Nigella Eats Everything

Carne asada nachos isn’t the recipe I was expecting to post at this time of year, but here we are.

Veganuary, which you may know or have heard of, has no doubt settled under my skin. My sub-conscious urges me to eat salad after a month of gorging myself (see last month’s confessions of a meat-aholic), so my mind keeps drifting to vegetables assuming that’s what I, and you dear reader, want. However, have I cooked myself a dinner of vegetables? Nope. Instead I made nachos. Covered in steak and cheese.

Veganuary is usually my topic of choice in January, as shown here, here, and yep here too, however, as you can see there’s been a change of plan. The fault lies with carne asada.

I think I’ve already said this (maybe a couple of times), I’m a lazy cook. Normally when I bake something sweet it’s only because I’m craving sugar immediately and so that sweet thing is something so basic it’s only one step up from a mug cake (it would be a mug cake if we had a microwave). I resist weighing ingredients unless utterly necessary, and when I do, I weigh everything in the same bowl or pan because washing up is such a bore.

Nachos is certainly a lazy food. To put it in perspective, the most strenuous activity is making the guacamole. Therefore, I really think carne asada nachos is perfect for January.

This is the month where every morning frost glitters on the grass outside, going out without gloves on is considered irresponsible, and you dread stepping out of the steamy hot shower. We don’t need additional daily complications. Instead, we need warmth and fat and love to feel human. Carne asada has that by the bucket-load, it’s practically a zesty, meaty hot water bottle.

What are carne asada nachos?

First, what is carne asada? If you’re looking for bright flavour this winter, I urge you to try this Mexican steak recipe. Juicy tender steak is marinated in fresh garlic, coriander, lemon and lime juice, a dash of cumin, and possibly a touch of spice if you need some extra hot sizzle in your life. It’s flash fried in a searing hot pan and the marinade caramelises and chars yet the centre remains blush pink. It’s perfect as it is.

However, then you can sprinkle those succulent slices of steak over crispy nachos with big dollops of guacamole and salsa, sliced jalapenos, cheese, maybe some pico de gallo and coriander, full of the spicy fragrant flavours of Mexico, and suddenly January is a very happy month indeed.

Good food doesn’t have to be complicated. Good food can be lazy and effortless and, best of all, messy to eat with your hands. Good food can include nachos with citrus-marinated steak and cheese – including that weird plastic cheese which is wrapped in little sleeves which I embarrassingly had to use because we had nothing else, and honestly it was still delicious, melting under the grill right on cue.

The diets and restrictions can wait. Stay warm and eat carne asada nachos this winter.