You already eat bugs. You might not know you do, and you might not do it on purpose. But you do. They are in pretty much all prepared food, from peanut butter to juice. Plus, no matter how well you wash broccoli, there has to be the odd little critter left in there. Every broccoli floret is a labyrinthine bug prison. So why not eat them on purpose? It way less creepy to eat bugs on purpose than by accident, I promise. Plus insects are arthropods, like shrimp and lobster. Tasty, nutritious landshrimp. They are so closely related that if you have a shellfish allergy, you are likely allergic to crickets, so watch out.

Once you're on board with insect eating, the possibilities of incorporating them into all kinds of foods really exciting. Cricket powder can be used in the same way you would use a protein powder, in smoothies or sprinkled on yogurt. But you can also use it to increase the nutritional value of all sorts of things, cookies, hummus, banana bread, granola bars, muffins, falafel - just about anything that you make from a batter or a dough could get a little protein boost from cricket powder. Here, I added cricket powder to cheesy, herby polenta fries. They turned out crispy and toothsome and they pair really well with a spicy-tangy dip.

herby cricket polenta fries:

Adapted from epicurious

1 1/2 cups polenta/ yellow cornmeal
4 cups water or broth
1 tsp salt
2 tbs butter
6 tbs cricket flour
2 tbs fresh chopped herbs: parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme, any combination you like.
¾ cup grated parmesan

Line a quarter-bun sized sheet pan, or an 8” x 8” dish with parchment paper.

Combine water and polenta and salt in a medium saucepan over medium heat and bring to a boil, whisking constantly. Reduce heat and cook, always stirring, for 15-20 minutes. The polenta should very thick and pull away slightly from the sides of the pan. Stir in all remaining ingredients and thoroughly mix until evenly distributed. Spread the polenta in prepared pan and smooth into an even layer. Chilli in the fridge for at least one hour.

Heat oven to 400. Carefully slide the polenta out the pan using the parchment paper. Slice polenta into ¾ inch batons. Transfer onto a vegetable oil drizzled baking sheet and bake for 20-25 minutes, turning the fries periodically to get them brown on all sides.

Serve hot with spicy aioli, a shake of salt and a sprinkle of parmesan if you like.

spicy aioli:

½ cup mayonnaise
3 tbs lemon juice
½ tsp crushed chili flakes
1 tsp garlic powder
½ tsp ground black pepper

Stir all ingredients together until evenly combined.

I really like french fries. I like french fries way too much, I want to eat them all the time. I like them with stuff on them, I like them unadorned. I want to order them any time I see them on a menu, I have to hold myself back occasionally and order something an adult might eat. I also wanted to make them at home, and I have tried and failed. I have tried lots of different ways with very little success. Complicated methods that involve triple cooking, parboiling and freezing several times. I have tried frying quickly in super hot oil and more slowly in merely quite hot oil. I have tried the strangely convincing cold oil method that Cook's Illustrated lulled me into believing in, and then dashed all my hopes. I have still never made amazing, crispy fries at home.

Enter chickpea fries, or panisse as they are called in France, which are very easy to make at home and fill the french fries niche perfectly: salty, crispy and highly dippable. Traditionally these would be deep fried in olive oil, but deep frying is such a pain, and stinks up your house. I roasted these in a hot oven with a little slick of oil and they were beautifully crisp with puffy, pillowy soft insides. You can call them panisse if you are serving them at a dinner party and fries if you are serving them to a toddler. Or me.

These are slightly healthier (or a lot healthier, depending on how you assess the healthiness of potatoes and chickpeas) than potato fries, so eating a whole bunch of them doesn't give me the guilt hangover of eating a load of french fries. I mean, they are basically hummus. You can't feel too bad about eating hummus can you? No, you can't.

Chickpea flour might be tricky to find, but I have had good luck in most big grocery stores, or in Indian or Mediteranian groceries.

chickpea fries

Adapted from the New York Times

2 cups chickpea flour
1 cup water
1 tsp each, garlic powder, paprika, salt and pepper
finely chopped parsley

Bring water to a boil in a medium sized saucepan. Slowly add in chickpea flour, stirring vigorously to avoid lumps. Cook over medium heat until very thick, like the texture of wet cement.

Pour batter into a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and chill for at least an hour, or overnight if you wish.

Pre-heat oven to 450°F. Cut the set batter into batons, squares or whatever shape you like. Batons are good for dipping though. Roast in hot oven in a little oil, turning fries after about 10 minutes, or when the bottoms are deep brown, and cook about 10 more minutes. Serve sprinkled with salt, pepper and parsley and dip in spicy aioli.

spicy aioli