Marvin was lying in the hammock besides the small shed where the mice had made their home over the past three months. As usual, he was bored. He twiddled his thumbs as he thought about his options for the day. Go surfing he could…but he did that yesterday, and he had sore paws and board rash from not listening to Melvin and not wearing a tiny, mouse-sized wetsuit like the others.
What else, what else…he could go for a drive and get some food, but Melvin and Arnold had taken the tuk tuk to the market and he’d have to wait til they get back. There wasn’t much within walking distance, except a small mini-mart, and he had exhausted their offerings within his first week.
No, Marvin wanted something really yummy…something deliciously scrummy to fill his tummy, something that he couldn’t get on the island and that he hadn’t had, in fact, in ages. His mind crept back to a trip in his youth, when their parents had taken them up north, over the border, to a magical land filled with French-people speaking and cheese, so much cheesy goodness. It had been a heavenly trip, in which the three mice had sampled their first ever emmental-blanketed authentic French onion soups, flat pancake things filled with cheese, with even more cheese broiled on top, rich snails doused in butter, and so much decadence that they had all come back a good deal chubbier and well ready for winter. But there was one dish in particular that had stuck with him, that he’d been hard put to find since and too lazy to make since it seemed quite involved. But here with nothing else to do, and loads of Felicia’s freshly minted cassava cheese plus a whole crop of taro and cassava out back, it just might work…
Two hours later, Marvin was staring at a giant platter of cheesiful goodness, loaded with a pile of freshly fried taro and cassava and sweet potato. He stood over it with Felicia’s gravy boat, standing on his tippy toes and leaning against the boat until it spilled all of its umami essence and united the plate in a brothy magical pool. Instantly he was transported to the banks of the fleuve saint laurent, in the shadows of an enormous giant’s fairytale chateau, the air filled with that very sweet, savoury scent of…
- 3-4 white sweet potatoes (taro/cassava also work, or regular potatoes for non-AIP)
- 1 cup oil for frying (avocado, olive, palm oil or some combo thereof will do)
- 1 'mozzo' cheese (torn or chopped into cheese curd-sized pieces)
- Gravy
- 1 cup of stock/broth
- 3-4 tb cassava flour
- 2-3 tb (avocado or olive oil
- sea salt
- 1-2 bay leaves (optional)
- Prepare gravy in advance - heat up fat on medium heat, add flour to asborb the oil/create roux. Add broth/stock and whisk to incorporate all the flour bits until the mixture is smooth. Continue to cook over medium heat until gravy has thickened - season to taste.
- Clean and cut potatoes into fry-size slices.
- Heat up oil in deep pot.
- When oil is hot (a drop of water sizzles), begin adding fries in batches (don't overcrowd). Watch fries carefully and remove with a spider or slotted spoon once the fries have browned. Hit with salt and add 'cheese curds' while fries are still hot.
- Add gravy and serve (feel free to garnish with something green - this makes it healthy).
This post has been shared on Phoenix Helix’s Paleo-AIP Roundtable.
