I do a little cooking now and then (I know, big surprise) and most of them involves using the oven. I found a good recipe for home-made French fries and I thought it's easy enough for anyone to try it. Don't get the wrong idea, I'm no professional, some of my creations can kill.
So here's a fairly simple recipe I've tweaked for some healthy junk-food. Ah, the irony ...
Ingredients:
About 4 large baking potatoes (don't ask me what's the difference between a baking potato and a normal one, because I don't know) weighing about 200-250g each. Depends on how much you want but this serves from 1-2 people.
About 5-6 tbsp (tablespoons) olive oil.
2 cloves of peeled and crushed garlic. Crushed, as in punch it with something blunt to get the juices flowing. The side of a knife is fine.
About 2 tbsp rosemary leaves.
Procedure:
-Preheat the oven to 200°C (if it's gas, mark 6).
-Cut each potato into 12-14 chips.
-Put the chips in cold water and heat the water and bring it to the boil and let it simmer for about 3-4 minutes.
-Drain the chips in a colander. (Something like a sieve, but with more depth. Like the things fast-food chains use to deep-fry their fries.)
-Heat the olive oil in a roasting tray in the oven.
-Throw in the potatoes, garlic, rosemary and some seasoning (like salt, but I don't recommend it).
-Mix it all up and cook for about 45 minutes until crisp and cooked through (half-baked potatoes aren't very pleasant). Toss'em up every 15 minutes or so.
That's all and you can add cheese if you want. About 3 tbsp grated parmesan cheese is fine. Scatter over and let it cook for about 10 more minutes.
I think I found this in a magazine or something. Probably from Reader's Digest. The rosemary really gives it a strong aroma and oh, one more thing, the garlic is to flavour the oil, not for consumption. I learned that the hard way.
16 years ago
