root crispsroot crispsroot crispsroot crispsroot crisps

Chips are good… chips are very very good ! When I used to buy chips, I’d buy 7-10 bags at a time, they were large bags, one per day. I stopped buying chips, not the healthiest of snacks, but anyways I’m not a nutritionist, i just cook/bake/fry stuff. I do miss them. But once in a while, when they’re homemade, they become great again, represent a smaller amount of food and a larger amount of time spent making them so obviously an occasional snack and no longer a staple. My outdoor market took place yesterday, the running motors and unloading of the delivery trucks providing me with my bi-weekly 5:00 am wake-up call. I visited one stall that specializes in root vegetables and tubers so I got one of each. One regular potato, one sweet potato, one parsnip, one black radish root, one regular turnip, one golden turnip, one large carrot, one red beet. Slicing and adjusting the slice thickness is enjoyable (when you have a mandoline), then you take a break and let them soak in salty water, then you pat them dry and wait again and then you fry and fry and fry, which is, oddly enough, meditative.

root crisps

20.03.2015

enough for 5-10

ingredients

each vegetable weighed between 200 and 300 grams, for a total of 2 kg

  • 1 large potato
  • 1 large sweet potato
  • 1 black radish root
  • 1 large white turnip
  • 1 large golden turnip
  • 1 large parsnip
  • 1 large carrot
  • 1 large red beet
  • 1 litre olive oil (for frying)
  • 8 tbsp of table salt (for soaking with water)
  • sea salt and ground pepper (to taste)

instructions

  • lay out as many bowls as you have vegetables (don’t mix because the frying time is different for each)
  • dilute the table salt in warm water and pour some at the bottom of each bowl
  • slice all your root vegetables and tubers into 1mm-2mm (1/16 inch) thick slices (I own a mandoline thank goodness)
  • when all is sliced, add cold water and ice cubes to each bowl and lay your different slices in each
  • let sit for an hour and then drain
  • lay out paper towels and place one layer of each vegetable and cover with another layer of paper towels and pat down
  • continue doing this, layering paper towels and slices over the next row of paper towels and slices until there are no slices left
  • let the vegetables sit and dry out a little
  • in a wide pan, heat up 1 litre of frying oil (peanut, sunflower, grapeseed or a mix) until very hot

to test the frying heat required, place one slice in until it starts bubbling, it’s ready then and start frying with the potatoes, then turnips & parsnips & radish, then sweeter vegetables such as carrots and sweet potatoes and end with the red beets.

  • fry each batch of vegetable slices separately by slowly and carefully dropping each slice into the frying oil, do not overcrowd, 6-12 slices at a time
  • keep moving them around and turning them over once
  • when the bubbling slows down and the edges start crinkling and browning, quickly remove them with a large sieve or spider-spoon and place onto apaer towels and sprinkle with sea salt and pepper (not too much salt because they were soaking in salted water earlier)
  • keep frying and lay more paper towels on top of each following layer of fried slices and keep frying your slices and laying them on top of each layer until done
  • let them dry out for 30 minutes and serve
  • if they get softer, place the batch lossely in a deep pan and a hot oven for a few minutes to get crispy again, let them cool down again and serve

recette suivante

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