A Take on Chicken Nuggets and Fries.
My sister Céline came to have dinner with us the other night. She has recently started working for a major French car company, and part of the integration process for new hires is to go through four weeks at one of the factories, working the line just like the other workers. This is a trying experience to say the least (a loss of 6 pounds, a large bruise on the hip, a swollen and bandaged wrist – how’s that for good working conditions?), and the end of the day sees her thoroughly exhausted and achy, her head spinning from the infinite chain of cars she has worked her way through.
This sounded like the perfect time to provide a little comfort with a mock fast-food dinner, home-made and healthy.
The three of us ate these chicken nuggets and root vegetable fries with pleasure – and our fingers -, chatting away until Céline’s fight against her shutting eyelids and general sleepiness became a lost cause. At which point she dragged herself home, a couple of metro stations away, for a few hours of deep and blissful sleep.
A note on variations : I made the root vegetable fries with potatoes and celery root because that’s what I had on hand, but they would work equally well with any and all types of root vegetables, including carrots, sweet potatoes, turnips, parsnips, beetroot, etc. Mix ‘n match to your heart’s content! You can also experiment with the spices you sprinkle on, as well as the spices that you add to the chicken breading : cumin, paprika, ginger, onion flakes, celery seeds…
