Team Fremont.com-The Gamer's Gourmet Review

The Gamer's Gourmet

Chef Scott Hass is a longtime, dear friend of us here at Team Fremont. Not a lot of people are or know gourmet chefs, so we asked Chef Hass if he could periodically whip up some quick, easy, and delicious recipes for our readers. Fortunately, he agreed to occassionally take time out of his hectic schedule to pass on some of his knowledge. These dishes are intended to be easy to prepare, yet give you something special to serve to your gaming friends while you're playing Halo 2 or just hanging out.

If you have any questions for Chef Hass, feel free to send us an email and we'll pass it along.

A couple of years ago I, as many of you are today, was a video game couch potato. Before I even sat down to play, I had a ritual that I went through. Everything had to be in its place for me to kick maximum video ass. In the culinary world this is called “mise en place”. One of the things that really threw my whole game out of whack was being hungry, walking to the fridge, and finding nothing but shriveled up hand me downs from yesterday’s barbecue party.

Pizza delivery is just too damn spendy to make any sense on a day-to-day basis. I would also be surprised to find a gamer’s fridge that does not have this leftover delicacy hiding in the back ready to shrivel up into dust. It also takes up to an hour sometimes to get a pizza delivered to the living room these days.

In this issue I will show you how to turn yesterdays BBQ leftovers into today’s Gamers Gourmet!

The recipe I have put together for this issue is for Chili cheese dog nachos using either leftovers from the barbecue from yesterday or if you didn’t do any grilling the day before it’s also very easy to do with trip to the grocery store ingredients (not as rewarding or fun, however,) so here it is:

Chili Cheese Dog Nachos

For the chili:
2# ground beef (leftover hamburgers work great for this in the food processor on pulse)
16 oz can of red kidney beans
16 oz can of pinto beans (leftover baked beans are a great substitute here too)
16 oz can diced tomatoes
4 oz can ancho chilies
1 medium sized Vidalia onion diced ¼ inch (leftover onions are fine here too)
½ can domestic beer
1 pack of hot dogs (leftover grill dogs are great for this) cut ¾ inch
½ cup of chili powder
2 tbsp. garlic powder
2 tbsp. cumin
2 tbsp. coriander
1 tsp. cinnamon
tt salt
tt cayenne pepper

For the nachos:
1 bag of unflavored tortilla chips
1 bunch chopped scallions
6 oz grated cheddar cheese
3 oz sour cream

To begin, grab a large saucepot and add the ground beef. If the ground beef is already cooked, you obviously don’t need to brown it. But if it is raw then you should cook off most of the fat. After this has been done, pour off the excess grease and add the coriander, cumin, and garlic powder and mix it through the meat. Then add the onion and the ancho chiles and let them caramelize. After the onions have turned a nice shade of brown you now want to pour in the beer and scrape all the stuff stuck to the bottom of the pot back into the mix. This is called “deglazing”. Now it is time to add the tomatoes and both kinds of beans to the pot. Mix it thoroughly with the chili powder and add the hotdogs to the pot. Let it simmer for 20 minutes on a very low flame. Now comes the part where you have got to let your taste buds be your guide.
Season with salt pepper and cinnamon to your liking.

When the chili is finished, it is time to top the nachos. Get a large platter and place the tortilla chips on top just covering one layer. Pour chili over the first layer of chips and recover with a second layer. More chili on the second layer of chips and cover with a third layer. Top this layer of chips with more chili and top the chili with cheese, sour cream, and scallions.

Serve and enjoy!

Copyright2005 Chef Scott Hass

Article By: Chef Scott Hass