If you’ve ever visited with Rob, you’re likely to have had Rob’s Famous Baked Nachos, and, if you’re lucky, you’ve been able to watch as Rob prepares them. It’s a great treat, watching as Rob pulls out the special nacho pan, spreads the chips just so, then starts in on deciding on the toppings for that particular batch. There are always some items that are standard, some that change depending on availability, and a variance in the amounts of each. The nachos are never the same twice, but, they’re always great.
Now, we, being scratchers, rarely make baked nachos at home — we’d have to make corn tortillas, then slice and deep fry them to make chips, then finally put together nachos for the oven. But, we have come up with an alternative that we think will satisfy anyone’s craving for nachos. Trust us, we had to have them twice in one week; they were that good.
One of our favorite easy meals is simply Oven Fries. They’re easy to put together, we can vary the spices, make a dipping sauce, fill up a couple of large bowls and sit down to a great meal. We don’t have them all that often; instead, we think of them as a treat. So, this week, we decided to move our oven fries up a notch. We figured we’d add a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese, but, the next thing you know, we were rooting around in the refrigerator for other toppings (much like Rob), and, soon we had a version of what we’re calling Potatchos. We think they’ll sweep the nation soon, so get in on the ground floor.
Potatchos (Potato Nachos)
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 Tbs fresh rosemary
- 1 Tbs kosher salt
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 1/4 tsp liquid smoke
- 2 Tbs extra-virgin olive oil
- 5 russet potatoes
- 1 carrot peeled and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
- 1 cup broccoli cut into 1/2 inch pieces
- 1/4 cup diced onion
- 1/3 cup walnuts
- 1/4 cup chopped olives
- 4 ounces cheese grated
- 1 tsp Alleppo pepper
Instructions
- Using a small spice grinder, grind rosemary and salt into powder. Place in a large bowl and mix with smoked paprika, liquid smoke, and olive oil.
- Preheat oven to 450°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment.
- Slice potatoes into batons, adding them to the bowl as you work. Toss until well coated with oil and spices.
- Transfer potatoes to the prepared pans, spread into a single layer and bake for 40 minutes, stirring and flipping halfway through.
- Remove pans from oven and top potatoes with remaining ingredients, spreading each into an even layer.
- Return to oven and bake until cheese is bubbly and browned and all ingredients are baked through.
- Serve immediately
Ingredient discussion:
Think of the ingredients we’ve listed simply as suggestions. Instead of following our recipe exactly, you should be more like Rob, searching through your refrigerator and cupboard to find things you like. The one ingredient that we’d really suggest you keep (other than the cheese) is walnuts. Until you’ve had walnuts on savory dishes such as potatchos or pizza, you don’t know how good they are as a topping. Try them once and you’ll never go back. For the cheese, we, again, went with the Rob-approved method of cheese selection: use what you have that sounds good to you; you can’t fail. Naturally, if some cheese isn’t conducive to grating, do what’s appropriate, slice, dice, crumble, take a nibble, it’s all good. Finally, we list the Aleppo pepper right at the end, mainly because one of us likes spicy food, and one doesn’t; if you have several people eating, try to customize their portions by adding/leaving off toppings as desired.
Procedure in detail:
Preheat oven to 450°F. Line a couple of baking sheets with parchment for easy cleanup. That is, of course, unless you like scrubbing baked cheese off your pans.
Make spice mix. Place the rosemary and salt in a small grinder and grind away to create a powder. We like to add the salt to the mix as it helps to keep the rosemary from clumping, and, since we used coarse kosher salt, makes a fine salt at the same time. Once ground, transfer to a large bowl. Add the smoked paprika, liquid smoke, and the olive oil, and stir into a paste.
Slice potatoes. Using a chef’s knife, slice the potatoes into batons. You can do wedges if you like; they’re your potatcho, after all. Add the slices to the bowl as you work. When all the potatoes have been sliced and added to the bowl, use a large spoon to toss them gently in the spice mixture. Continue tossing and stirring until all the potatoes are well coated.
Bake. Divide the potatoes among your pans, spreading them into a single layer. It’s okay if a few potatoes overlap or touch each other, but try for an even layer. Slide into the oven and bake for about 40 minutes, stirring and tossing about halfway through. Ideally, we want the potatoes to crisp up just a bit.
Add toppings. Distribute your choice of topping over the potatoes, using your knowledge of who likes what to guide where you place each topping. Finally, spread the cheese over the top in an even layer, then sprinkle with Aleppo pepper — at least for those who want it.
Bake some more. Back into the oven with the potatchos and let them bake until the cheese is bubbly and browned and everything is completely done. It should only take between 20 and 30 minutes now.
Serve. We simply slice through the potatchos and use a spatula to lift them over to the dishes. This time we used large bowls so we could be decadent and sit and eat while watching a DVD. Feel free to do the same.
As we said above, we loved these so much that we had to make a second batch the same week. But, how can you not love them? They’re made from potatoes, seasoned and baked a little crispy, then topped with ingredients you like, covered in cheese, and baked until bubbling. Seriously, finding someone who doesn’t like these will be a nearly impossible task. Five stars.
