balsamic oven fries

As a side dish to my Cranberry and Walnut Stuffed Pork Loin last week, I made up some thick cut french fries... well, oven fries because I don't have a deep fryer and my conscious is happier with baked fries anyway. Oven baked fries still come out crispy and you can add any sort of flavoring to them before they go in (garlic, chili, parmesan... ANYTHING). For some reason I was craving "fish and chips" last week so I decided to douse my oven fries with balsamic vinegar when they came out of the oven. They were spectacular but if you don't like balsamic vinegar, just eat them plain or dipped in your favorite sauce. The key here is that they're cheap, versatile and yummy!




Total Recipe cost: $3.49
Servings Per Recipe: 6
Cost per serving: $0.58
Prep time: 10 min. Cook time: 40 min. Total: 50 min.

INGREDIENTS		COST
3 lbs.	russet potatoes	$1.79
2 Tbsp.	olive oil	$0.21
1/4 tsp	garlic powder	$0.05
1/2 tsp	salt	$0.05
hand full	fresh parsley	$0.19
6 Tbsp.	balsamic vinegar	$1.20
TOTAL		$3.49

STEP 1: Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Wash the potatoes very well so that the skins are clean and edible. Cut the potatoes into thick wedges.

STEP 2: Place the potato wedges in a bowl and toss with the olive oil, salt and garlic powder. Spread the potatoes onto a baking sheet (or two) so that they are in one layer (all touching the baking sheet) and have a little space between them. If they are too crowded the moisture from the potatoes will get trapped and steam them as they cook yielding a soggy fry.

STEP 3: Bake in the oven at 425 degrees for 30-40 minutes or until they are all brown and crispy on the edges. Check them at 30 minutes and adjust the cooking time to get them to your desired degree of brown-ness (I know, that's not a word).

STEP 4: Place the cooked fries in a bowl and toss with chopped parsley. Drizzle with balsamic vinegar just before serving.

NOTE: This makes a LOT of fries. Luckily, you can easily adjust the recipe to use any amount of potatoes. I had to use two baking sheets to cook these so you may want to use only 2 lbs. of potatoes.

One night when I was super starving, I grabbed a plate of these, sprinkled them with some shredded cheddar and nuked them for a minute... wow. I can only imagine if I had some chili on hand... Heavenly homemade junk food!