Years ago, I used to watch a television show titled, “Door Knock Dinners”. In this show the host would arrive in some random neighborhood, usually here in New Jersey and walk around with a gourmet chef, the two would choose a home to … you guessed it, knock on the door. When the homeowner/resident opened the door, the host would ask If this person would allow him and the chef inside to prepare a gourmet dinner using only the ingredients they could find in the kitchen. I loved this show.
There were times when the kitchens had only minimal food and nothing that appeared to go together without the help of some staple ingredient which was not available. However, at the end of each show a meal was prepared for the family and most times the family enjoyed whatever it turned out to be. There were times the meal was a flop but that was one of the things that made the show fun.
After watching this show quite often, I used to challenge myself to create meals out of things my mom had in our home. I would make the challenge to take things we would ordinarily have and make the recipe with a “twist” or use the ingredients to make one dish of leftovers and turn it into a completely new dish. Like the show, sometimes it worked and sometimes it did not. The great thing about challenging myself is, I learned to cook. I learned to put things together to make something tasty that I may not think of on first thought.
While I was dating one man, one thing he would always compliment me on was my cooking. He was always amazed by how I could take, as he would say, “any five ingredients and make a gourmet meal.” He bragged about my cooking to everyone, including his mother. His mother hated hearing how he loved my cooking. Yet, I must admit even she complimented me. I enjoyed many things when I was with him, and cooking for him was one of the things I enjoyed.
Tonight, I cooked for one of my toughest critics, my son T. T will eat nearly anything, but he will critique the heck out of whatever it is he eats. T is not an easy person to please. Not because he is a picky eater, he just has high standards and a distinct palate.
We were all home due to a “snow day” I was working from home and lost track of time. I had every intention of making a meatloaf tonight. I now had 30 minutes to make this meatloaf from start to the table. It wasn’t going to happen. So, what is a mom with two hungry teenagers to do? I’ll tell you…. Go into the kitchen take out the meat you had defrosting for the meatloaf and look to see what you have to go with it that will only take 30 minutes or less to prepare, and that’s exactly what I did.
I went to my fridge and looked inside, I had taco blend cheese, black olives, romaine lettuce, … I could make cheeseburgers and salad or tacos, but that didn’t seem to appeal to me. I looked in the pantry, I have taco seasoning and taco shells, so tacos seem to be where I was going. I’m still not sold. I look up and see a bag of Chia and Quinoa tortilla chips. I dig a little more and find a jar of Italian giardiniera. Bingo!!! I know what I am making. I grab the tortilla and Italian giardiniera and set it next to the meat on the counter, I then take out the taco seasoning, and taco blend cheese and get to work. We are going to have taco nachos with an Italian twist. Here is the recipe.
- chopped beef, pork, and veal
- 1 packet of Ortega taco seasoning
- ¾ cup of water
- 1 large bag of “late July” Quinoa and Chia tortilla Chips
- 1 pack of shredded “taco blend” cheese (I use Shoprite brand)
- 1 jar Italian giardiniera (a mix of green and red peppers, jalapenos, baby mushrooms, artichoke hearts, onion, and cauliflower) seasoned with (garlic, red pepper flake, pepper, salt, oregano)
- 1 can black olives (roughly chopped)
- chopped meat in a pan, once browned, drain grease and add the packet of taco seasoning and ¾ cup of water. Stir and simmer until liquid has evaporated.
- Spread ½ of the bag of tortillas on a round pizza stone or baking sheet.
- Spread half of the taco meat on top of the tortillas
- Top the tortillas and meat with a ½ jar of Italian giardiniera and ½ the chopped black olives.
- Add half the pack of cheese on top of the giardiniera and olives and add the remaining tortillas in another layer and once again top with meat, giardiniera, olives, and cheese.
- Place the tortillas in the oven for 15 mins. Or until the cheese is melted.
After I put this all together and served it… T exclaimed, “Mom, this is delicious… oh my God it is really good, can we have this every Tuesday?” And Rob looked up and said, “I agree, this is really good”. Success!
I hope you try the recipe… if you do, let me know what you thought of it… and if you changed it up, I would love to hear your spin on it so share your recipe. Until then…
Keep Sparkling ~
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