Jasper’s Maytag Blue Cheese Chips

This is the first non-Tartine cookbook dish I've posted. It is so good I just had to share. I just had to! For a fairly recent blue cheese convert, this is heaven on a chip. And my bias towards the Iowa-made Maytag Blue made these chips even more enticing. But this wasn't the first time I've had these chips. The first time I had them was at a local restaurant called Jasper's. Technically it's not "local-local," but it originated in Texas and only has four or five restaurants in the state.

I have craved these chips off and on for the past year. Jasper's isn't an inexpensive restaurant, so it's not the type of place you dash off to whenever you crave their food. Therefore I decided to google the recipe. And what do you know: Jasper's shared this recipe with Austin's paper before I ever tasted these lovelies.

Valentine's Day seemed like the perfect time to try this recipe out. I have no idea why I thought this dish was going to be difficult. Now that I've made it and reread the recipe I must say this is such a simple and delicious appetizer that it could be my go-to recipe when we have last-minute company. (It doesn't hurt that I usually keep a pretty little wedge of Maytag Blue in the refrigerator). Because this recipe is so simple I'm actually going to share it. Enjoy!

1 cup heavy cream + cornstarch (for slurry)
1 cup blue cheese, crumbled
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 teaspoons cracked black pepper
4 cups potato chips, non-ruffled, thick cut
1/4 cup Maytag blue cheese, crumbled fine
1/4 cup chives, snipped

Bring cream to a simmer in a medium saucepan. Thicken with cornstarch slurry (a mixture of cornstarch and cold liquid mixed together until smooth). Blend in blue cheese using a blender. Season with lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Strain through chinois (AKA: a fine strainer).

In a heat-resistant bowl, warm potato chips in a 350-degree oven. Remove chips from oven and add warm cream sauce. Toss gently until all the chips are evenly coated. Place in a serving dish and sprinkle with crumbled Maytag and chives. Combine. Note: The chips cool and deteriorate very quickly. Serve immediately. Serving smaller batches more frequently will yield better results.

Notes:

• This serves 8, but, um, Brad and I were able to polish off the entire thing.
• I used Kettle no-salt chips. I highly recommend a low or no-salt chip due to the salty nature of the cheese.
• The cornstarch slurry wasn't very straight-forward. I used 2 tsp. cornstarch to 2 tsp. water, but in reality I probably should have used 2 tsp. of the cold heavy cream. The water worked out fine though.
• I needed about 1/3 of a pound of blue cheese for the entire recipe.
• Make sure you crumble the blue cheese for the topping very fine. I didn't spend too much time on this and when I got a big crumble it was a bit overwhelming.
• I didn't use all of the cream sauce. I had about 1/2 cup left. This was nice because we got to have chips the next day!