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Sunday, May 9, 2010

Oven Fries

 
I realized today that I have been posting on this blog long enough that I am having a hard time remembering which recipes I have already shared. There are now over 200 posts on this site. I can hardly believe it. So, I had to take a look and see if I had already shared my oven fry recipe and apparently I have not. Although I am not sure they are really any healthier than their deep fried cousins, they make me feel better about eating french fries. I have made this recipe with both regular potatoes and sweet potatoes and both turn out great. They do require a bit of patience in cooking time, so start them early. The original recipe says to cut them all the same size so they cook evenly, but if you like some of them a little burned and crunchy like I do, cut them unevenly. You can also cut them super thick to make potato wedges.

 
Ingredients
3 russet potatoes, sliced into strips about 1/4 inch wide
5 tablespoons vegetable oil or peanut oil
salt and pepper to season

Adjust oven rack to lowest position; heat oven to 475 degrees. Place potatoes in large bowl and cover with hot tap water; soak 10 minutes. Meanwhile, coat 18 by 12-inch heavy-duty rimmed baking sheet with 4 tablespoons oil and sprinkle evenly with salt and  pepper; set aside. Note: your baking sheet will end up completely blackened and unless you have super powers you will not be able to get it clean, use an old one.
Drain potatoes. Spread potatoes out on triple layer of absorbent kitchen towels and thoroughly pat dry. Rinse and wipe out now-empty bowl; return potatoes to bowl and toss with remaining 1 tablespoon oil. Arrange potatoes in single layer on prepared baking sheet; cover tightly with foil and bake 5 minutes. Remove foil and continue to bake until bottoms of potatoes are spotty golden brown, 15 to 20 minutes, rotating baking sheet after 10 minutes. Using metal spatula and tongs, scrape to loosen potatoes from pan, then flip, keeping potatoes in single layer. Continue baking until fries are golden and crisp, 5 to 15 minutes longer, rotating pan as needed if fries are browning unevenly.
Remove from pan and season with additional salt and pepper to taste and serve.

2 comments:

  1. Interesting. What is the purpose of soaking them in water first? I make oven fries pretty often and it doesn't seem to take me quite as long as all that. 20 minutes at the most, i'd say. I usually cook them at 400 or 425.

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  2. Miranda- It has been my experience that it can be challenging to get oven fries to be soft on the inside and crispy on the outside, like the deep fried ones. The soaking and then covering with foil to steam for the first five minutes helps soften the potatoes on the inside.

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