This week, there are two fun events taking place, and both call for a party and some delicious appetizers! Cinco de Mayo and the Kentucky Derby – two events that are culturally unique, both bring family and friends together to enjoy the festivities and, most importantly, to eat and drink. This is a great day to serve a crowd-pleasing appetizer that can feed a large group of people, yet one that allows you to finish most of the prep in advance.
For this recipe, I will be using the Bull pizza oven with half sheet pans to cook the nachos and chicken skewers. When I entertain, I like to get a fire going in my pizza oven even if I am not using it for cooking. It offers great ambiance, and on cooler evenings, keeps my guests nice and warm. In this case, I will be using the fire to cook my appetizer too! The half sheet pan serves as a versatile serving platter for both the chicken and nachos. I can take the gooey nachos from the pizza oven and serve them directly to the guests on the pan. I like to arrange the Bull stainless steel circle kabobskewers on a colorful plate with some salsa and guacamole as sides, but you can serve from the sheet pan as well. Just make sure to remind the guests that the sheet pan is HOT!
Notes from the chef:
- Buy high quality, store bought chips – thick rather than thin. A thicker chip helps the nachos hold up and prevent them from becoming soggy.
- Layer the chips with all the ingredients so no chip is missed with any of the toppings.
- Put the sour cream in a squeeze bottle and in a bowl on the side. The squeeze bottle allows you to squeeze the sour cream on top of the nachos before serving, which is a nice touch for presentation.
- Heat the refried beans the night before and add a little warm water to thin them out. The day of the party, after reheating in a microwave, the beans are easy to spoon onto the chips before placing them into the pizza oven.
- Add some black beans in addition to refried beans for additional flavor and texture.
- In addition to the shredded cheese, add a nacho cheese sauce. The combination of the silky cheese sauce with the melted gooey cheese makes these nachos fully loaded.
- If you are using wooden skewers, soak the wooden skewers in water for a few hours before skewering the chicken. This prevents them from burning or catching fire in the pizza oven and on a grill.
- A fantastic substitution for chicken in this recipe is slow cooking a pork butt or a beef roast. Once the meat is cooked and cooled, shred it and add on top of the nachos.
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Tequila-Lime Chicken Skewers
Author:Amy Aberle-Rogan
Recipe type:Appetizer
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves:6-8
Ingredients
- 2.5 pounds chicken breast, boneless, skinless
- ½ cup freshly squeezed lime juice, about 3 large limes
- ½ cup tequila
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- Bull circle kabob skewers
Instructions
- The day before, in a large glass or plastic bowl, combine the lime juice, tequila, minced garlic, evoo, salt and pepper. Mix together and add the chicken breasts. Cover and place in the fridge for 6 hours.
- Remove the chicken breasts from the marinade, and discard the remainder of the marinade. Cut the chicken into 1 inch strips, and then into cubes.
- Thread the chicken onto the chicken skewers
- Place in a container and store for the following day to cook.
- The day of, take the chicken skewers and place them onto a sheet pan and season with some salt and pepper.
- Get your pizza oven going, and once it has reached 400 degrees, add the sheet pan and let the skewers cook for 20 minutes.
- Once done, remove from the pizza oven and place onto a colorful plate and cover with foil and keep in a warm oven while the nachos cook.
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Amy's Guacamole
Author:Amy Aberle-Rogan
Recipe type:Appetizer
Prep time:
Total time:
Serves:6-8
Ingredients
- 6 each avocados, large, ripe
- 1 small yellow onion, finely diced
- ½ cup cilantro leaves, minced
- 2 tablespoons lime juice
- 3 teaspoons kosher salt
Instructions
- The day of, cut the avocados in half and discard the pit. Spoon out the avocado into a glass bowl, and with a wire whisk, mash the avocado.
- Add the salt, lime juice, finely diced yellow onion and cilantro to the mashed avocado.
- Mix well. Cover with plastic (make sure the plastic is touching the guacamole to avoid it from browning) and place in the fridge until ready to serve.
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Fully Loaded Nachos
Author:Amy Aberle-Rogan
Recipe type:Appetizer
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves:6-8
Ingredients
- 1 (18) ounce bag thick tortilla chips, high quality
- 2 cups nacho cheese sauce
- 1 ½ cups refried beans, thinned out with water
- ¾ cup black beans, from a can, drained and rinsed
- ½ cup diced green chilis, fire roasted
- 2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded
- ¼ cup cilantro, minced
- 2 cups pico de gallo salsa
- 1 cup black olives, sliced
- ¼ cup cojita cheese, finely crumbled
- 2 large radishes, thinly sliced for garnish
- 1 cup sour cream, divided in half. ½ cup for squeeze bottle, ½ cup served in a bowl
- 2 cups guacamole, served in a bowl
Instructions
- On a 9 x 12 inch sheet pan, layer half the tortilla chips.
- Add ½ of the cheese sauce and half of the refried beans.
- Next sprinkle half of the black beans, half the diced green chilis, half the sliced black olives, and finish with half the shredded cheese.
- Layer the remainder of the chips on top of the first layer of nachos and repeat steps 1-3.
- Once the chicken skewers are done, add the nachos to the pizza oven for 10 minutes. The pizza oven at this point should be around 350 degrees.
- To serve, add the pico de gallo salsa, sprinkle the cojita cheese, garnish with the sliced radishes and minced cilantro.
- Serve along with the tequila lime chicken skewers, sour cream and guacamole and enjoy!
♥ Chef Amy
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