A friend passed a comment related to homemade chips subsequent to a photo I recently posted on Facebook. I had never thought to make homemade oven chips. So today I gave it a whirl. It is stupendously simple to do and only adds 5 to 7 minutes extra than cooking from a bag from the freezer.
I used a spud I had to hand, a rooster. But the given wisdom seems to be to use Maris Piper, King Edward or Desirée varieties. I’d recommend one large per person minimum, but what ever you want. Pre heat the oven to 220-230 degrees centigrade. Peel the potatoes, and either use a sharp knife to cut them into chips, or use a potato chipper gadget. These have been around for decades, my mum had one when we were little kids.
Rinse the chips well with cold water and cook them in a pan of boiling water for 2 to 3 minutes. Quickest is to boil a kettle of water while your preparing the chips and power that into the pan, on the hob. Drain them fully and leave to rest for a few minutes. This allows the surface to dry out and fluff up ever so slightly.
You can use ordinary oil to grease an oven tray. I’d use groundnut oil if you have it, rather than olive oil, which burns quicker. I personally decided to try the olive oil spray as it was handy. I’d probably use groundnut in future. Arrange the chips on the oven tray, and drizzle oil across them, use your fingers to make sure they get well covered, but not too much oil. Again I sprayed them after I arranged them on the tray. You can sprinkle them with herbs of your choosing, thyme or rosemary but I just made them plain.
Season well and bake for 30 minutes at the top of the oven, turning once after 15-20 minutes. These really turned out delicious. Light and fluffy inside and crispy on the outside. And much more healthy than supermarket bought chips, which typically have a dozen ingredients besides the chips.
You can also use sweet potatoes for something a little different.
Dave Wilkins 