A College Throwback + Potato Chip-Crusted Chocolate Tart #FoodieExtravaganza

Foodie Extravaganza is where we celebrate obscure food holidays or cook and bake together with the same ingredient or theme each month.

Posting day for #FoodieExtravaganza is always the first Wednesday of each month. If you are a blogger and would like to join our group and blog along with us, come join our Facebook page Foodie Extravaganza. We would love to have you! If you're a spectator looking for delicious tid-bits check out our Foodie Extravaganza Pinterest Board! Looking for our previous parties? Check them out HERE.

This month, we're celebrating chips with Karen of Karen's Kitchen Stories leading the charge. She wrote: "This month's theme is Potato Chips in anticipation of National Potato Chip Day, which is March 14. Make a dish, sweet or savory, that includes potato chips! Or make your own homemade potato chips!"

Let's start with this: I love chips! Given the choice of cookies or a bag of chips, I'll take the chips every time. But, looking through my recipes, I don't cook with them very often. I have made Chipped Abalone with Gochujang Dipping Sauce and used them as an ingredient in Compost Cookies. Most of the time, I guess, I just eat them straight. So, it was fun to actually try to come up with recipes in which to incorporate them.

Getting Chippy
Here's the line-up of other chip recipes.

• A College Throwback + Potato Chip-Crusted Chocolate Tart from Culinary Adventures from Camilla
• Baked BBQ Potato Chip Crusted Pork Chops from Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice
• How to Make Homemade Sun Dried Potato Chips from Sneha's Recipe
• Potato Chip and Roasted Cashew Cookies from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Potato Chip Crusted Salt and Vinegar Baked Cod from Palatable Pastime
• Potato Chip Crust Savory Cheesecake from Food Lust People Love
• Pretzel and Potato Chip Caramel Frosted Cookies from Karen's Kitchen Stories

A College Throwback

When I was a junior in college, I shared a house with three other girls. We each were assigned one night of the week to cook dinner; I was assigned two nights (I guess I loved to cook even then!); and we were on our own for weekends. And as I was the only one with a car, we all piled into my tiny Volkswagen on Sunday afternoons and drove to the grocery store for the week. I actually found a binder of my recipes from way back then.

One of the girls only had one recipe in her cooking repertoire. One. We tried to get her to branch out. But, no, she had mastered that one dish and was going to make it every evening that was her assigned dinner. Each week, she bought: two cans of tuna, one can of cream of mushroom soup, one bag of Lay's potato chips, and a bag of pasta.

Never in my life did I imagine that I would willingly eat Cyn's Tuna Noodle Casserole ever again. But, for Karen's potato chip #FoodieExtravaganza, I just had to do it. But here's the college throwback...with homemade mushroom sauce; I just couldn't bring myself to buy the can of cream of mushroom soup when I looked at the sodium content. Oh, my goodness. The boys laughed and laughed.

Ingredients

• 1 yellow onion, peeled and diced
• 2 T butter, divided
• 1 t olive oil
• 3 C sliced mushrooms (I used brown crimini and shiitake)
• 1/4 C dry white wine
• 2 C chicken broth
• 1 C whole milk
• 1/4 C flour
• 2 t fresh lemon juice
• freshly ground salt
• freshly ground pepper
• 1 T fresh thyme
• 2 cans tuna (prefer wild, line-caught)
• 1 package pasta, whatever shape (I used cavatappi)
• 2 C crushed potato chips (I used Kettle salt & pepper chips)
• 1 C shredded parmesan cheese, divided

Procedure

Preheat oven to 375°F. Butter a baking dish; I used a 9" x 9" ceramic pan.

Melt 1 T butter in olive oil. Add onions and cook until softened and turning translucent, approximately 5 minutes. Stir in mushrooms and cook until they soften, approximately 2 to 3 minutes.

Pour in white wine and bring to a boil. Cook until liquid evaporates. Add in remaining 1 T of butter and let melt. Whisk in the flour, stirring constantly for 1 to 2 minutes until a roux forms. Pour in the chicken broth, whisking until the roux is incorporated and the sauce begins to thicken. Pour in the milk and cook until a thick sauce forms.

Season to taste with salt and pepper. Fold in the fresh thyme and chunks of tuna. Set aside.

Cook the noodles according to the package directions and drain. In a large mixing bowl, stir together the noodles, sauce, and 1/2 C shredded parmesan. Turn the mixture into the prepared baking dish and press the top flat. Toss the crushed chips and remaining cheese together and sprinkle evenly over the noodles. Bake until the top is crisp and the sauce is bubbling, approximately 20 to 30 minutes.

Serve hot with a green salad on the side.

Potato Chip-Crusted Chocolate Tart

While I typically go savory for recipes, when faced with the potato chip challenge, I immediately began thinking about how to make something sweet. I'm strange that way, I suppose! So I tried my hand at a chocolate tart with a potato chip crust.

Ingredients

Crust

• 2 C crushed potato chips
• 2 C ground almonds
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 5 T melted butter
• 1/2 t pure coffee extract

Tart Filling

• 1-1/2 C organic heavy cream
• 12 ounces of bittersweet chocolate, chipped
• 1/4 C butter, cut into cubes
• 1/2 t pure coffee extract

Procedure

Crust
Preheat oven to 350°F.

To prepare the crust, pulse the potato chips in a food processor.  Combine 2 C chips in a large mixing bowl with the flour, ground almonds, melted butter, and coffee extract. Press into bottom and sides of a 9-inch tart pan with a removable base.  Bake in preheated oven until golden brown, approximately 10 to 12 minutes. Let cool on a rack for at least 20 minutes.

Tart Filling
In a medium saucepan, bring the cream to a simmer. Remove the pan from the heat and add in the chocolate. Make sure the chocolate is completely submerged in the hot cream. Let sit for three minutes, then whisk till smooth. Stir in the butter and extract.

Pour the filling into the pre-baked tart and let cool. Refrigerate. To serve, let the tart soften slightly at room temperature before slicing.

That's it for chips! Join us next month as we celebrate all things garlic. Oh, my husband's inner vampire is going to be so unhappy.