whine & dine

So I’ve got a couple of new toys (and possibly another one coming soon *crosses fingers*), of which 2 belong in the kitchen – my Tefal Pro Fry deep fryer (which I have no idea how I lived without before this), and my Cuisinart ice cream maker. Now, I don’t know about you, but it seems only logical that when two really awesome, sexy kitchen toys appear within 24 hours of each other, there must be an underlying message: Deep Fried Ice Cream.

A friend of mine came over today, and we attempted to make this seemingly illogical, yet ridiculously satisfying dessert. It seemed easy enough – form 4 scoops of ice cream at least 2 hours in advance, and freeze them on a tray lined with baking paper so that they turn rock solid (preferably homemade ice cream, since this freezes harder than the conventional store-bought variety), then coat them in a simple batter made from 55g self-raising flour, a tbsp of baking powder, an egg and an egg yolk, and a tbsp of icing sugar. Dredge the scoops of ice cream in a quarter cup of icing sugar whisked together with a tbsp of cornflour, then coat thickly in the batter, and deep fry at 190°C for a minute, until the batter is golden brown.

For some reason, though, the batter didn’t stick to the ice cream. We scratched our heads – while eating the deconstructed deep-fried ice cream (still very yummy) – and tried to figure out if there was too much/little icing sugar, or if the batter was too thick/thin. I imagine the batter was a bit too thick; one or two extra tbsps of water should have done the trick. Ah well. We’ll try again another day.

However, not all was lost. I bought a couple of sirloin steaks from the supermarket to make a quick dinner for the bunny and I, and instead of the mashed potato I usually pair this with, I decided to make chips! Following Heston Blumenthal’s much-lauded method for chips triple-cooked to perfection, they indeed turned out as close to potatoeyperfection as I’ve gotten. They went awesomely with the steaks, grilled to a juicy medium-rare. Especially when we used the chips to mop up all the resting juices that had seeped out onto the plate.

Heston Blumenthal’s Triple-Cooked Chips
(adapted from Waitrose Food Illustrated, Issue #94)

3 large potatoes (he recommends using Maris Piper, but I had a bag of Russets in my larder), peeled and chipped (roughly 2cm batons)
sea salt
vegetable oil for deep frying

Soak the chipped potatoes in a large pan of cold water for 30 minutes to remove the excess starch. Rinse the chips, then place in a large saucepan with cold water, salt it well, and bring to the boil. Boil for 8-10 minutes, or until you can insert a knife into the largest chip easily. Rinse under cold, running water to arrest the cooking, then pat dry with kitchen paper, and place on a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper and cool in the freezer for 30 minutes.

Heat the oil in a deep pan or in a deep fryer to 130°C. Remove the chips from the freezer, pat dry with kitchen paper, then deep fry in small batches for 4-6 minutes, until they just start to colour. Drain, and continue cooking the rest of the chips in batches, before cooling them in the freezer for another 30 minutes. Alternatively, you can prepare up to this stage a day ahead and freeze the chips overnight.

For the final cooking, heat the same oil to 180°C and again, lower small batches into the oil for 2-3 minutes or until crisp and golden. As they come out of the fryer, drain on kitchen paper, and give each batch a good sprinkling of sea salt. Serve immediately. (Serves 2 very generously.)