RSS Feed

I’m back… with Vegetable Crisps (chips)

March 6, 2012 by Tali

It feels like I’ve not blogged in a VERY long time. Because, well… I’ve not.

I got very sick at the beginning of last week which left me bed-bound for a few days and then I found myself struggling to get back into the swing of things.

It was particularly frustrating as I was only 1 week into my 4 week 100% Primal challenge. I had been eating so well and I got sick! How cruel!

Trying to keep to Primal guidelines while in bed and unable to physically move is tough. Particularly when your parents don’t fully appreciate or comprehend what eating Primal actually entails… I managed… somehow. Thankfully Mo came over and made me some chicken soup on Wednesday evening and (as chicken soup is known for doing so) I found I had made a miraculous recovery upon waking Thursday morning. I felt like a completely different person!

But this overly long break from blogging and the real world left me feeling somewhat lost and unsure of where to pick myself up again. Mo suggested we spend the weekend immersed in cooking and trying out recipes we’d been gawking over for a while.

A brilliant idea in theory!

In practice, it left me with an over-whelming number of items I wanted to blog about and share with all of you.

This is:
a) a little daunting
b) giving me a back-log of items I need to photograph
c) delicious!

The photographic element to this blog is really important to me. In my opinion, great food porn photos can really make a website. I personally take pleasure in drooling over other peoples’ excellent food photography, and so that is something I strive to achieve. It’s all a little new to me, and so setting up my shots takes time, and I’m often very restricted by the time of day and particularly the amount of natural light in my house.

By the end of the weekend I had 6 or 7 recipes I wanted to share with you all.

Crazy – I know!

I’m going to split these all up over a few days, for my own sanity and also – to (hopefully) keep you coming back for more!

Let’s start off with vegetable crisps – or chips as you Americans and South Africans like to call them!

I feel I should mention I’m not a massive fan of the potato chip. I might have one or two if they were in a bowl at a party – but I never specifically go for them, I’m more of a sweet-snack kinda gal.

Root vegetable chips on the other hand… well, that is a different story! These are always a welcome, albeit rare, treat, not widely available and pretty pricey when they are. What could be more exciting than crisps/chips in a gorgeous array of colours, made from delicious vegetables such as beetroot, carrots, parsnips and sweet potato!?

Mo and I decided we wanted to make our own! We actually attempted a batch of parsnip crisps at his place a while ago, and they didn’t turn out exactly as planned…

So this was our second attempt – which also involved some other veggies.

First we had to buy a mandoline. You’ll need one of these in order to get those nice super thin and even slices.

We then set to work making the chips/crisps.

Vegetable Crisps

Makes: lotsΒ  Time: 1hr plus

Ingredients
2 Large Parsnips
2 Large carrots
1/2 Butternut squash
2 Beetroots
Olive oil
Salt

  • pre-heat oven to 170-180 C / 340-350 F
  • starting with the lightest colour vegetable – parsnip in this case, (your mandolin will get stained and if you start with the beets, then your other veg will get stained pink). Slice at an angle on the thinnest blade option, attempting to get the largest sized slices possible.
  • using paper towel, dry off as much moisture as possible from the slices. (this is a point I’ve found most recipes fail to mention)
  • place your dried slices in a bowl, pour in 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil, and 1/8 teaspoon salt, mix until all slices are fully coated.
  • lay slices out onto lined baking sheets and place in oven. they should takeΒ  7-10mins to cook, watch them carefully! They are prone to burning easily. They may need to be turned half-way through.
  • once ready, transfer the vegetable chips to a cooling rack.
  • repeat the above procedure for all over veggies. Once all baked, crisped and cooled – Eat and enjoy!Β 
  • store in an airtight container.

These can be enjoyed as a side dish to some tasty meat or fish. Or treat yourself and your guests for an occasional snack with pre-dinner drinks.

Go crazy and try this with any vegetable you like – I would suggest sticking to low water content veggies!

Maybe whip up a tasty dip to serve along side these, like some baba ganouch or tzatziki?

 


20 Comments »

  1. sabryna says:

    hehe love.. Baba Ganouch πŸ™‚ no idea what it is, but do love the name πŸ™‚

    • Tali says:

      haha! Well… If you like aubergine, and garlic, then you’ll love baba ganouch! keep an eye on the site, because the recipe should be appearing very soon!!!

  2. Steph says:

    Tali these look amazing – I’ve made them in a deep fryer before but I love your idea of putting them in the oven… much easier and possibly healthier. Plus you can use olive oil, yum! x

    • Tali says:

      Hey Steph! Yup! Much healthier than the deep fried versions… especially when using a high grade oil! Which would suffer greatly in a deep fat fryer!

  3. Julie says:

    They look beautiful.

  4. Adit says:

    These look amazing! Yum πŸ™‚

  5. Tali, I love, love, your photo of two large roundish vegetables and a very long carrot….. made me laugh. So sweet, or maybe I am just a dirty old lady?? πŸ™‚ p.s don’t change it..

    • Tali says:

      HAHA! Nicole! It must be your dirty mind! I did actually notice what I had done when i was looking through my photos, and it was far too late to make them decent. It was a genuine accident… or blame it on my subconscious!

  6. Those seriously look like veggie chips you could buy at the store… except: they don’t have HIDDEN ingredients on them!

  7. Eugenia says:

    These look great! Also try turnip and rutabaga!

  8. Laycie says:

    Do you peel the root vegetables prior to slicing with the mandaline?

    • Tali says:

      Hey Laycie, I didn’t bother peeling them. I don’t think its worth that hassle – just give them a good wash and get slicing! Let me know how yours turn out!

  9. Holly says:

    These look just like Tyrell Veg crisps you can buy in England! I am a crisp addict so to find something I prefer to crisps that is Paleo friends (ish) is amazing. Love your photo’s! I will be making my own now I know how… thanks x

  10. Amanda says:

    Mine just didn’t crisp up, they were really quite soggy. I actually have the same mandoline that you recommend, what thickness did you do? Also, please do you have any tips to reduce soggyness? I did press them with kitchen roll and got a lot out that way.

    • Tali says:

      Hi Amanda! Maybe try re-baking them once they have cooled down.making sure they are well spaced out on your baking sheet. I sometimes have some left over (rarely) and find that the next day they have lost their crisp. So i just lay them out on a pan and place them in a low-med oven until they have crisped up nicely. Yum!

  11. KAIT says:

    Your food photography is beautiful–it’s what brought me to the site, since I always weed through my Google recipe searches by images. These looked so colorful and tasty! Can’t wait to try them!

  12. […] ‘n nuutjie vir my was die beet en botterskorsie “chips” wat ons as peuselhappie op die Paleo eetplan kan eet. Vir ouers wat sukkel om groente in die […]

Leave a Reply to Steph Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published.