Pommes Frites (aka: French Fries)

Posted by johngl

So, the other day I had a few friends over for a long lunch.  There were a few items leftover including three baked potatoes.  I’ve come up with a number of things to do with leftover spuds over time, but today for lunch, I decided on some pommes frites.

Exquisitely crunchy, these “fries” are a great way to use up some extra baked potatoes

Let’s begin with some peeled baked potatoes:

Carefully cut them into slabs about 3/8″ thick.  Be careful, these are a little bit fragile.  Then, cut each slab into batons about 3/8″ wide.  It really doesn’t take that long and within just a few minutes, you’ve got all of your frites cut.

Since this was a small batch, I took a 10″ pan and added about 3/4″ of peanut oil and heated it to 350 degrees.  In small batches, fry these until they are that beautiful gold brown color.  Salt them immediately and set aside in a 200 degree oven until you are ready to serve. They hold up nicely.

Thanks to the most glorious spousal unit, I had these dry aging in the fridge for about a week:

I seasoned them with salt and pepper, and rubbed them down with grapeseed oil and out to the grill they went.

Make sure and get those grill marks right!

We had some wonderfully ripe avocados in the wine cellar, so for a little bit of color and just a touch of bacon flavor, I fanned out a few slices:

Pommes Frites with Dry-Aged Ribeye and Avocado

I drizzled the frites with a fruity Neus Spanish olive oil, crumbled deep-fried sage leaves, and a just a touch of kosher salt. Taste-wise, these come off somewhere between traditional fries and oven-roasted potatoes.

Since the potatoes were already fulled baked, it doesn’t take a whole lot to put a crunchy exterior on them.  A quick peel, a little bit of slicing, some hot oil, and you are ready to go!

We enjoyed this light little lunch with a refreshing wine from Cameron Hughes.  The Lot 37 2006 Granche Rosé held up to the steak amazingly well and the refreshing acid cut through the fat like a hot knife.