Having checked my recipe for Oven Baked Chips I can take a sigh of relief as I've not tripped myself up with my own words. I did state at the time and still stick by the fact that the best chips are fried although I for one am not a fan of deep fat frying, that said until I bought a Tefal Oleoclean deep fat fryer as they 1) come with a lid 2) make the filtering, reusing, and general handling of the oil easy peasy. Come Xmas time all I wanted on the big day was steak and chips, so what better treat myself than to make some twice fried chips. Now I know it may seem odd that you fry the same thing twice but when it comes to chips it's essential, the reason being that the first fry cooks the chips and the second fry crisps them up. Now it is possible to do the first fry way ahead of the crisping/commencement of the face stuffing, so you don't need to worry about having to content with a frying production line if you have other things going on in the kitchen. The one word of warning either way though is be careful! Be careful with the oil, and be careful if you get into a fight with someone over the last chip as they are seriously yummy.
Serves 2 (or 1 greedy guts)
Hands-on Time 15 minutes plus resting
Cooking Time 11 minutes
Ingredients
4 Potatoes, large
3 Sprigs of rosemary
1 tbsp Sea salt flakes
Vegetable or sunflower oil
Equipment
Vegetable peeler (optional)
Sharp knife
Bowl
Pestle and mortar or coffee grinder
Tea towel
Deep fat fryer
Baking sheet lined with kitchen paper
Peel the potatoes if you don’t want chips with skins on.
Cut the potatoes into 3-4 length-wise discs approx. 2 cm thick. Cut the discs into chips about 2 cm wide, you should be able to get 3-4 chips per disc.
Fill a bowl with tap water and pop the potatoes in and soak for at least 30 minutes.
Strip 3 sprigs of rosemary and add to a pestle and mortar along with the sea salt flakes. Grind until you have a fine dust. Use a coffee grinder if you don’t have a pestle and mortar.
Drain the potatoes and pat them dry using a tea towel.
Preheat the oil in a deep fat fryer to 160°C/320°F.
Pop thew chips into the fryer basket and gently lower into the oil. Carefully shake the basket to stop the potatoes from sticking as they start to cook and leave to fry for 7 minutes.
When the time is up give them another little shake before lifting the basket up and giving another careful shake to rid any oil.
Tip the chips onto kitchen paper to absorb any excess oil. The chips should be a light golden colour with a slight skin on the outside.
Increase the temperature of the oil to 190°C/375°F. Pop the chips back into the basket and following the above steps fry them until golden. This will take 2-4 minutes depending on your crunch and golden preference. Again lift the basket out of the oil when they are to your liking, give a gentle shake and again tip out onto the kitchen paper.
Tumble the chips into a clean bowl and shake the rosemary salt over them. Toss until coated. Use forks to toss them if they are too hot/you don’t have asbestos hands.
Serve and enjoy!
