Perfectly Seasoned Chips

  

As I have often said and as anyone who has been reading me for a while knows, the potato is my favourite vegetable. I love them in any way, shape or form. 

One of my favourite of course is chips, or fries as they are also called, and the Perfectly Seasoned Chips/Fries are one of my favourite ways to prepare them.

 

This recipe is a great way of enjoying chips without having to drag out the deep fryer and they turn out crisp and wonderfully favoured every time.  They are little bit spicy and a whole lot of tasty! 

Every now and then I will deep fry chips, but more often than not I will make them this way. I hate the smell that accompanies deep frying and I hate having my house smell like a chippie.

 

You will want to use a nice floury/baking/mashing type of potato for these. My mother always said you couldn't make mashed potatoes with new potatoes, and this is true. 

New potatoes are not ideal for mashed or baked or chips. They are too waxy and the consistency is just not right. You want a "fluffy" type of potato.  

I recommend here in the UK that you use a Maris Piper, or King Edward. In North America a Russet. These will give you the best results.

  

You can peel your potatoes or not as you wish. I love potatoes with the peels left on, so that's how we enjoy them. If they are really washed well (and why would you leave them dirty??) they are perfect with the skins left on.

In a baked potato, my favourite part has always been the skin.  I mean  . . .  who doesn't enjoy crisp "Potato Skins" served with dip. Yumma Yumma!

 

There is a little bit of faffing with these, but not as much as if you were deep frying and I promise you, you will enjoy these every bit as much.

I have never lied to you before and I am not about to start now.  Anyone who has been reading me for a while knows that I don't go in for a lot of faffing about. My goal is to have easy, yet delicious food. Sometimes it can't be helped however and there is a little bit of faff involved.

 

If there is any faffing you know that it will be worth it.  I am basically very lazy so any faff has to be worth it in taste.

I like to cut my potatoes into finger sized chips. No more than about a third to a half an inch in diameter. Skinny fries!  This size will give you the crispest chips!

 

You need to rinse them really well under cold running water to get rid of any excess starch. This is very important.   

Once I have don this,  I like to soak them for about 10 minutes in cold water while I am preheating the oven and getting together the spices I am going to use to season them with.

 

I make my own Old Bay Seasoning for this. (And for other things.) Its so delicious and such a simple thing to do.  I actually make a lot of my own seasonings. You know what is in them and they taste amazing. 

Make Your Own Old Bay Seasoning: Mix together 2 TBS Powdered Bay leaf (do this in a spice or coffee grinder) 2 TBS celery salt, 1 TBS dry mustard powder, 2 tsp ground black pepper, 2 tsp ground ginger, 1 tsp sweet paprika, 1 tsp smoked paprika, 1 tsp white pepper, 1 tsp ground nutmeg, 1 tsp ground cloves, 1 tsp ground allspice, 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper, 1/2 tsp ground mace, 1/2 tsp ground cardamom, 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon. Mix together well and store in an airtight container out of the light for up to 6 months.

 

I use a light olive oil. Not extra virgin olive oil. I save that for salads. Light olive oil works very well.  

It is a waste of a good extra virgin olive oil to use it in cooking things like this. I still use a good name brand, its just not from the first press. You could also use regular canola oil.

 

As you can see they turn out lovely and crisp.  I think these are pretty amazing for not having been fried.

Crisp is very hard to create without frying but it is achievable. You do want to eat them as soon as possible after cooking however and if you layer them up like in this bowl the heat from the chips will start to soften them, so serving them quickly is key.

 

These are beautifully flavoured as well.  I think this is the perfect mix of seasonings. 

When your chips are seasoned well, you don't need anything else. Not ketchup, not mayonnaise, not fry sauce, nothing.  Just the chips are enough.

 

We really love to have chips with our steaks when we do have a steak. (We don't eat red meat very often and when we do I will either have a baked potato or chips.)  

My friend Pat had sent me over some Haupy's Beaver Rub/Seasoning. Oh my but it is sooooo good. A little taste of home. Today I used this on our steaks.

 

I also made us a simple Caesar Salad to enjoy with the steak and chips.  Caesar Salad is my favourite salad. I have a real weakness for Caesar Salad. Like lemon and chocolate, it is impossible for me to resist.  

And so many restaurants get it so wrong!  What's up with that!  Trust me when I say salad is one of the things restaurants do REALLY badly here in the UK.  I have even been served salad with mould growing on the tomatoes.  Who lets somethin glike that leave their kitchen!

 

This was the best meal, as good as any you would get in a restaurant and not a lot of trouble to put together.  Making the chips was the most labour intensive part of the meal.

But I can promise you they are well worth the effort.  WELL worth the effort.  They were just yum, yum, yummy!!

  

These chips are a lot better for you than deep fried chips and your house doesn't smell like a fat fryer when you are done.  That's one thing I really hate about frying . . .  I hate my house smelling like a chippy! 

You really don't get much better than this! I hope you will give them a go and that you enjoy them. If you want your chips even crisper then by all means bake them for a bit longer. It all depends on how hot your oven runs!  Enjoy!

Perfectly Seasoned Chips

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Yield: 4

Author: Marie Rayner

prep time: 20 Mcook time: 35 Mtotal time: 55 M

These are crisp and perfectly seasoned. There is no frying involved as they are baked in the oven. You will need a floury type of potato for these, something like a Russett, Maris Piper, or King Edward would do, or a good all rounder. New Potatoes or waxy potatoes are not suitable.

Ingredients:

• 4 large baking type of potatoes (about 3 pounds)
• 3 TBS light olive oil
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp Old Bay Seasoning (see note)
• 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
• 1 tsp sea salt

Instructions:

1. Wash your potatoes and cut them into chips. I don't bother to peel them as we quite like the skins.  Rinse them under cold running water until the water runs clear to remove any excess starch, then leave them covered in a bowl of cold water for 10 minutes while you preheat the oven and make the seasonings.
2. Preheat the oven to 225*C/425*F/ gas mark 7.  Line two large baking sheets with baking paper.
3. Drain the potatoes and dry them well with a clean kitchen towel. Put them into a bowl and toss them together with the olive oil and the seasonings to coat.
4. Spread the potato slices out onto the baking sheets, leaving plenty of space around each for the air to circulate.  Place one sheet pan on the top rack and the other on the bottom rack and bake for 20 minutes in the preheated oven. Remove from the oven and flip them over. Return to the oven reversing the  top to bottom and bottom to top. Bake for a further 10 to 15 minutes until they are perfectly crisp. 
5. Taste and adjust seasoning as required. Serve immediately.

notes:

Make Your Own Old Bay Seasoning: Mix together 2 TBS Powdered Bay leaf (do this in a spice or coffee grinder) 2 TBS celery salt, 1 TBS dry mustard powder, 2 tsp ground black pepper, 2 tsp ground ginger, 1 tsp sweet paprika, 1 tsp smoked paprika, 1 tsp white pepper, 1 tsp ground nutmeg, 1 tsp ground cloves, 1 tsp ground allspice, 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper, 1/2 tsp ground mace, 1/2 tsp ground cardamom, 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon. Mix together well and store in an airtight container out of the light for up to 6 months.

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