Cheese. I just love Cheese. Reaaaaaaaaaaally I do. If you're not old enough to remember that Loony Tunes line, begone. We are unable to use cheese, say cheese or think of cheese without blurting out this line. I can't remember what I had for dinner last night, but ridiculous cartoon lines from childhood are seared into my memory forever.
What are the lines you can't get rid of?
This recipe is one of my favorite easy Tex-Mex beauties from Chef Stephan Pyles' book, New Texas Cuisine. It's one of three Tex-Mex books he has published, all of which play largely into our repertoire when we cater Southwestern or Mexican themed parties. His recipes work--every time--and this one has always been a hit. It doesn't hurt that you can assemble the main mass of cheeses well in advance of the party, sautee your chorizo (you want the ground, crumbly and spicy Mexican chorizo for this, not the harder, cured Spanish type), chiles and onions ahead of time and have them ready to go. You can throw these ingredients together after the initial melting of the queso base and blast 'em in the oven as instructed below right before your guests arrive (Unless you're a complete glutton and have decided to shove three quarters of a pound of cheese into your own piehole in one sitting, in which case I applaud and am slightly repulsed by you).
For the photo above, I doubled the recipe for a hungry crowd. And since it's hard to get just 4oz of chorizo, I bought a pound, increased the onions, chiles and spices accordingly, and piled that on to the melted cheese mound for the last few minutes in the oven. What's not to love about more meat? (Just don't. It's too easy).
It's not fancy. It's not my norm with all the Asian and Italian recipes I toss up to this blog, but I love Southwestern, Tex-Mex and true Mexican food, and while I was going through photos and recipes this morning this one caught my eye. Besides, you'll appreciate how all that cheese binds you up before you dig into the later courses of beans and spices. Trust me.
And I still want to hear the lines from childhood you can't get out of your head.
Queso Fundido With Chorizo
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1/2 small onions, chopped
- 1 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 jalapenos, seeded and diced
- 2 ounces chorizo sausage
- 4 ounces mozzarella cheese, cubed
- 4 ounces monterey jack cheese, cubed
- 3 ounces goat cheese, crumbled
- 6 small flour tortillas
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place an 8 inch casserole in oven while preparing the fundido.
- Heat oil in skillet over medium high heat until slightly smoking. Add onion, garlic and pepper and cook for one minute stirring constantly.
- Add chorizo and break up while coooking for about 10 minutes.
- Remove the casserole from oven. Spread the cheeses over hot bottom of dish. Return the dish to oven and bake until cheese is just melted, about five minutes.
- Remove from oven and sprinkle chorizo mixture over top. Return to oven and heat for about three minutes.
- Serve with warmed tortillas.
