Sometimes when husband isn’t home, I eat fries for dinner. No healthy additions or anything, just greasy lil’ taters. I can’t be bothered to haul out the deep fryer for two little potatoes, but I HATE, hate, hate under cooked oven fries. A Nelly/Kelly Rowland sized dilemma if I’ve ever seen one. I JUST WANT SOME GREASY FOOD TO EAT WHILE I WATCH NETFLIX ALONE BETCH. So I googled* a bunch of oven french fry recipes and hybrid-ed them to pretty delish results. The shallot dip is really where it’s at though. Suitable for all of your dipping needs!
* The most helpful recipe came from Gwyneth Paltrow. I know, what the effffffff.
FRIES
A couple of potatoes (I used baker’s ) scrubbed (not optional) and peeled (optional)
Olive oil
Salt
-Chop up your potatoes. I like them a little skinnier, but you can cut them to your desired thickness. Fat slices will take longer to brown in the oven. Just make sure they’re uniform in size.
– Soak your slices in a bowl of cold water for about and hour, changing the starchy water a couple of times throughout. If you don’t have an hour to spare, just give them a good rinse or two. Getting rid of the excess starch makes for crispier fries.
– Steam your fries in batches (I did 2) for about 5 to 8 minutes (depending on how thick you cut them) so that they are softened, but not falling apart. I found this step to be the most beneficial as it helped make the fries more tender on the inside. If you son’t have a fancy steamy thing, you can just balance a metal colander on a pot of boiling water. It’s not as pretty but it works just fine.
– Pat your taters down with a paper towel so that they are as dry as possible. Wet potatoes = soggy fries = sadsies.
– Toss in olive oil so that they are all fully coated. Sprinkle with salt and spread them in one layer on a baking sheet.
– Bake in a 425 degree oven for anywhere from 25 to 40 minutes (depending on thickness) flipping the fries every so often for even browning. They’re done when they taste good!
SHALLOT DIP
One or two shallots, grated or finely diced
2 green onions (or some chives) finely chopped
1 cup of sour cream (I used low fat because I accidentally bought it… lame. Some thick yogurt would be fine too!)
2 ish tablespoons of mayonnaise
Dash of Worcestershire sauce
Little blob of Dijon mustard
1 ish tsp of dill (or any other herb you fancy)
Salt and pepper to taste
– Stir it all together. It’s done now.
NB: This dip gets even better as it sits and the flavors start to mingle The next day I grated some cucumber and a little garlic in to it which made for a yummy fake-tzatziki.
JETTE/KAY 