I’ve always loved blue corn tortilla chips. I don’t know if it’s my mind playing tricks on me, but I think they taste better than regular tortilla chips. Maybe because they’re less industrial and have more flavor than the corn we get these days? Whatever, the chips taste great and make a delightfully blue canvas for our white cheese sauce and chicken, and (mostly) red fresh pico de gallo salsa. Taking a tip from my other favorite nacho recipe—Mexican street corn nachos—rather than baking the chips with the cheese on them, I’m making the cheese sauce separately. This way the chips have a better chance at staying somewhat firm and crunchy when you eat the nachos. Otherwise they tend to bake into a limp mess. Making a cheese sauce is easy to do with monterey jack cheese. Jack melts beautifully with cream and doesn’t tend to separate like cheddar can. Happy Fourth! Put the shredded cheese in the bowl and toss to coat with the cornstarch. Pour in the heavy cream and milk. Turn on the heat and bring the water in the pot to a boil. Slowly heat up the milk cream cheese mixture until eventually the cheese melts, stirring occasionally until smooth.
