Bacon Blue Cheese "Potatchos"

The gluten allergy thing has been pretty easy to tackle when we eat at home.  When we leave the house is when I run into issues.  We celebrated our last tailgate of the season at the end of November and Mr. Devilish Dish made his famous Green Chile Stew.  Since beer is one of the ingredients I could not eat any.  Normally I make sure to pack my own gluten-free treats for these occasions, but we had out of town guests and had just celebrated Thanksgiving.  I totally dropped the ball.  My Devilish Nephew was wandering around the OU campus, so I texted him to find bring me some sort of gluten free option from one of the local restaurants.  He showed up with a to-go box with the yummiest potato chip nachos I've ever tasted.  They featured freshly fried chips, topped with bacon, blue cheese, scallions and sour cream.  A really delicious treat, that I decided to re-create at home.  We opted to create a creamy blue cheese sauce, which really complimented the salty bacon crumbled and freshly chopped green onions. All of this goodness atop a pile of crispy homemade potato chips.  A really clever alternative to traditional nachos, and a great gluten free option too! 

Move over traditional nachos.
Make room for "Potatchos"

Soak the thinly sliced potatoes in cold, salted water.

Fry in small batches until crisp and golden.

Season the chips lightly with sea salt.
Is there anything better than a homemade
potato chip? So good!

Melt the cream cheese and milk,
adding the blue cheese crumbles.

Drizzle the blue cheese sauce over the chips.
Sprinkle with bacon pieces, green onions,
and blue cheese crumbles.

A wonderful savory snack.
And gluten free too!

Bacon Blue Cheese "Potatchos" 
featuring homemade potato chips:

3 large russet potatoes
3 tablespoons iodized salt
5 cups cold water
oil for frying
sea salt 
1 (3 ounce) package cream cheese
1/2 cup whole milk
1 (4 ounce) package blue cheese crumbles, divided
6 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
4 green onions, chopped

To prepare the potato chips, scrub the potatoes and thinly slice. (I used a mandolin-style slicer.) Dissolve the 3 tablespoons of iodized salt in 5 cups of cold water in a large bowl.  Soak the potato slices in the water for 30 minutes.  Drain and rinse, then fry the potatoes in small batches in hot oil at 375 degrees F until crisp.  Drain onto a platter lined with paper towels and lightly season with sea salt.  In a saucepan over medium heat, add the cream cheese and milk, stirring occasionally until cheese is melted an smooth.  Add half of the blue cheese crumbles, and continue heating until blue cheese has melted. Remove from heat and allow to cool and thicken slightly.  To assemble the "potatchos", place the potato chips on a large platter.  Drizzle the blue cheese sauce evenly over the potato chips.  Sprinkle with the crumbled bacon, chopped green onions and the other half of the blue cheese crumbles.  Serve and enjoy.

Prep Time:  Approximately 40 minutes     Cook Time:  Approximately 15 minutes