Monday, February 22, 2010

Simple & Easy: Baked Steak Fries



Thanks to my friend, Linda, I've found that there's an easy and painless way to make your own restaurant-quality steak fries at home without frying them!

These go very well with grilled steak, burgers or chicken, even fish. They are simple to make and are done faster than you might think!

You will need:

Baking potatoes, washed and drained or dried off (1.5 potatoes per serving)

Olive oil
(several tablespoons to 1/4 cup depending on how many potatoes)

Lowery's seasoned salt OR your favorite seasoning
(I enjoy a Cajun blend spice along with a very light sprinkling of the seasoned salt.)

a gallon-sized Ziploc bag

Preheat oven to 450


On a cutting board, slice the baking potatoes the long way, and slice them again, then again into pieces as shown above. I usually get at least eight good sized fries from one regular baking potato.

Place the potato slices into a Ziploc bag, then add enough olive oil to coat lightly but don't drown them. Work the potatoes around in the closed bag until they've all had a light coating of the olive oil. It will depend on how many potatoes you use, just hazard a guess on the olive oil.

Once the potatoes have been coated, put them in a hot oven (450) on a large cookie sheet or jelly roll pan that has been sprayed with PAM and put them in the center top of the oven.

Bake for as long as necessary (anywhere from 15-30 minutes or so) to get the desired crispness; the first time you do these, you'll need to be keeping an eye on them .

You can flip each one individually half way through baking if you want them all done evenly on both sides. Or not. I usually let mine go longer because my guys prefer them to be dark or well done and very crisp.

Once they are done, shut oven down and remove the fries, season them lightly while still hot on the cookie sheet.

Remove the fries to a platter that has been lined with paper towel.

Break out the ketchup and serve!

This is a healthy side dish and not too heavy on the calories!

YUM!

Garden note:
We are JUST NOW running out of the potatoes we grew in our own gardens last summer! We are going to plant potatoes every year from now on and add even more rows this spring. We may be able to get two harvests of potatoes if we can stagger the plantings, we're excited to see how it works out. We loved having our own home-grown potatoes all winter!



This is one of a batch we had of super-duper sized potatoes...It's pictured next to the big sized soup can and WOW!


This is our potato harvest when they were fresh out of the ground and ready to wait a week to wash. Potatoes prefer to grow in cool weather and last summer was very cool so that might explain why we had such a good harvest.

Do you grow your own potatoes?

They're actually a lot of fun to grow, except for the part that requires one to mound dirt up around the plant. GOOD GRIEF! We ran out of dirt! The more dirt, though, the better the potatoes turn out, as the dirt denies the sunlight a chance to turn the skin of the potatoes a green color which is a mildly toxic substance called solanine.

If you plan to grow a garden this year and are looking for a good all-around gardening book this one is it:
Go to this link to see a copy and read the reviews:

READER'S DIGEST
1001 HINTS & TIPS
FOR YOUR GARDEN


It's arranged A-Z. Want to know how to grow your own potatoes?
Go to P for potatoes. Simple! Is your lawn giving you fits? L for lawn!

This book is chock full of easy to read information and just enough illustrations and diagrams to not be dry and boring. I find it to be a great gift for a gardener, first time or not! I am constantly referring to this book.

I buy mine that I give to my friends used off AMAZON.COM and usually get it for under $2 plus shipping. Right now there's a copy for 39 cents plus shipping! Amazing!

I've given many away because interest in gardening is way up and no wonder! Saving money on food is a smart move, and if you've got the room for growing your own food, it's a relaxing and rewarding way to feed your family! Growing and preserving food for your family is a double blessing.







I have a copy sitting on my table right now that I ordered for my friend Shelley, who is going to plant a basic kitchen vegetable garden this spring. I can't wait to give it to her as I find great pleasure in helping others learn to do what our parents and their parents did: make your ground work for you and earn its keep!

And, here are some more gardening/canning/preserving photos for you to enjoy, I know I had fun finding them in my photo files, it makes me anxious for spring!






Dreaming of spring and of gardening!

13 comments:

Vicki's Bit-o-earth said...

You're talkin my language Joni! (: Great post... the fries (sound delicious... I'm going to try your recipe), the gardening (my favorite thing in the world... well, almost), and the book. I do most of the book shopping at Amazon. If I find a book I want, I don't buy it at a bookstore (I know, not so good for one of my favorite places)... I go check it out on Amazon first. I can almost always get them used for way cheaper.

Thanks for a post full of great info (as always(: xxx Vicki

Sweet Magnolias Farm said...

Ah Your garden blessings look just beautiful I would be excited for spring to come too !!! We love the french fries baked too ..we put them in the oven plain ..the when they are done take them out and toss them in a "little" butter and parmesan ...They are so good that way too !!!

Here's Wishing spring comes soon for you.

Blessings ..Sara of Sweet Magnolias Farm

Elizabeth-Plain and Simple said...

Thanks for sharing the recipe. I am always looking for healthy ones to try. Have a nice week.

Blessings,
Elizabeth

Julie Harward said...

I love to make salsa, my kids beg for it! I have done potatoes this was for years now instead of frying..wow, you have some big ones too..very nice. :D

Anonymous said...

I am so home sick for spring .. for veggies and flowers! I can hardly wait to have a graden filled with such stuff. I was born with an potato in my hand so to speek. I grew up having potatos with every meal. Tomorrow I think I'll make those and then post about It soon -- thanks for the trip of the gardening book -- not so much of the $$$ which is a good thing!

Meadowbrook Cabin Primitives said...

Yep, these fries are the best and no frying involved ! I have made these fries and they are delicious !

Loved your garden photos !

Hugs,
Linda

Unknown said...

Wow! Your bounty is amazing. And those fries look so yummy. Definitely going to try them. We've been cutting down on fried foods, and have missed fries. Hubby will be so excited! Thanks for sharing.

Unknown said...

Those photos make my mouth water, especially the cucumbers and dill! My mom makes the best pickles...yummy!
I've been baking fries like that for a long time. I can't tell you the last time I deep fried them. Sometimes I sprinkle mine with garlic salt. It's all good. ;D

Bloggin bout my Boys said...

Here's a crazy one...my stepdad would even take the peels and season and oil them,bake and then melt sharp cheddar cheese on them!! Not as healthy but my kids ate them like popcorn! All your produce and the steak fries look wonderful! Great shot of the potato by the soup can...really gives a perspective of how big those critters grew! I also love how you say " making the land earn it's keep". Even though our sandy soil is horrible for gardening I may try a salad garden and I will check that book out! Right now the only thing I could harvest would be snocones HA!

Buttonchief7 said...

We are increasing the number of potato rows too. Last year's crop was so much fun to harvest and the taste was so much more flavorful. Hubby built a 6 ft tall trellis out of tomato cage wire, staked it and we had a 30 foot long arbor to walk under to pick green beans hanging down like icicles. What a huge crop we had! Froze lots and shared even more. Lots of pics were taken also of his creation. LOL Peggy

Faith said...

I found this jar for the pickles at Micheals..:) So now, do you use the small kind of cukes? garlic,vinegar and dill..in what proportions? I am a novice at this so are these cooked? A great day today for hanging out the laundry in in Ohio...breezy to beat the band...lots of flappin could be had today..I did a load of towels and the were dry in no time.. Thank you for your help with this
pickle recipe...

Old Centennial Farmhouse said...

Faith: Here is the post that has the recipe for Connie's Sun Dills...
http://oldcentennialfarmhouse.blogspot.com/2009/08/connies-sun-dills.html

And yes, I use the tiny cukes that we grow in our garden, they're picklers.

Good luck!
*Ü*
Joni

Anonymous said...

Curious? What do you do with your Banana peppers? I have tons right now. :)