Recipe Potatoes Roasted in Vanilla Pepper Oil

[The Late Night Gourmet]

The essence of this recipe is the vanilla pepper oil. Chef Coby Lee Ming mentioned infusing oil with vanilla and pepper and using it in a vinaigrette. This sounds brilliant, but I wanted to take it somewhere else. She used pepper and vanilla bean, while I used szechuan peppercorns, pepper, and vanilla bean just to try something different. You warm the combination on low heat, allow to rest, and then strain the oil.

The result is a beautiful golden color with flecks of vanilla bean in the oil. Truly beautiful. I think using the szechuan peppercorns muted the heat of the pepper somewhat, which made it smoother than Chef Ming originally intended. Roasting the potato slices in that oil yielded a flavorful, crispy "potato chip" that had subtle vanilla overtones.

Ingredients

1/2 cup canola oil or other neutral oil
1 teaspoon szechuan peppercorns
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 vanilla bean
1 1/2 pounds russet potatoes, unpeeled, sliced evenly (4 mm slices)
1/2 onion, chopped roughly
1 teaspoon of thyme
1 teaspoon of salt, or more to taste

Directions

1. Split and scrape vanilla bean, and chop the skin into chunks, retaining all of it.
2. Place oil in a pan with vanilla bean, peppercorns, and grind black pepper into the pan. Stir to distribute. Heat on medium-low for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

3. Remove from heat and cover for 4 hours. Strain the oil into a container.
4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
5. If not using immediately, shake the container of oil vigorously, since the vanilla beans will settle on the bottom.

6. Slice potatoes in even thickness, ideally using a mandoline. Discard end pieces. Mix potatoes with onion pieces in a bowl with enough oil to coat everything completely. Sprinkle with thyme and salt.
7. Arrange potato slices on baking sheets evenly. Place onion pieces on top of the potatoes so they don't burn.

8. Bake for 10 minutes, then rotate back-to-front. Bake for another 10 minutes. Flip potato slices over and bake for another 10 minutes.
9. Serve with sour cream if desired.

 

[ElizabethB]

Ok - you have my vote. Amazing! Repair or replace your phone quickly - Photos would be wonderful.

 

[Francesca]

@The Late Night Gourmet

1) I believe your battery died and this is easy to replace .. Just buy a new one .. If you have not changed your battery in 6 - 12 months, time to do so ..

2) Gorgeous recipe .. and I am a grand fan to un-peeled baked potatoes or potato slices .. The aromatic essence of vanilla is simply a stunner ..

Thank you for the recipe .. Definitely on my list to give it a try. If as good as you say, I will give the recipe to one of my daughter in laws, who owns a tiny Creperie up on the Costa Brava in Cadaques .. She has been looking for innovative potato recipes to put on her December Carte ..

 

[The Late Night Gourmet]

@The Late Night Gourmet

1) I believe your battery died and this is easy to replace .. Just buy a new one .. If you have not changed your battery in 6 - 12 months, time to do so ..

2) Gorgeous recipe .. and I am a grand fan to un-peeled baked potatoes or potato slices .. The aromatic essence of vanilla is simply a stunner ..

Thank you for the recipe .. Definitely on my list to give it a try. If as good as you say, I will give the recipe to one of my daughter in laws, who owns a tiny Creperie up on the Costa Brava in Cadaques .. She has been looking for innovative potato recipes to put on her December Carte ..

Well...as it turned out, my battery did die. I could have sworn it had more of a charge! I decided to plug it in and hope for the best, and fortunately it did charge. So, I have pictures to accompany my recipe. Thank you very much for the kind words!

 

[Francesca]

@The Late Night Gourmet

The potatoes look heavenly ..

Some cell phones have a very short battery life .. And perhaps you should consider storing your photographs in your computer to help conserve battery life ..

Samsung Galaxy Notes and Cell tablets are known for short battery life ..

Have a nice evening ..

 

[Morning Glory]

I'm excited by this recipe. It is a really innovative - something I wouldn't have thought if.

 

[ElizabethB]

@The Late Night Gourmet - I could give you a big . Beautiful.

 

[Morning Glory]

Query: In step 3 you state strain the oil into container. In step 5 you state:

If not using immediately, shake the container of oil vigorously, since the vanilla beans will settle on the bottom.

So if you strained it, why are there vanilla beans in it?

 

[The Late Night Gourmet]

Query: In step 3 you state strain the oil into container. In step 5 you state:

So if you strained it, why are there vanilla beans in it?

Running this through a strainer will filter out the peppercorns, and the vanilla bean husk, but the tiny vanilla bean particles will go through a typical strainer. That was intentional, so the vanilla flavor would be retained as much as possible.

 

[Morning Glory]

Running this through a strainer will filter out the peppercorns, and the vanilla bean husk, but the tiny vanilla bean particles will go through a typical strainer. That was intentional, so the vanilla flavor would be retained as much as possible.

Got it!