“I am nearly always appalled by the amount of chips I can eat out of a bag without realizing,” writes the North Carolina author Ashley English in her new cookbook, Southern from Scratch. Here, she tops classic, cheesy comfort food with crispy can’t-eat-just-one homemade potato chips.
Mac & Cheese with Potato Chip Crust
Yield: Serves 6 to 8
Ingredients
1 lb. gobetti pasta, or similar short noodle pasta
2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
3 tbsp. butter
3 tbsp. all-purpose flour
2 cups whole milk, warmed slightly
20 oz. cheddar cheese, grated
½ tsp. grated nutmeg
1 tsp. hot sauce
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper
4 large eggs, beaten
1 cup crushed Potato Chips (recipe follows below, or use your favorite variety)
Potato Chips
1½ lbs. russet potatoes (skins on)
½ cup white vinegar
Sea salt
Peanut or light olive oil
Preparation
- Cook the pasta, al dente, according to package instructions. Liberally butter a 9 x 13-inch casserole dish. Set aside. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Warm the olive oil over medium heat in a large saucepan. Add the onions and sauté for about 8 minutes, until browned slightly and fragrant. Add the garlic, and sauté for a couple minutes longer. Transfer to a bowl and set aside.
- Return the pan to the stovetop and melt the butter over medium heat. Add the flour and stir for about 1 minute, creating a roux, until blond and smooth. Little by little, whisk in the warmed milk. Continue to whisk the roux for another 1 to 2 minutes, until smooth and starting to bubble. Add 16 ounces of the cheese and stir until melted and smooth. Stir in the onion mixture, nutmeg, hot sauce, and a pinch of salt. Remove the cheese sauce from the heat, and stir in the eggs until fully combined.
- Combine the cooked pasta and the cheese sauce in the prepared casserole dish until the noodles are evenly coated with sauce. Top with the remaining 4 ounces of grated cheese. In a small mixing bowl, combine the crushed potato chips with a pinch of salt and a few grinds of pepper. Top the casserole evenly with the potato chips.
- Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, until bubbly and golden on top. If desired, carefully broil for a minute if you like a browner top. Let cool for at least 15 minutes before serving.
- For the Potato Chips: Thinly slice potatoes (preferably with a mandoline). Rinse the sliced potatoes with cool water and place in a medium bowl. Cover the potatoes with ice water and pour in white vinegar. Leave to rest for 30 minutes.
- Toward the final 10 minutes of resting time, preheat the oven to 400°F. Place a wire cooling rack atop a large rimmed baking sheet.
- Heat 2 inches of oil to 350°F in a large pot or Dutch oven. Hold the temperature steady. Remove the potatoes from the ice water bath. Place them in a single layer on a kitchen cloth and pat to dry. Evenly lay the slices across the wire cooling rack. Bake the chips in batches for 5 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven.
- In small batches, one layer deep at a time, add the chips to the hot oil one by one so that they don’t stick. Cook the chips for about 6 minutes, until the bubbling starts to slow down and they turn golden brown. With a kitchen spider or slotted spoon, remove the chips to a bowl lined with paper towels. Bring the temperature of the oil back up to 350°F. Repeat the process until all the potatoes have been fried in the oil.
- Gently toss the chips with salt, to taste. Serve the chips immediately, or store in an airtight lidded container or resealable bag and consume within 3 days.
From Southern from Scratch by Ashley English, © 2018 by Ashley English. Photographs by Johnny Autry, © 2018 by Johnny Autry. Reprinted by arrangement with Roost Books, an imprint of Shambhala Publications, Inc. Boulder, CO.Garden & Gun has an affiliate partnership with Bookshop.org and may receive a portion of sales when a reader clicks to buy a book. All books are independently selected by the G&G editorial team.