fries

Loaded Idaho Potato Kimchi Fries

July 22, 2016

I’ve recently partnered with Idaho Potato to bring you a few new and exciting recipes in the month of July. I’ve already shared with you the ideal salad of my dreams, and I’ve taught you that making potato empanadas only gets better by making an irresistible dipping sauce to go along with them. This week though we’re making the ultimate of potato recipes…fries. But not just regular fries that we’re all used to. Instead, we’re cooking up loaded French fries. That’s crispy fried potatoes topped with cheese, bulgogi, kimchi, sriracha aioli, pickled daikon and carrots, cilantro and pickled jalapeños. The most important part about this recipe, aside from the Idaho potatoes, is the kimchi. I’m obsessed with kimchi, and just in case you have no idea what that is; it’s a fermented cabbage condiment from Korea. One of my all-time favorite restaurants is a Korean BBQ place in Korea Town in Los Angeles and it’s out of this world. You cook the meat yourself, right at your table, on a grill in the middle. It makes the whole eating experience fun and exciting. Then best part about Korean BBQ is that it’s all you can eat but also that you get a bunch of different little condiments and sides to eat with the beef. One of the sides is kimchi and it’s amazing with rice and bulgogi.

These fries takes all of my favorite things from Korean BBQ and places them on top of crispy fried potatoes along with melted cheese. These are proof that dreams really do come true. The idea actually came from a fan of the site a while ago. She left a comment asking me if I’ve tried kimchi fries before, and I hadn’t so I gave them a try and they were everything I thought they’d be along with everything she said they would be. So I came up with my own version and here we are. These are great as an appetizer or snack for the summer. If you don’t have time to make your own French fries at home, although you really should because they’re so much better when you do, then you can totally use frozen fries from the store. Just heat them up in the oven according to the package directions. Then you can invest your time and effort into the toppings. You need these in your life and you need them right this second.

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Mediterranean Gyro Fries

July 17, 2015

The only thing better than crispy french fries is french fries topped with all of the things. You already know about my fascination and love for carne asada fries. Fries topped with cheese, grilled steak guacamole, tomato, sour cream and salsa verde. It’s a big thing here in Southern California, so if you haven’t tried them for yourself yet, I highly recommend it. If you have and you’ve fallen in love, just like I have, then I suggest you join me on my next french fry adventure. I’m now bringing you Mediterranean Gyro Fries. It’s all the things we love in gyros and Greek salad, piled on top of homemade crispy french fries. We can feel good about it because most of the ingredients are healthy. Most. I mean sure, there are fried potatoes at the base of this recipe and sure garlic aioli and feta cheese probably aren’t the healthiest BUT everything else is good for you and those definitely outweigh the irresistible ingredients. In my humble opinion.

It’s Friday, we should be living life and not be worrying about anything for the next two days. We only live once. The weekend is for letting loose and having fun, but still being adults and making responsible decision. (That’s just in case my mamma is reading this, wink wink). I don’t know about you, but making and eating french fries all day long most definitely counts as having fun. I have to admit, homemade fries can be a little more work than we want to be doing on the weekend, but whenever crispy potatoes are the end result of anything, it instantly becomes worth all of the effort. There is no greater payoff. I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t have the biggest sweet tooth necessarily. I’d much rather skip dessert if it meant having a second helping of something savory, preferably something savory and deep fried. Cakes and cookies can come and go and I won’t budge, but as soon as fries (or potatoes in general) and cheese and bread come into the picture, I lose all self control. It’s a real problem. Send help.

Lucky for us, it’s the weekend and I’m here to make sure we all lose our self control together. I’ve decided that my sole purpose in life is to tempt you with guilty food. I’ve been practicing my “Oooh ahhh, look at this. You know you want it. Come on, everyone else is eating it,” lines to throw at you. It helps to be prepared. It’s also a lot more fun when you have someone else being gluttonous alongside you, isn’t it? Gorging on a big pile of fries all by yourself is just sad, although not the worst thing that can happen I must admit. I’m sure there are worse punishments in life. This recipe is definitely worth sharing, so grab your friends, your family, your pets and eat like the kings and queens you are.

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Idaho Potato Carne Asada Fries

January 12, 2015

In case you weren’t well aware of it already, I’m addicted to potatoes. I think I’ve mentioned it a few times here and there (okay, so maybe more than just a few times) how deep my love affair with potatoes goes. It’s pretty deep. As deep as any love. I’d climb the highest mountain for them. I’d swim the deepest ocean for them. But not in a weird creepy kind of way. It’s been this way ever since I was a young kid, though. I’m pretty sure that when I was born, my mamma didn’t give me that puréed baby food stuff in those tiny jars that all the other babies got (I was too cool for that), instead she gave me french fries by the bucket full. I ate them all up too with lots of ketchup. That’s when my love of potatoes started. If anything, I have my mom to blame for it. I’m not complaining about it though.

Anyhow, I’m digressing from the real situation and which is that it’s time for the next installment of my collaboration with Idaho Potato! Ring the bells and go through the town and city and scream out from the top of your lungs THE FRENCH FRIES ARE HERE!! THE FRENCH FRIES ARE HERE! Because they are finally here! But they’re not just normal plain old boring fries (I’m kidding fries are never boring at all), no these are the ultimate fry situation. The kind of fries you write back home to your family to. The kind of fries you fall madly deeply in love with. The kind of fries you lose sleep over and can’t stop thinking about. The kind of fries, that even with your closest friends and family you do not share. No, not even a bite. Don’t even smell them. I’m talking about fries topped with melted cheese, friends, chopped carne asada, tomatoes, pickled jalapeños, sour cream, guacamole and salsa verde. These are the fries you’re going to eat for the rest of your life. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

These also happen to be the second recipe of my collaboration with Idaho Potato! My dream partnership and I’m excited to finally get to share it with you. In case you missed the first recipe, Baked Idaho Potato Sliders, you can catch up and read all about them here. They’re my favorite sliders. Also, don’t forget to stay tuned every Monday for the rest of the month to get the scoop on the other recipes I dreamed up for Idaho potato. You’re gonna love them. But listen to me going on and on about recipes that don’t even matter at this very moment. Right now, all that matters are these fries topped with carne asada and the ridiculous amount we’re going to eat.

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Beer Battered Fish and Chips w/ Spicy Remoulade

May 5, 2013

When I was a child I didn’t really care for fish and chips. Okay if we’re being honest, I hated the dish. Well just the fish, the chips I loved. What kid doesn’t like fries dipped in copious amounts of ketchup? Whenever we’d go on family trips to the beach, on the way back, we’d stop by the local seafood restaurant on Pacific Coast Highway. My mom and older sister would order fish and chips or shrimp and chips or fish tacos. My middle sister and I would end up getting a burger—because um hello burgers are delicious—but it was because we were those bratty kids that threw tantrums and yelled out at the top of our lungs, “Seafood is yucky! I DON’T want smelly fish! I HATE FISH AND CHIPS!!” Then we’d start crying and running around the restaurant throwing things off the tables and knocking people’s trays from their hands. Food would fly everywhere. Everyone would stare at my sister and I running amok and shake their heads and cover their mouths in shock. Okay I really wasn’t like that as a child. It was all my sister! I’d just stand back in horror and astonishment and pretend I wasn’t related to her. I’d join in with the crowd and ask “Who is that crazy animal? Who does she belong to?” Okay that really didn’t happen either. But the burgers, those totally happened, sans tantrums or crazy antics.

As I grew up and realized that seafood wasn’t the enemy, I began to love fish and chips, and not just for the chips. I fell in love with the battered and fried fish as well. Who would have thought? And so began a love affair with seafood. All seafood. Everyday seafood! (But not really because of the high levels of mercury). These days I can’t get enough of seafood and I deny ever getting a burger on those family excursions, while my family ate fish. “What burger? Nick ate the burger, I loved fish and chips. It was my favorite dish!” Thankfully nothing was filmed and they have no proof. Seafood and I were best friends when I was a child. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

Now I know that spring is in full effect and we should be eating lighter, healthier, fresher meals. But really, who doesn’t have a soft spot for deep fried beer battered fish? Oh wait, and chips? This guy certainly has the biggest soft spot for it. And hey, at least I didn’t deep fry my chips. They’re oven roasted my friends, so completely healthy right? I’m doing my part for spring. Now go make some fish and chips and invite me over, I promise I won’t throw a tantrum.

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