When I first saw this recipe in an old issue of the Food & Wine magazine it got me really excited. I remember mentally hitting myself on the head for not having ever tried making this before. All my life, I’ve been throwing away potato peel! Never again though… This recipe calls for little besides potato peelings – oil to deep fry, salt and a spoonful or so of parmesan cheese. Having made this, I don’t think I can ever bring myself to throw away potato peelings again! These crisps are SO good, and they’re perfect for parties or when you have friends come over. The original recipe had a chive-sour cream dip to go with the crisps. I had neither to start off with. Being the brilliantly inventive person I am, I managed to make my own sour cream (oh, and it tastes SO much better than the store bought stuff that I’ve decided that it is perfect material for a short post in the future). But there wasn’t anything I could do about the chives. Instead, I played around with the ingredients a bit and ended up throwing in some minced shallots, parsley and celery leaf.

I still can’t believe how good it tasted! The flavors cut through and balance the crisps and were perfect together!

You will need  - potato peelings, salt, neutral vegetable oil, Parmesan, sour cream, parsley, celery leaves, shallots (Which I’ve missed out. I don’t do this on purpose, really), and chili flakes (totally optional).

First peel the potatoes. I would totally recommend using a speed peeler for this step. If you don’t have one, buy one now!

The peelings should be nice and thick (so that the crisps have a nice bite to them), go for about 1 by 3 inch strips, but don’t worry too much if you end up with weird squiggly shapes! I know mine were all like that, and they tasted just as good!

Then, in a saucepan, heat oil to 360 degrees F. While thats happening, mince the parsley and celery leaves.

Fold into the sour cream.

Repeat with shallots. Season with salt and chili flakes. Let it chill for a bit in the refrigerator.

By now the oil should be ready. Fry the potato peels in batches, until they’re light, crisp and golden brown.

Drain on paper towels and sprinkle immediately with salt (I find that it is a good idea to add less than you normally would, because of the salty Parmesan you’ll be adding soon)

Grate some Parmesan. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, spread out the crisps on the paper and sprinkle liberally with the grated cheese. Bake for a few minutes (say 3-5) or until the cheese is all melted and beautifully bubbly. Don’t be greedy and try sampling now, wait until the crisps cool!

Serve the crisps with the cold sour cream dip. I promise you, you’ll never throw away potato peels again!!

RECIPE

(adapted from Food & Wine magazine)

Ingredients

vegetable oil                   –            2-3 cups

potato peelings              -           as many as you have left over from cooking potatoes

salt                                   –            as needed

Parmesan                       –           about 1 tbsp per loosely packed cup of potato peels

sour cream                     –            1/2 cup

parsley                            -             1/2 tbsp (minced)

celery leaves                  -             1/2 tbsp (minced)

shallots                          -             1 tbsp (minced)

chili flakes                    -             optional

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Peel potatoes with a speed peeler. Optimally, the peelings should be thick and measure about 1 inch by 3 inches.

In a saucepan, heat oil to 360 degrees F.

In the meanwhile, mince the parsley, celery leaves and shallots. Fold into the sour cream and season with salt (and chili flakes if you like). Chill in refrigerator.

Deep fry the potato peels in batches until they are crisp and golden brown.

Drain on paper towels and sprinkle immediately with salt.

Grate the cheese.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Spread the crisps on the parchment paper and sprinkle the cheese on the crisps.

Bake for 3-5 minutes until the cheese has melted.

Remove the sheet from the oven and allow the crisps to cool.

Serve with the sour cream dip.