homemade sweet potato chips

Today was the day to go through the kitchen and use up odds and ends of food stuff, starting with a solitary sweet potato. Part of it went into a beef stew, because we're on day bazillion (or is it a bazillion and one?) of the rain and it cried for something to fill the air with the fragrant promise of slow cooked food.

The other half of the sweet potato was peeled, sliced (with a 2mm Cusinart blade, but a mandoline or a sharp knife would do fine), parboiled for ~3 min, briefly plunged into ice water, dried on a paper towel, fried in just enough peanut oil to float them until lightly crispy, then sprinkled with salt mixed with a bit of very smoky spanish paprika.

It makes a very tasty bite, particularly if you get to them while they are still warm. I could see these being a hit at parties, especially if you have the kind of friends who would enjoy gathering around the stove to take turns frying small batches.

This was going to be a scientific experiment wherein I refrigerated some of the parboiled potatoes to determine how far ahead of serving you could effectively prep them. It was a great theory, but they sort of disappeared. Quickly.