Oven roasted vegetable chips

 
Did you think this was going to be one of those posts that was all virtuous and healthful, about the combination of comfort food chippery and rustic goodness of vegetables.  Well, don't get too excited, because the key to these vegetable chips is duck fat.  Sorry vegetarians.  But duck fat makes the BEST roast vegetables ever.  And while it is, undeniably, fat from a duck, you only use a smidgen so your arteries can stay mostly clear.

Ingredients:

• Sebago potato
• Parsnip
• Purple carrot (or any other root vegetables of your choice)
• Duck fat
• Salt and pepper to season

Set your oven to about 200 C.  Scrub your vegetables.  I don't bother peeling them, the skins are yummy and fibrous - why waste them?  This dish also introduced me to the delights of purple carrots.  At first it looked like the hoary old man of the vegetable kingdom, but then I chopped it open and couldn't help but marvel at its beauty!

So, chop your vegetables into chip sized pieces, and put them all in a bowl.  Then put a teaspoon sized scoop of your duck fat in a ramiken, and zap it in the microwave for about 20 seconds.  It will turn into a clear liquid.  Pour the duck fat over the vegetables and season with lots of salt and pepper (or you know, less, if you regulate these things).  Toss in the bowl until they are evenly coated.

Then scatter your vegetables into a pre-heated tray and place in the oven.  After 30 minutes, turn the vegetables, and return to the oven for another 20 mins or until crispy all over.  And that's it. Consume!

Potato and Leek Tart

Ingredients:

• potatoes - 5 small or 3 large
• 2 leeks
• mustard (your preference, I use French or Dijon)
• 1 egg
• 1 block of gruyere, grated
• a small amount of parmasen cheese, grated
• shortcrust pastry (make your own, or if in a hurry, use frozen sheets)

Boil the potatoes until just cooked and still firm (the same consistency you might use for a potato salad). Thaw the pastry sheets and line a greased, fluted pie or tart dish with the pastry, and trim the edges. Line with dry rice or beans and blind bake for 10 minutes or so, the packet will specify the time.  If I don't have beans I sometimes line with foil and blind bake at about 200 degrees - it's not perfect but it's pretty good. While the pastry is in the oven and the potatoes are boiling, thinly slice the leeks and and sautee in butter or olive oil until soft.


Once the potatoes are cooked, run under some cold water to cool them quickly, then slice in half longways, then in half centimeter slices (half moon shaped). 


Mix together the leeks, potatoes, raw egg and half the gruyere cheese with some salt and pepper. Be careful to mix carefully so the potatoes do not turn to mash. 


Spread a generous layer of mustard over the floor of the pastry, then spoon over the potato and leek mixture and spread it to the edges. Cover with the remaining gruyere and the parmasen and bake for a further 15 or 20 minutes, until the top is browning. 


Devour.

Potato and Silverbeet Salad

Potatoes      Cut to your preferred size or use tiny potatoes straight from your garden. Boil and cool.

Silverbeet                           as much as you like
Pickled Peppers                as much as you like
Anchovies                           a couple
Capers                                  a few
Nutmeg                               a pinch
Lemon                                  a squeeze
Pepper                                 a bit

Fry it all up in a little olive oil up then set aside.

Fry some more anchovies and mix with;
Mayonnaise                       a little
Yoghurt                                a lot

Combine all ingredients and enjoy!