Irish Nachos

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

I started with the bacon, slicing it and frying it up in a pan over medium heat. Once it’s crispy, remove it from the pan and set it aside on a paper towel. Pour off all but 1 Tablespoon of the bacon grease, but save the extra for frying the potatoes later. Next I tossed the thinly sliced jalapeno in the pan and just warmed it up and softened it up. You could also use pickled jalapenos if you prefer. Put these aside as well.

Next pour the reserved bacon grease back into the pan and fry your potatoes over medium heat. If you forgot to save it, just use olive oil instead of bacon grease, no problem. I had to do them in two batches to fit in the pan. Season them generously with salt, pepper, and garlic salt. Don’t be stingy here since potatoes tend to suck up the seasoning. After the potatoes get a little crust on them (about ten minutes), transfer them to a baking sheet and bake for about 25 minutes or until they are cooked through.

While the potatoes are cooking, mix the sour cream, milk and ranch dressing mix. It should be a little thinner and a little milder than Ranch dressing.

Once the potatoes are cooked, it’s time to assemble the nachos! Put the potato cubes in a bowl and drizzle a good amount of the ranch sour cream over them. It’s key to put the ranch on second so it incorporates all the way through to the potatoes on the bottom. Next put on the jalapenos, as few or as many as you like, and the bacon as well. Top with cheese and then zap it in the microwave for about 60 seconds or until the cheese is melted. It’s probably better to do this in the oven, but my dishes aren’t oven safe. If yours are, go for it with my best wishes.

Garnish with the green onions and serve! It’s not really Irish, and they aren’t exactly nachos either. But sinfully good? Yes. Creamy, crunchy, comforting? Yes. Yes. Yes.