Sage Advice, Part 1: Windowpane Potato Chips

My dear faithful readers - remember that herb garden I planted several months ago? The one with all the adorable little seedlings and nothing but potential? Funny how a little water and sun can work their magic, because I now find myself with more mature herbs than really is fair. Not complaining - in fact, I'm loving it. Pestos are lining my freezer for the winter ahead, and I'm freezing various herb combinations with chicken stock into ice cubes for future use as handy seasoning for soups, stews and sauces. But honestly - I'm either going to need a bigger freezer, OR, I'm going to have to start using up my fresh herbs right now, in pretty much everything I make.

So, the next couple of posts you'll be reading all have a theme: using my garden's bounty in fun and delicious ways. The most prolific of the herbs right now are my two sage plants. I have a pineapple sage and an elephant sage, and my weekend was devoted to getting them reduced to a manageable size.

First up: after seeing the recipe in Cooking Light for these stunning windowpane potato chips, I knew I had to make some, simply for the WOW factor. I mean really - aren't they gorgeous? Like little stained glass windows - that you can eat! (Petty aside: is it just me, or is Cooking Light magazine often anything but? Maybe I'm missing what "Light" is intended to mean? To their credit, it's not Cooking "Lite".... but I digress.)

At any rate, I followed their recipe to a T (once I actually unearthed two baking sheets of approximately the same size - difficult in my non-baking arsenal of cookware), and they turned out beautifully. It's a bit labor intensive, albeit simple, but see for yourselves - the results are elegant. Almost too pretty to eat. Notice I said "almost"....


Windowpane Potato Chips

• 2 medium baking potatoes
• Cooking spray
• Assorted fresh herb sprigs (such as dill, chives, and sage)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Set mandoline on thinnest slicing setting. Cut each potato lengthwise using the mandoline. Arrange potato slices in a single layer on several layers of paper towels; cover with additional paper towels, and press lightly. Let stand 5 minutes.

Arrange half of the potato slices in a single layer on each of two baking sheets coated with cooking spray. Place a small herb sprig on each potato slice; cover with another potato slice. Press gently to adhere. Coat potato stacks with cooking spray. Sprinkle evenly with salt. Working with one sheet at a time, cover potato stacks with parchment paper. Place an empty baking sheet on top of parchment paper; set a cast-iron or heavy ovenproof skillet on second baking sheet to act as a weight (will keep the potato chips flat). Bake for 25 minutes.

Remove skillet. Remove baking sheets from oven; remove top baking sheet and parchment paper. Remove browned potato chips from pan; place on a wire rack. Turn any unbrowned potato chips over on sheet. Replace parchment paper and top baking sheet; return pan to oven. Replace skillet on top of baking sheet. Bake 5 more minutes or until browned. Cool chips on wire racks. Repeat procedure with remaining potatoes. Store chips in an airtight container up to 2 days.