This chips are so delicious. Good things take time, but they are worth it.
——————————
— Double Cooked Chips (serves 4) —
800g floury potatoes (such as maris piper or king edward)
2 litres groundnut oil or sunflower oil for deep-frying
Flaked sea salt
Your favourite dipping sauce
——————————
Cut the potatoes lengthways into 1cm thick chips, rinse well under cold water for 10 minutes and then drain.
Put the chips into a large pan of cold and lightly salted water, bring to the boil. Turn down the heat and simmer for about 5 minutes until just soft to the point of knife.
Drain and pat dry with kitchen papers. Lay the chips on a tray lined with kitchen papers and allow them to cool. Put them in the fridge until cold.
In the heavy-based saucepan, heat the oil to 130C, and add the chips. Don’t over crowed the pan. Fry chips for about 10 minutes until cook through but not over cooked.
Remove, drain, pat dry and refrigerate the chips until cold.
Heat the oil to 180C and add the chips. Cook until crisp and golden. Drain and sprinkle with sea salt.
Drunken pears for a drunken night.
——————————
— Red Wine Poached Pear Tartlets (makes 8 tartlets) —
4 pears, under-ripe
300ml red wine
250ml water
170g brown sugar
2 whole star anise
1 cinnamon stick
2 wide strips lemon zest
300g ready-made puff pastry
1 tablespoon butter, melted
30g walnuts pieces
30g blue cheese, crumbled
——————————
Peel the pears without removing the stalks. Cut in half and remove the core.
Place the red wine, water, brown sugar, star anise, cinnamon stick and lemon zest in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally to dissolve the sugar. Reduce the heat to low, add the pear and simmer for about 30 minutes until tender.
Remove the pear from the sauce pan, set aside to cool.
Bring the wine liquid to a boil and simmer gently until syrupy.
Preheat oven to 200C / 400F.
Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface and cut out 8 circles (approximately 4 inch dimeter).
Cut the pear into slices, leaving the stalk end intact.
Place the pastry on a baking sheet, arrange the pears in the centre of circles. Brash the rims with melted butter.
Bake for 20-30 minutes until the pastry is risen and golden.
Drizzle with the wine syrup, sprinkle with the walnuts and blue cheese.