Friday, August 8, 2008

FNB--Oven Fries

Ahhh...oven fries. This recipe has been developed over many years, and many tries at reaching oven fry nirvana. For something seemingly so simple in concept, there have been a lot of missteps in my quest to make a decent oven fry.

We made oven fries for lunch today to test out my recipe before I posted it this afternoon. R said to me, "we're having dinner for lunch?" Guess I have never made these for lunch before, only for dinner. Then he said, "can we have breakfast for dinner?" (his favorite). We'll see...

These oven fries are the closest I have been able to come to the real deal. I add some seasoning, to add a smoky/fried nuance and enhance the flavor. When we make these fries, I often use half sweet potatoes, half russet potatoes. I prefer the balance of flavors between the sweetness of the sweet potato and the paprika and chili powder in the seasoning mix.

A couple hints:

--make sure you give these fries their space on the tray. Do not overlap the fries--give them plenty of room, otherwise when they are cooking there is too much steam in too closet of an area and they get mushy. Use two trays if you must.
--about 20 minutes into the cooking time, quickly take the tray out of the oven and, using a sturdy metal spatula, give them a quick flip.
--you can use a mandoline to help make the fries, but honestly, I think the fries need to be a wee bit thinner than the "julienne" on our OXO Mandoline. I do them about 1/4 inch wide, no bigger.

Real Deal Oven Fries

1 large sweet potato
1 large russet potato
2 T vegetable oil
1 t paprika
1/2 t garlic
1/2 t chili powder
1/4 t oregano
1/4 t each salt and pepper

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees.

First, cut a very thin slice off the bottom of the potato so it doesn't roll:Then cut off 1/4" slices and slice into julienned 1/4" slices:Place on a cookie sheet and drizzle with olive oil and spices:
Toss well, making sure to coat evenly. Then spread out evenly and with space between the fries and bake in a 450 degree oven for 25-30 minutes, turning once at about 20 minutes.
So there you have it. Hopefully a recipe that will give you success with your homemade oven fries!

TGIF,
SPC

5 comments:

PaigeM said...

I'm so glad you posted this recipe. I have been wanting a good recipe for sweet potato fries. Hopefully I will make these tonight.

Steel Magnolia said...

looks delish...as usual!

Slacker Mama said...

Thanks so much....and such quick turnaround on my request!

I'll definitely work that into the menu soon!

Sweet Pea Chef said...

No problemo, SM. Truth be told, I had been working on this recipe to post, and your comment was a great reminder to get 'er done! :)

The Mrs. said...

Whoa mama do those look good!