Frito Pie...

[shpj4]

Your receipe sounds great but I don't think my stomach is ready for it.

[QSis]

Originally Posted by SizzlininIN

I'd treat it like a taco salad.....with the fritos being your taco shell and the chili being your taco meat.....


I'd add tomatoes, jalapenos, scallions, sour cream and black olives

Yep, treat it like a taco salad (or nachos), and put some good toppings on it, as Sizzlin suggested above. Add avocado, too!

Lee

[Claire]

What fun! Yes, did it quite a bit when travelling the western part of the country. You kick it up by asking for extra peppers or hot sauce.

[SierraCook]

Frito Pie or Chip-N-Chili pie is what my family calls this recipe is my favorite. It is a great comfort food because of the fond memories of making it with my mom. Instead of green chilies you could use diced jalapenos to spice it up. I have included our family recipe below.

Chip-N-Chili Pie

1 tablespoons butter, melted
1 white onion, chopped
1 green onion bunch, chopped
1 (4 oz.) can diced green chilies
5 cups regular size Fritos corn chips
1 (40 oz.) can chili with beans
2 ½ cups shredded cheddar or Monterey jack cheese

Preheat oven to 400ºF. Butter or spray with cooking spray a 2 quart baking dish. Sauté white onion in butter until clear. Remove from heat and stir in green onion and chilies. Crush 4 cups Fritos, coarsely, to make 2 ½ cups. Crush and reserve the 5th cup. Line bottom of dish with half of the crushed chips. Carefully, spread half of the chili over the chips. Layer half of the cheese, press down slightly, and half of the onion/green chile mixture. Repeat layers. Garnish with the reserved cup of crushed Fritos. Bake 20-25 minutes. Serves 6 -8.

[jennH]

Thanks for sharing,SierraCook.That sounds good. ;)

[Michael in FtW]

The "original" Frito-Chili pie was concession-stand food ... made from ingredients readily at hand ... an individual 10-cent bag of original size Fritos (slit down the side with a knife), 3-6 tablespoons hot-dog chili sauce (you generally got more chili sauce late in the 4th quarter or 9th inning), a heaping tablespoon of diced onion, and some grated cheddar. Basically - it was just chili-dog toppings poured over Fritos. These were popular at high-school and professional sporting events until someone came up the idea of "gloppy cheese flavored stuff thinned out so it could be dispensed from a fountain pump over tortilla chips and called them Nachos" at a Texas Rangers baseball game (seems like it was 1978-1985 but I would have to go check to be able to be accurate about the date - but that's where the concession-stand "Nacho" craze got started).

The recipe to layer and bake - that is just going to make the Fritos soggy - and was probably an invention of someone entering a "casserole" cooking contest- being judged by equally clueless people. You need the contrast in textures ...

Get a bag of original size (small) Fritos - put a handfull in a bowl, then top with:

Your choice of chili/chili sauce (with or without beans)
Diced onions
Grated cheddar

Optional additional embelishments might include:
Diced tomatoes
Sliced/diced Japaleno peppers
Sliced black olives
Sour Cream

[TexanFrench]

The frito pie that Michael describes is the one I remember from my younger days. (Bag of chips with stuff added to it.) Not exactly gourmet, but good to share with friends at the game when you are a bit hungry and quite broke.

The plate of nacho-fritos he describes seems to be most popular in places where they expect to sell a lot of beer.

Both generally involve football--either live, or on a big-screen TV--with lots of buddies. (And every Texan knows that football is just about the most important thing in the whole world! Nobody wants to be distracted with food that grabs your attention.)

[cliveb]

My kids are going to love this...

to kick it up a notch ( Hey! Who said that? ), I'd add a good portion of chilpotle chiles in adobo. Or some pickled jalapeños.
OR a fresh mixture of tomato, red onion, lime juice, cilantro and thinly sliced raw green chili ( serrano or cayenne).

[philso]

first thing i'd do is 86 the fritos and fry up some fresh tortilla wedges.

[spdrdr]

Boy, this brings back memories - I had almost forgotton how easy & good this concoction can be. Like Michael, I think baking would just make for soggy fritos - There was (is?) a fast food chain around Nashville called Petros & this was their product.