fat-free microwaved potato chips!

the ever-prolific nic over at bakingsheet posted about healthy potato chips the other day and i knew i had to try them. you see, i have a serious chip addiction. given the choice of just one food to take with me to a lifetime's exile on a rocky, barren, tivo-less deserted isle it would have to be potato chips. given a choice between giving up my furry feline friend or chips forever the cat would have to go. just kidding, but i really do love my salty crispy snax. they are so satisfying to munch and crunch in anger, in joy, in boredom, even in bed.

so anyway, i got right up from the computer, broke out my tiny, cheap minature japanese mandoline, which looks something like this one but is less deluxe (cheaper), and began shaving off thin-thin-thin ovals from the stout torso of mr. potato. i layed out these dismembered pieces on napkins to dry them off a bit and began digging in my cupboards for a pyrex pie pan. to no avail. "what kind of baker am i that i do not own a pyrex pie pan?", i muttered to myself. then visions of the last three bread-type pastry-type things i tried to make floated into a little thought bubble that was conveniently hovering just above my uncombed head (this was in the a.m., afterall) and i stopped asking that somewhat rhetorical question. so anyway, i whipped out a regular old, microwave safe (maybe) fifty cent ikea dinner plate and lightly sprayed the surface with pan spray. i then carefully layed the thin-thin slices of mr. potato on the plate, making sure they were not touching, then "BAM", as emeril world say, right into the nuker for about three minutes. watch those lil crispy slabs of tubiferous heaven like a chickenhawk in the hen house and remove before they incinerate. they can go from "almost" to "aw shit" really fast. sprinkle liberally with salt and chowdown guilt free. i tried two thicknesses: thin-thin, and just-thin. the thin-thin version tasted like pringles, the just-thin tasted a bit more like baked lays. i am a pringles fan so i'd recommend thin-thin, if you have the proper tool for it.

just as an aside, i've tried this microwave method before with no success. my "chips" were either rubbery, burnt, or rubbery and burnt. i think the slices were too thick and i didn't pat them dry first. so make sure they're thin-thin. the nuking time will vary depending on the thickness of your slices and how many slices are on the plate. thin-thin with about seven slices took three minutes. just-thin with about 12 slices on a plate took about five.