Extra Bites: Andrea Oskis

The Kitchen Shrink

In this week’s Cooking the Books, psychologist (and How to Cook a Book food writing retreat graduate) Andrea Oskis and her brilliantly titled Kitchen Shrink are all about how the food we eat reveals a lot about how we love.

Here she shares a recipe from the book that we don’t discuss in the podcast, a bonus food moment, just for us.

This recipe is from a chapter in the book called McDonald’s-Eat-Repeat. It’s about a patient who is stuck in a rut, in life and in food: they have eaten exactly the same lunch every day for the last 20 years. To use Nigella Lawson’s words, this story is about when the “comfort of the familiar”, goes to extreme lengths. This recipe also has inspiration from Nigella’s recipe for salt and vinegar potatoes, which made me see how classic crisp flavours punch above their weight in hot potato form.

Serves 2

500g smallish potatoes

1 teaspoon salt

4 tablespoons vegetable oil

4 tablespoons grated Parmesan

3 tablespoons onion granules

Sea salt flakes, to finish

Preheat the oven to 220°C/200°C fan/gas mark 7.

Peel the potatoes, cut them into slices around 5mm thick, then place in a large saucepan with just enough cold water to cover them, along with ½ teaspoon salt. Bring to the boil, lower the heat and cover the pan. Gently boil the potatoes for about 5 minutes.

Drain the potatoes well and leave them in a colander over the pan to steam-dry for a few minutes.

Pour the vegetable oil into a large roasting tin and pop it in the oven for around 5 minutes. While the oil is heating, prepare the seasoning by combining the grated Parmesan, onion granules and remaining ½ teaspoon of salt. Use a fork to mix gently in a small bowl, or put the whole lot into a jar and shake vigorously.

Take the roasting tin out of the oven and add the potato slices to the hot oil. As the slices come into contact with the fat they will sizzle sharply, so take care as you turn the potatoes in the oil. Ensure you have given the slices as much space as possible; they shouldn’t be overcrowded, as they will steam instead of roast and you won’t get crispy edges. Return the tin to the oven and roast them for 20 minutes, then turn the slices over and roast for another 10 minutes.

Now to cheese and onion-ify the potatoes: take the tin out of the oven and sprinkle the slices with the seasoning. Pop them back in the oven for around 5 minutes. The purpose of this final blast of heat is only for the seasoning to stick to the spuds; you don’t want them to become too bronzed.

Remove from the oven and sprinkle the cheese and onion crisp-chips with sea salt flakes. Serve as a side to grilled chicken or steak, or simply eat them on their own.