Oven Fries – Date Night Vol. 5

I’ve never been able to master the art of “baking” fries. I won’t fry them because I’d rather just order take out fries. I’ve tried baking them at all different temperatures, time lengths, I just couldn’t see how everyone else got them to be anything but mush. I love fries, rather they are mush or now because, well they are potatoes and I love all kinds of potatoes, every which way! I’ve followed numerous amounts of recipes to a T and they still wouldn’t come out the way I wanted them to. Sooooooo I reached out to my Facebook Foodies and there was a suggestion of soaking the fries (all cut up) an hour before you bake them. Genius! Why didn’t I think of that!! I always jacked up the temperature in hopes of crisping them but then they would just burn and get soggier!

Now I’ll be honest, this failed when I did the sweet potatoes, however I believe it’s because of the size I cut the potatoes. I have a special blade in my new food processor that is specially made for cutting french fries, I had to try it. How ever they came out really small like McDonald’s style (or as Madison would say Old McDonald’s) sooooo with that being said I do believe if I had cut them into large chunks like my other ones this would have been a success. I’m sharing because, well I’m a sharer, but also because the seasoning on them were awesome! For the Parmesan seasoning, I used a seasoning that came in one of those jars I got as a gift awhile back, it has 4 different kinds of spice blend, well one of them was a Parmesan and Garlic blend, it was soooooooooo good, so good that I’m going to try make my own, I was wondering if you combined the ingredients below and just pulsed some parmesan cheese in a blender if that would give me the texture I need for seasoning. Or of course the kind you sprinkle on your pasta! I’ll let you know how it turns out when I do it, but use your favorite seasonings for your fries if you don’t want to try it!  For the sweet potatoes, I used Dixie Crystals Sugar and Cinnamon shaker! Love that thing! You can just use sugar and cinnamon of course.

Baked Parmesan Potato Fries

4 baking potatoes ( I used just plain brown ones, not thick skinned but not thin either)
Olive Oil
Plastic Zip Lock Bag (call me crazy but trust me)
Water
Seasoning Blend:
Parmesan Cheese (grated, the kind you sprinkle on your pasta!)
Garlic Powder
Salt
Parsley

Baked Sweet Yet Spicy Fries

3 large sweet potatoes
Olive Oil
Plastic Bag
Water
Seasoning Blend:
Cinnamon
Sugar
Pepper
Red pepper flakes
Dip:
Dip these babies in an amazing new creation. Mix together some BBQ sauce a little dijon mustard!! Holy yummy! Sprinkle some more red pepper flakes for more of a kick!

What to do with both recipes:

Cut the fries in large strips, you want them in the size of steak fries. Place your fries in a bowl of water for an hour before baking.

Preheat oven to 425F. Drain your fries. Add them to a zip lock bag, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with the seasoning, I go heavy because go heavy or go home! Use your judgement their is no right or wrong.

Shake them up, make it fun, dance around the kitchen! 🙂 Once they are all coated let them sit while the oven finishes preheating. Dump on a baking sheet and spread them out, no piling high on these babies. Bake for 20 minutes. Turn fries once and bake another 20 minutes.

I’m going to experiment with other seasonings but the Parmesan one was awesome and the crispiness of the fries were awesome! Now if your wondering what those meatballish things are from our date night it was my Southwest Meatballs I made a few months ago and froze. Nothing like taking out a bag and throwing together a meatball sub for a date night in!! I highly recommend it. That’s the beauty of Date Night In. Sometimes it’s takeout, sometimes it’s pulled out of the freezer like this one, sometimes I go all out, sometimes we go out! Though the last 3 times we’ve made plans to go out for a nice evening, a place I’ve been dying to get to since we moved here a year ago, they’ve gotten cancelled due to some kind of illness running rapid! So yes I stopped making plans because then maybe we won’t get sick anymore this season! HA! This night we enjoyed these subs, a glass of champagne and a movie. I don’t even remember what movie it was so I can’t even give you a review! Sorry!!

However Volume Six of Date Night is happening tonight as I practice my dish for the Gallo Event I’ll be taking part in next month!!! How exciting, I get to drink….uchhm…I mean cook with wine again!!!! Stay tuned!!