Ellie Krieger's Garlic "Fries"

Sorry I have not posted in so long, the holidays will do that to you. After about a month's time I am back with one of the recipes from my absolute favorite new cookbook, Ellie Krieger's The Food You Crave. Using my generous birthday check from Terry's mom and dad, Pauline and Gene, I purchased myself several new cookbooks. I was particularly excited about this book, because I had heard so many positive reviews on the Cooking Light BB. During the millions of college football Bowl games that I "watched" with Terry I read through all of the recipes in EK's book. They all looked amazing and very health conscious (except for the ones that mix fruit with savory dishes, because, if you know me, that is gross, and not allowed in my kitchen.) I have made about eight of her recipes already and they have all been winners. The recipe for EK's Garlic "Fries" has already been repeated twice and is better that any deep fried "fries" that I have had. The quantities in my photos will seem large because they are, I tripled the recipe to accommodate my husbands friends and their large appetites.


Garlic "Fries"
Ellie Krieger, The Food You Crave

Ingredients

• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons canola oil
• 3 large baking potatoes, 12 ounces each
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh parsley leaves

Directions

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.

Heat the garlic and oil in a small saucepan over medium heat for 2 minutes. Strain the garlic from the oil with a small mesh strainer. Set both garlic and oil aside.

Cut the potatoes into 1/4-inch sticks. In a large bowl, toss the oil, potatoes and 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray and spread the potatoes onto it in a single layer. Bake until golden and crisp, about 35 minutes.

Remove potatoes from the tray with a metal spatula. Toss with parsley, reserved garlic, and additional salt, to taste. Serve immediately.

Nutritional Analysis per Serving

Calories 267

Carbohydrates 47 grams

Total fat 7 grams

Saturated fat 0.6 grams

Protein 6 grams

Fiber 3 grams

Sodium 304 grams

Cut the Potatoes as thin as you can, this step seems tedious, but the results are well worth the effort.

I pressed my garlic through a garlic press, you could also use a grater.

Add the garlic to the Canola oil and then turn up the flame to medium.

Cook the garlic in the Canola oil for two minutes, it will sizzle and turn light brown.

Remove the garlic from the oil, she say to use a mesh strainer, I do not have one, so I carefully used a spoon. Try not to leave many pieces of garlic in the oil, as it will burn in the oven.

Reserve the cooked garlic in a container for later in the recipe.

Coat the cut potatoes with the infused oil, and sprinkle with salt (I also added cracked pepper.)

Spread out the potatoes onto a cooking spray coated baking pan, try to keep them in a single layer. Bake them for 35 minutes in a preheated 450 degree oven.

Thinly slice parsley for later in the recipe.

Remove the potatoes from the oven, scoop them into a mixing bowl, add reserved garlic and parsley and mix to combine.

I will never try another French fry recipe again, Ellie Krieger's Garlic "Fries" is the only recipe for me. This is the ultimate, and at 267 calories per serving I won't feel guilty eating them often. I really enjoy the textural differences between the pieces of potato that were soft and the ones that got well done and crunchy. The process of precooking the garlic in the Canola oil infused the oil with garlicy goodness, and reduces the pungency of the raw garlic. Last night we had Kevin and Brian over to watch the UCLA basketball game and they both gave me an "excellent" as far as the fries were concerned. Terry declared that these fries were better than he has had in any restaurant. Ellie Krieger's Garlic "Fries" will be made at least biweekly in the Williams house. (Figgins and Halo like them too!)

-Heather