Gettin' through the Lenten

Not too bad for a first fry!

Dave is Catholic (did you know?) and that means I have now had fish on Friday for the last five weeks (ok, only 4 because we did cheese pizza one Friday night), but the idea is there. And it's not anything I am oppose to as I was raised this way too.  While not Catholic, I grew up in a very Catholic area of Arkansas and I certainly remember the school tending to adhere to the 'fish on Friday' rule too. My mother also lived the  rule during Lent also.  So lots of fish sticks for the Kinder girls!

So I actually broke out the fish sticks for a Friday night in a couple of weeks ago.  There were good and so were the Ore Ida fries we had with them, but on this last Friday of Lent, I wanted to make my own fries.  I researched recipes calling for 'how to get crispy oven fries' and settled on one from Pinterest (Hello, my name is Belinda and I am a Pinterest addict).  So here is the result of my Oven Fry Try....

Oven Steak Fries

3-4 medium baking potatoes, cut length wise and even sized
5 tablespoons canola or vegetable oil
3/4 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
seasonings of choice (Old Bay, cajun, etc)

Preheat oven to 475*

1.  Soak potatoes in hot water for 10-20 minutes.
2.  Coat baking sheet with 3 tablespoons of canola oil; add salt and pepper onto the oil.
3.  Remove potatoes from water... dry completely!  Dry bowl and return potatos; sprinkle with 1 tablespoon oil and seasoning. I used Old Bay with fish . Mix well with hands.
4.  Put baking sheet in the oven and allow it to heat up for about 5 minutes.  Remove and spread potatoes in a single layer.
5.  Cover with foil and bake for 7 minutes.  Remove foil. Bake for 10 minutes; turn potatoes ; bake another 10-15 minutes and keep turning the potatoes so they don't burn. 
6.  Remove from pan and drain on paper towels; Add more salt and seasonings to taste.

I am going to have to experiment a bit more to get these 'crispy'.... but I did like these a lot.  Dave did too, but we both really like fries crispy. My first inclination is to decrease the grease- when I wrote the recipe, I went down a tablespoon on the baking sheet and am thinking it might need to go down more.  I admit I had my doubts that they would get done through, but they were.   For a first oven fry try, it was ok.... and Dave approved.  And I have to admit, after going over 25 years or so without fish sticks, those suckers are pretty good too... however, I did skip opening the can of pork & beans.