Black Bean Soup Nachos with Eggs

A nice plate of creative nachos never hurt anyone.

Give me a minute now to explain the weirdness. Deep breath. When my family comes to stay, I buy way, way, wah-hay too much food. It stems from the looks my mother gives me when she sees space in my refrigerator, like we might starve. And, yes, I overreact to this, despite years of visits and their aftermath, despite knowing we'll shop at some point for even more food, despite knowing we'll assemble a dinner or two from things that now exist in the cupboard and will afterwards need to be puzzled into the refrigerator. I stuff the appliance to the gills just to avoid that look. It needles me.

This holiday visit, due partly to the abundance of Christmas dinner leftovers and also to the storm that moved in, we skipped several planned meals together. Meals I had shopped for. At Costco, no less. Uh-oh. For a while, it worked out swell. George and I got stuck here too, and ate at the crowd-sized portion of veggie stroganoff that barely fit into a 9x13" casserole. Took a week to polish that off. Midway through, I started the black bean soup, which I adore and George hates. I puree it lightly, keeping it a bit on the chunky side, and then swirl some brilliant green cilantro-lime creme across the top for serving. Doesn't matter what I do to the stuff, George dislikes it. He'll eat it only once. And here I'd made a group portion, crockpot style. So I got creative yesterday, spurred by the desperate knowledge that if I didn't, I would be eating this for two more weeks. The result: eggs poached in leftover soup served nacho style over crushed (nearly stale) chips, made more appealing with cheese and cilantro-spiked sour cream. It was actually delicious. Really. Thick and filling and warm and George really liked it. Ha. Fooled him.

Black Bean Soup Nachos with Eggs
Serves 2

3-4 cups leftover black bean soup
4 eggs
2-3 large handfuls of almost stale chips (you can use fresh, but this is a perfect use for slightly stale leftovers)
1/4 cup grated cheddar
salsa
sour cream
cilantro
lime, optional

Eggs bubbling in a pot of soup? Who knew it would taste so good.

In a wide bottomed pan with a lid, reheat the soup over medium heat. When the soup starts to bubble, add in the eggs, one per quadrant, if you imagine your pan is divided into quarters. Place the lid over the top and let simmer for 5-7 minutes, depending on how well set you like your eggs. In the meantime, crush a handful or so of chips onto each plate, grate your cheddar, and get out your condiments. If you want to make cilantro creme, wash a fat handful of cilantro and whir it in a blender with 1/4 cup of sour cream and a squeeze of lime juice. Easy. Otherwise, just get everything out of the fridge and set it aside.

It doesn't look overly appetizing here, but wait for it...

When the eggs are set, use a spatula to arrange two of them on each stack of chips, then split the remaining soup by pouring it over the plates. Top with grated cheese, sour cream (or cilantro creme), salsa and another handful of chips, if desired. Eat and be amazed that you didn't think of making this before. Make a mental note that you will immediately forget. Move on.

Not bad looking, right?

What's left in the refrigerator, you might be wondering? Well, I was able to freeze a good portion of my stockpile, cheeses and tortillas mostly. Only one head of lettuce remains, and a pile of cauliflower/broccoli/eggplant/mushrooms that I'm roasting as I write this, hoping to toss it into last-minute salads. We're on the last dozen of eggs, thank goodness for holiday baking! To use the milk, we're having biscuits and gravy tonight. Maybe I'll post that later on. Mmmm, biscuits. Happy new year!