Cacio e pepe chips

Don't worry this will not be something you're gonna have to post on your insta stories, and I'll try and keep the Gen Zy syntax to a min. It's been a year! Almost an entire one! I can't say it's been my favorite, but we here we are. Writing recipes and silly stories for all of you has been such a highlight in this otherwise... well you know, year. Before diving into your new favorite snack, I have some housekeeping info:

We've bought an apartment in Amsterdam (yay!) which is so fun and exciting, but also in need of some renovation. The kitchen will be the first thing we're going to work on, but this will still mean that I'll be without one for a while. I'm also going to be taking a trip to South Africa, and as I'm unsure of our kitchen situations while there I've decided to pause the newsletters until we're all set in the new house early this spring. I'm hoping to be all geared up with a shiny new kitchen somewhere in March, so keep an eye on your inboxes, around that time we'll be back in b.

Now then for the recipe of this last week of the year. I was thinking about the state of mind we're in around this time. Of course I could've gone the new years resolution route and made something healthy, but then again why, so instead I thought about what the perfect NYE party food could be. It's just been Christmas, you've slaved away in the kitchen for many days on end, and now before you've even had time to watch all the Harry Potter movies, NYE comes knocking. To me food on NYE has generally meant a collection of appetizers enjoyed among copious amounts of bubbles (and ofc if in NL: oliebollen). One of the most low effort high reward snacks I've ever made must be these cacio e pepe chips. It looks the part, it's hardly more work than opening a bag of chips, and I feel like it captures the low-key chique of the occasion beautifully. Am I coming up with lengthy excuses to pardon a recipe that's really just a pile of chips? Maybe? But tell me you don't get a bit excited by this mountain of goodness.

Ingredients #

For 2:

• Bag of salted chips
• Pecorino
• Black pepper
• 1 lemon
• 1 garlic clove
• Teaspoon of fennel seeds
• Teaspoon of chili flakes

Method #

1. Heat up the oven to 200 degrees.

2. Open a bag of chips and spread them out over a baking sheet. Grate some pecorino over the chips and bake them in the oven until heated up, about 10 minutes.

3. In a very large bowl grate the lemon zest and a garlic clove. Add fennel seeds and black pepper.

4. When the chips are hot toss them in the bowl and mix with the spices and aromatics. Grate over more pecorino, grind over more pepper, add chili flakes, and crisp away!

For now I wish you all a beautiful and delicious start to what really can only be a better year right? RIGHT?