Amy's Favorite Recipes: Italian Nachos

Italian Nachos

Printable Recipe

Absolutely fabulous twist on a great idea! Sure you could find a Macaroni Grill restaurant and just order this, but after eating Italian Nachos you won't have room for anything else. How about just making this at home and enjoying with some red wine and a Caesar Salad on a lazy night.

Ingredients:

For the nachos:

wonton wraps, generally available in the produce section
oil for frying

For the toppings:

  ½ lb. Mild Italian sausage, links or ground
  Pepperoncini, cut in rings, to taste
  chopped red onion, to taste
  sliced black olives, to taste
  ½ cup shredded mozzarella cheese

For the asiago cheese sauce:

  2 tbl butter
  2 tbl flour
  ¾ cup chicken broth
  1 ¼ cup milk
  ½: cup shredded asiago

Instructions:

I indicate most of the toppings are "to taste" because everyone likes this slightly different. I am one for putting as much on as I possibly can, but you decide.

I usually use mild italian sausage links and just remove the sausage from the casing. You can certainly eliminate that step and just use ground sausage. The important part is the seasoning of the sausage. Make sure you have the italian spices, oregano, basil, garlic, and pepper at a minimum. It is good to add some finely chopped green pepper, yellow onion, and provolone cheese at the end of cooking if the sausage does not already provide this. Cook sausage in a frying pan until browned. Drain excess oil from pan and set aside until assembly time.

Prepare additional toppings. Chop red onion. I use about ¼ cup red onion. If pepperoncini are not already slices into rings, do so. I use about 5-6 peppers, depending on size. Sliced black olives add an additional element of flavor and color. A small sized can is plenty. Set all toppings aside until assembly.

The asiago cheese sauce is a standard white sauce with cheese. In a saucepan melt the butter. Add the flour and stir to combine thoroughly. This will clump, but that is fine. Be careful to use low-medium heat as to not turn the butter-flour mixture brown. Gradually add the chicken broth. Make sure to stir thoroughly while adding the chicken broth to remove all lumps. After all chicken broth has been incorporated, add the milk and continue to stir. I usually increase the heat slightly at this point. You will continue to stir the sauce over medium-high heat until the sauce begins to boil. This may take up to 10 mintues, so be patient. When the sauce begins to boil (and you will see it thicken), I continue to cook the sauce, while stirring, for another 1-2 minutes. Remove the sauce from the heat and stir in the asiago cheese. (You may use Parmesan or Romano cheese, but be prepared for a less intense flavor!) Also, this recipe makes more sauce than you will need. I use the rest of the sauce for pasta, see Pasta di Amata, a day or two later.

Now, it is time to make the wonderful pasta nachos! The wonton wraps should be a square shape. Cut the wonton wraps diagonally to make 2 triangle shapes. Fry the triangle shaped wontons in hot oil. The frying process takes just seconds for each small batch of wonton wraps. Drain excess oil from fried pasta. If making a large quantity, keep fried pasta warm in a 200º oven. I usually only use half a package of wonton wraps when making 4-6 servings.

To assemble the Italian Nachos, place the fried pasta on an ovenproof serving platter. Carefully distribute about ¼ cup asiago cheese sauce over the top of the fried pasta. Individually, toss the cooked sausage, red onions, pepper rings, and black olives over the top of the cheese sauce on the fried pasta. Distribute about another ¼ cup of sauce on the nacho platter and then sprinkle the mozzarella cheese over the top. Bake in a 350º oven to melt the mozzarella cheese. Enjoy!

Serves: 4-6

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