Potato Chip Potatoes — The Comfort That Outlasts Even Five Thousand Deleted Words

Revisions. The glamorous work of cutting words I love because Clara says the desert chapter is too long. She's right — it IS too long. I wrote seventeen thousand words about Twentynine Palms because the misery was generative. Suffering produces prose. Too much suffering produces too much prose. I'm cutting five thousand words. Killing darlings. Murdering sentences I'm proud of because they don't serve the story. This is the hardest part of writing — not the creating but the removing. Caleb is two and three months and has entered the 'why' phase. Everything is 'why.' 'Time for dinner.' 'Why?' 'Because it's 1800.' 'Why?' 'Because Grandma said so.' 'Why?' 'Because Grandma is in charge of time itself and we do not question her.' The 'why' phase is exhausting and also the most intellectually stimulating thing that's happened to me since Communication Theory at ODU. A two-year-old asking 'why' about dinner is essentially asking 'why do we eat at this time?' which is the central question of my entire book. Why 1800? Why this ritual? Why does it matter? Because, Caleb. Because your grandmother decided, thirty years ago, that 1800 was the time. Because your grandmother held a family together with that decision. Because I'm holding OUR family together with it. Because someday you'll understand that 1800 isn't about the clock. It's about the promise. But for now: 'Why?' 'Because I said so.' Mom called. I told her about the revisions. She had opinions (naturally): 'The pot roast recipe in Chapter Two — you have the oven at 325. My oven is at 300. Which is it?' 'Clara wants me to standardize at 325.' 'Three hundred is correct.' 'Mom, ovens vary.' 'MY oven is at THREE HUNDRED.' This is the editorial process with Donna Abernathy. Every oven temperature is a negotiation. Every recipe is a hill to die on. I compromised: the recipe says 325 with a note that says 'adjust based on your oven.' Mom accepted this with the grace of a woman who has won the underlying argument (her oven IS at 300 and everyone should know it). Made Mom's corn chowder tonight. The one with bacon. Caleb ate the bacon out of the soup and left the rest, which is the most two-year-old thing possible. Revisions continue. The book shrinks and tightens and gets better. Better, not bigger. That's the revision lesson. That's maybe the life lesson too.

Corn chowder was Mom’s idea of a reset button — the meal she made when she needed to stop negotiating oven temperatures and just feed people — and tonight, elbow-deep in five thousand words I was cutting from my own book, I needed that same reset. Potato Chip Potatoes came out of the same instinct: something creamy and warm underneath, something with a little crunch on top, something that doesn’t ask anything of you except that you sit down and eat it. Caleb picked the crispy bits off the top the same way he picked the bacon out of the chowder. Some lessons about toddlers and casseroles you just have to accept.

Potato Chip Potatoes

Prep Time: 20 min | Cook Time: 55 min | Total Time: 1 hr 15 min | Servings: 8

Ingredients

• 3 lbs Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced (about 1/8-inch)
• 1 can (10.5 oz) condensed cream of chicken soup, undiluted
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup whole milk
• 1 1/2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese, divided
• 1/2 cup yellow onion, finely diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1/4 tsp smoked paprika
• 2 cups plain salted potato chips, lightly crushed
• 2 tbsp unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

Instructions

1. Preheat and prep. Heat oven to 375°F. Grease a 9x13-inch baking dish with butter or nonstick spray and set aside.
2. Make the sauce. In a large bowl, whisk together the cream of chicken soup, sour cream, and milk until smooth. Stir in 1 cup of the shredded cheddar, the diced onion, garlic, salt, pepper, and smoked paprika.
3. Layer the potatoes. Add the sliced potatoes to the bowl and fold gently until every slice is well coated with the sauce mixture. Transfer the entire mixture to the prepared baking dish and spread into an even layer.
4. First bake. Cover the dish tightly with aluminum foil and bake for 40 minutes, until the potatoes are just beginning to turn tender when pierced with a fork.
5. Add the topping. Remove the foil. Scatter the remaining 1/2 cup of cheddar evenly over the top, followed by the crushed potato chips. Dot with the small pieces of butter.
6. Final bake. Return the dish, uncovered, to the oven and bake for an additional 15 minutes, until the chip topping is deep golden and the edges of the casserole are bubbling. Let rest 5 minutes before serving.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 340 | Protein: 9g | Fat: 17g | Carbs: 38g | Fiber: 3g | Sodium: 610mg