Parmesan Fries

Call them French fries, pommes frites, freedom fries, chips, patatas fritas or oven fries, who doesn’t like them one way or another. Granted, whether long or short,  some like them matchstick-thin and crispy, other like them thick cut, crispy on the outside and soft inside. I like them any way they come and tend to make them at home every now and then. Today I was in the mood so I made some oven fries with parmesan and had a window of opportunity to take a couple of pictures before they were snatched from under my camera and devoured by “someone”. I tend to make french fries with baking potatoes. They are large and starchy and so delicious. Sometimes I cut them into thin sticks, sometime, like today, thick and chunky. Today I cooked them in the oven for a few minutes and ended up with a beautiful serving of crispy-soft oven fries, with just a hint of spice and lovely grated parmesan melting into the crisp skins.

There are beautiful French fry containers in kitchen shops and I have several but of course, I forgot to bring them here from Kelowna, so I made a waxed paper cone for ease of serving and left some on a serving plate. For dip (if you need it) I made a simple one from equal amounts of creme fraiche, mayonnaise and ketchup. I was going to make a blackberry ketchup that I had at the special Okanagan Street Food restaurant in Kelowna but didn’t get to it yet. Will do another time. Well, enjoy your dinner. Would you like fries with that?

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Ingredients:

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2 baking potatoes

2 tablespoons olive oil

Coarse sea salt

1-2 teaspoons paprika

1/2 cup grated parmesan

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Directions:

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Peel and rinse the potatoes. Cut each potato in half lengthwise and then cut each half into sticks, not too thin.

Rinse the cut potatoes and then pat dry with paper towels.

Place potatoes in a bowl and drizzle with olive oil. Toss to coat.

Sprinkle with sea salt and toss to distribute.

Sprinkle the paprika over and toss again.

Toss the potatoes with half the parmesan.

Spread the potatoes on a foil lined baking sheet, spacing them in a single layer.

Place in a 400℉ oven and roast until golden and crisp on the outside and soft right through, about 20 minutes. check them after 10-15 minutes to see how they progress and take them out as soon as they are ready.

Sprinkle remaining parmesan over the hot potatoes.

Serve immediately with dip of your choice.

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Dip:

1/4 cup mayo

1/4 cup creme fraiche or sour cream

1/4 cup ketchup

1/2 teaspoon chili powder, optional

Combine all the ingredients and whisk until smooth. Add salt, pepper to taste.

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