Mexican ‘Fondue’ with Chorizo & Tomatillo Salsa

When you are grilling for guests, people are always hungry before the food is ready so I’m always on the prowl for good appetizers to keep the wolves at bay while I’m finishing on the grill.

I had some Mexican chorizo sausage that I needed to use tonight and wanted to try something I had not made before. I decided to try this dish that I saw on Serious Eats a while back.

Mexican ‘Fondue’ with Chorizo & Tomatillo Salsa

adapted from Serious Eats

4 ea flour or corn tortillas

1 1/2 cup monterey jack cheese, shredded

1/2 cup queso Cotija, aneejo, or manchego, grated

1/2 lb Mexican chorizo

tomatillo salsa

1 avocado, sliced

Cut each tortilla into 6ths with a pizza cutter. Spray or brush lightly with olive oil and bake 7 minutes in a 400f oven until crisp.

Crumble and brown the chorizo in a hot skillet. Drain.

Reduce oven heat to 375f. In a small oven proof dish, spread half the cheese and bake until the cheese begins melting, about 5 minutes.

For the manchego, I used Cumberland cheese from local Locust Grove Farm. It is their manchego cheese base with green peppercorns, sweet red chili’s, onion, garlic, and ginger. Yeah, how awesome is that?

Top with the cooked and drained chorizo. Top that with the rest of the cheese mix. Bake for another 5-7 minutes until the top layer of cheese is melted.

Finish for a minute under a broiler but we forgot that part.

Serve with the tomatillo salsa, chips, and avocado.

While the flavor was very good, I would have liked for the texture to be a little more “saucy”. Next time I’d probably take half of the cheese and melt it into a white sauce to make a cheese sauce to pour over the chorizo and cheese.