Tostitos Artisan Recipes – Southwest Mac-n-Cheese

As a featured publisher with Foodbuzz, I’ve opted to participate in their tastemaker program. The program allows me to sample new foods, create recipes and enjoy new products. I recently received 2 bags of Tostitos newest tortilla chips – their Artisan Recipes Roasted Garlic & Black Bean and Fire-Roasted Chipotle flavors.

My friend Michelle and I decided to incorporate the chips into several recipes for a small get together at her house.

We could not wait to dive into the bags to try the chips. They were great. You could definitely taste the garlic and the black bean flavors – our wheels started turning. With a shopping list in hand, I set off to purchase ingredients to create a Southwest Mac-n-Cheese dish.

Ingredients:
1 lb. Elbow Macaroni
1/2 Medium Yellow Onion
4 Cups Milk
4 Tablespoons Flour
4 Tablespoons Butter
6 Dashes Tabasco Sauce
1 Teaspoon Salt
1 Teaspoon Ground Mustard
1 lb. Monterey Jack Cheese
10 oz. Manchego Cheese
10 oz. Oaxaca Cheese
16 oz. Package of Frozen Corn
1 Can Black Beans
1 7 oz. Can Diced Green Chili Peppers

Topping Ingredients:
3 Giant handfuls of Tostitos Artisan Recipes Roasted Garlic & Black Bean Chips
5 oz. Cotija Cheese
2 Generous Handfuls from a Cilantro Bunch – use the top portion of the bunch
1/2 Stick of Butter

Directions:
1.  Cook elbow macaroni in a large pot of boiling water – remove just  before it becomes al dente.
2.  In a large saucepan, (This was our mistake – our pan was too small) melt butter and add onions. Cook until onions become soft. Whisk flour and stir vigorously (This was mistake #2 – we didn’t use a whisk and didn’t stir vigorously).
3.  Add milk, tabasco, salt, ground mustard and cook until thick and bubbly – about 5-7 minutes (Mistake #3, we didn’t let the milk mixture cook long enough).

4.  Add grated jack, manchego and oaxaca cheeses until completely melted (Mistake #4 – we added the cheese too fast and the pan was too small – so we had a hard time getting the cheese to melt into a creamy consistency) – definitely not a low fat recipe ;).

5.  Add your black beans, corn and diced chili peppers to the macaroni and stir. Then add your cheese mixture and stir again. We used one of Michelle’s stones –  a deep, rectangle baking dish –  and we still had enough to do a few individual ramekins for the photos. The recipe could easily feed 12-14… SO MUCH Mac-n-Cheese – thank God it tasted really good!

6. Use a food processor to create the topping. Add your 5 oz. of graded Cotija cheese, 3 giant handfuls of chips, and 2 generous handfuls of cilantro into the food processor container and pulse until you get a breadcrumb consistency. Then add 1/2 stick of melted butter to the topping mixture and stir gently. Top casserole dish or ramekins with the tortilla chip topping and place into the oven.

7. Full Casserole –  Bake at 350 degrees F. for a good 35-45 minutes. The small ramekins will take a lot less time.

It was fun creating a new recipe with Michelle and it seemed to be a big hit with everyone. It’s a good thing, because there were enough left overs to last a month, ha! We also created a chicken recipe with the Fire-Roasted Chipotle Chips – I’ll post that later this week. You definitely could just use the mac-n-cheese add-ins and topping along with any basic macaroni and cheese recipe. You could even spice up the boxed versions if you are short on time. Even though we made some mistakes during the “roux” process, the dish still turned out to be really tasty.

By themselves or in a recipe, I loved the flavors of  both Tostitos Artisan Recipes Chips.

Disclaimer: As a member of the Foodbuzz Tastemaker Program, I received the two bags of chips at no cost to me.  I was not compensated beyond the 2 bags of chips and I was asked to share my experience on my blog.