Made up of 40% bones, this is a deep and rich broth with an umami hit.

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