Author Notes
"If you are one of the fad-resistant few who have either never bought a spiralizer or don’t even know what one is, stop reading now. Don’t give it another thought. But, mindful of the several tons of spiralizers lying dormant in kitchen cupboards up and down the length of the country, I have found a new use for them. While you will never find me making zoodles or allowing any other vegetable to masquerade as pasta, I can say this for my spiralizer: it does make very fine shoestring fries."
—Nigella Lawson
Excerpted from At My Table (Flatiron Books, 2018). —Food52
Ingredients
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1 pound
potatoes, such as Yukon Gold, peeled
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4 cups
vegetable oil (approximately, more/less as needed)
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2 pinches
Sea salt flakes or kosher salt, to taste
Directions
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Spiralize your peeled potatoes using the fine round cutter—all machines come with their own instructions—so that you have skinny coils of potato. Divide them into three equal piles on a clean tea towel and wrap them in it to absorb excess moisture.
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Get out a baking sheet and a large plate and line both with a double layer of paper towels. Set both by the stove. Preheat the oven to 250F.
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Pour the oil into a wide saucepan—I use one of 9 inch diameter, and don’t advise you go any smaller—to come up about 1 ¼ inches deep and heat the oil until a cube of bread sizzles when dropped into it.
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When the oil is hot enough, carefully drop in the first batch of potato coils and fry for 5-6 minutes, stirring them gently with tongs or a mesh ladle from time to time, to make sure they aren’t sticking to the bottom. Once golden brown, carefully lift using a mesh ladle or slotted spoon and place on the lined baking sheet. Put the sheet in the oven.
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Proceed with the second batch. When ready, transfer with your mesh ladle to the paper-lined plate and, taking the oil off the heat momentarily, add this second batch to the shoestring fries keeping warm in the oven.
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Put the oil back on the heat, and fry the last batch.
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Tip all onto a large plate, sprinkle generously with salt, and eat immediately. But you don’t need me to tell you that, do you?
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