In which one Washingtonian figures out what the heck to do with local and seasonal ingredients in a kitchen the size of a shoe box.

Cruising the farmers’ market never fails to inspire me. Even in the middle of winter, when the produce pickings are slim, I have a hard time deciding on what to bring home. I see baby bok choy and I start to think about baking them in a miso glaze and serving them over vinegared sushi rice. Or I’ll see lamb stock bones and dream of a hearty lamb stock with kale, carrots and rice. I might sample smoked mozzarella and I can already taste the smoked mozzarella, apple and spicy mustard sandwich on a crusty baguette that I might make for lunch later that day.

This past Sunday was the Super Bowl, and shopping for football food presented its own challenges; none of my esoteric ideas were at all appropriate for a sports-centric party. I was on a mission to find seasonal, local snacks, and on that glorious holiday of football, lite beer and chicken wings, glazed bok choy just wouldn’t make the cut.

Thank goodness for the humble potato. In the American snack food pantheon, the potato rules over all the other snacks. Corn is nice when fried into a tortilla chip. Wheat bakes into a fine pretzel, if you like that sort of thing. But baked, mashed, chipped or fried, the simple potato beats them all.

Which is why, on Super Bowl morning, I bypassed the escarole, the butternuts, the kale and the quince and walked right up to the crate of Yukon golds. On this night, I would be serving homemade potato chips.

As it turns out, making your own potato chips is pretty easy. The only really essential tools are a sharp knife and a candy thermometer. A mandolin and a deep fryer would be nice, but they are certainly not mandatory. I had to ruin a couple batches before I really started to understand the nuances of appropriate oil temperatures, but hopefully you can learn from my mistakes.

The dip is my take on a French onion dip, made with all natural and organic ingredients and just the prettiest shade of pale green. When served with the chips — browned and crisp and salty — my snack was a hit, plus it proved that not everything to come out of the farmers’ market needs to be fussy or obscure.

Potato Chips with “Farmers” Dip

Serves as many hungry snackers as you have patience to slice potatoes. Takes an hour to prep and about five minutes per batch to fry.

For the chips

Yukon gold potatoes (you could also use any root vegetable if you wanted a variety of flavors and colors; think sweet potatoes, turnips, parsnips, carrots or beets) Vegetable oil (peanut oil would also work here, but not olive oil. It breaks down too easily) Kosher salt

Slice the potatoes paper thin, with either a mandolin, a food processor, or just a very sharp knife.

Soak the potatoes in ice water for an hour. This will remove the starch from your slices and you’ll get a crispy potato chip rather than a floppy one. (You can skip this step if you are using other root vegetables.)

Remove the potatoes from the water and dry them completely with paper towels. You will notice that their texture has changed and they are a bit more snappy.

Fill a pot with at least an inch of oil, clip your thermometer to the side of the pot and heat the oil to 350 degrees.

Here is where I ruined a couple batches before I got wise. When you add the potatoes, the temperature on the oil will dip quite a bit. The oil needs to return to 350 degrees after you add the potatoes, once it hits that temperature again cook the chips for two to three minutes. In order to avoid the oil temperature dropping too much, and the potatoes absorbing too much oil while it heats back up, add the slices in small batches. If you add a lot of potatoes all at once, they will absorb too much oil before they get back to 350 degrees and they won’t taste very good.

After they have cooked and crisped, remove the chips from the pot with a slotted spoon and drain on a paper towel. Sprinkle liberally with salt.

Allow the chips to dry and drain completely. If you package them up before they are completely dry, they will get soggy by the end of the evening.

For the dip

1 c. of crème fraiche (I used crème fraiche because it was all they had at the market. Sour cream would be a perfectly acceptable, possibly preferable and certainly cheaper alternative) five scallions, chopped, green parts only 3 Tbsp fresh dill Salt to taste (about ¼ tsp)

Combine all the ingredients in a blender and puree. Taste, and adjust the seasonings, adding more salt, dill or onion to taste. The dip should be a lovely pale green color. Serve with your homemade chips and enjoy while watching a major sporting event.