Homemade Skinny Fries

No, they won't make you skinny (wishful thinking!), they are skinny. Skinny and delicious!!! This is yet another of my husband's "signature" recipes, taken, of course, from one of Jamie Oliver's cookbooks. They are a bit of a flavour twist on regular fries in that they have a lemon and rosemary seasoning to add a bit of interest. I love slightly gourmet versions of non-gourmet food.

Making these is very easy, even if you don't have a deep fryer. I don't have a deep fryer myself for fear that I would turn to deep frying all my food seeing as I actually use the phrase "deep fried goodness" to describe a whole category of foods I love. As a substitute, I just fill a pot with cooking oil, heat it up nice and hot, and use a metal strainer to lower the fries in. It works like a charm.

For this side dish, we used regular old red potatoes, and cut them up into french fry slices with the skin still on for a bit of colour. I like how fries done this way really look homemade and totally not uniform in length. Lower the fries into the oil in small batches, and put a few sprigs of fresh rosemary or a good shaking of dried rosemary right into the oil so that the taste is infused.

Once the fries are nice and golden (or darker if you like them really crispy), strain them out and soak up some of the oil with paper towel. Put the finished batches in a bowl in the oven to stay warm while you finish the subsequent batches.

To finish them, bash up some lemon zest and sea salt using your mortar and pestle, and sprinkle over top.