January's Nachos Of The Month: Green Goddess Nachos (PHOTO)

We really love nachos. How much? So much that we eat them at least once a month. So much that we're not content with normal nacho fixings, and have branched out into more creative territory. So much that we want it to seem totally normal to eat nachos for dinner. In order to push our unrepentant nacho agenda, we've decided to start cooking up Nachos of the Month. Because you deserve them, and so do we.

January does not seem like a month in which you should be eating nachos. It's juice cleanse month. It's salad month. It's how-much-kale-can-one-person-eat month. Until now. For January's Nachos of the Month (and the inaugural Nacho of the Month, for that matter), I knew I was going to have to appeal to your conscience. I was going to have to give you greens. I was going to have to give you the illusion of nutrition. I was going to have to give you Green Goddess nachos.

For those of us who grew up between the late '70s and late '80s, the name Green Goddess is probably pretty familiar. Invented in the '20s in a San Francisco hotel, this herbaceous dressing had a comeback during the Reign of Ranch, but never quite managed to best it. I decided it would make a perfect topping for nachos made with kale, spinach, artichokes and the ever-detoxifying wonder combo of garlic and chiles. If you forget that the base of this dish is tortilla chips and cheese, you can kind of think of it as a salad.

For the dressing, I used Simply Recipes' excellent Green Goddess Dressing recipe, which I thinned with a few tablespoons of milk so that I could dispense it from a squeeze bottle at the end. If I were to do it again, I'd change the ratio to 1 cup sour cream and 1/2 cup of mayo, just because I think it could have used a little extra tang and acidity against the richness of the cheese. Also, these nachos would really, really benefit from some diced avocado thrown into the mix after they come out of the oven.

January's Green Goddess Nachos

• Simply Recipes' Green Goddess Dressing (I made a full batch, but only used half)
• 1 Tbsp butter
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 2 shallots, diced
• 3 serrano peppers, seeded and diced
• 3-4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 bunch Tuscan kale, shredded
• 5 oz. fresh spinach, roughly chopped
• 1 8.5oz. can artichoke hearts, drained and chopped (squeeze as much liquid out of them as possible)
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 1/4 cup white wine
• 8 oz. Monterey Jack, grated
• 3 green onions, thinly sliced
• 1 9 oz. bag tortilla chips

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
2. Melt the butter and olive oil over medium-high heat until foam subsides, and cook the shallots with a pinch of salt until they are soft and translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the serrano peppers and garlic, and cook until fragrant -- about 3 minutes more.
3. Add the kale to the pan and sauté for a few minutes, until it releases some its moisture and the pan gets dry again. Add the spinach and do the same. Deglaze with the lemon juice and wine, and let simmer until the liquid has evaporated. Fold in the artichokes and turn off the heat.
4. Arrange half the chips on a small sheet pan, top with half the cheese and half the greens. Layer the second half of the chips on top, then the rest of the cheese and the rest of the greens.
5. Bake until cheese is melted and bubbling, 10-15 minutes. Top with sliced green onions and Green Goddess dressing. Eat immediately.

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