Oven Fried Potatoes

Remember Susan Powter? She was an early to mid 1990’s self-help, crazy infomercial queen with giant clothing, grand gestures, a peroxided, buzzed haircut and booming baritone voice with a "stop the insanity" mantra. She fell from public grace when she not only came out as gay, but became a militant gay activist, and her behavior became evermore bizarre. To see Susan today, you would observe that her "healthy" lifestyle certainly has not contributed to the face of a woman who hasn't aged gracefully, and that's putting it mildly. It also seems she found some of that insanity she stopped in the 1990s, having changed her buzz-cut for dreadlocks with even more outlandish clothing and an increasingly fake British accent promoting health products on the internet in often incoherent, nonsensical video blogs.

Susan's fourth cookbook published in 1996, C'mon America, Let's Eat, at the onset of her decline from her fifteen minutes of fame somehow found its way onto our kitchen bookshelf as my wife and I looked for healthier recipes with less fat. This would have preceded our search for healthier recipes with less carbs. Until then, the concept of "oven-fried" was relatively foreign to me. There were only two things to do with a potato in my kitchen up to that point: bake it or boil it. I never made French Fries at home because I didn't have a deep fat fryer, and I wasn't about to clean up after one. The idea that you could make French Fries in an oven had never occurred to me.

This recipe is so simple, you'll be amazed at the results. I have, however, learned a couple of pointers.

First, add the Morton's Nature's Seasons seasoning at the last minute right before you put the fries in the oven.  If you do it ahead of time and allow the potatoes to sit, the salt in the seasonings will leach the water out of the potato, and you'll end up with a soggy product.

Second, put the rack in the middle of the oven. If you put it in the bottom, the potatoes will cook too slow. If you put them in the top, they will cook unevenly.

The recipe calls for Morton Nature's Seasons seasoning blend, and that is what you should use. I haven't experimented with alternatives. Sometimes, perfection is perfection. Leave it alone.

Ingredients
3-4 medium Russet potatoes, peeled
2 tbsp Morton Nature's Seasons
non-stick cooking spray (like, Pam)
1/2 tsp sea salt

The Recipe
Preheat the oven to 500 degrees and line a cookie sheet or sheet pan with aluminum foil. Spray liberally with the cooking spray.

First slice the potatoes into 1/3 inch slices lengthwise. Then cut each slice into 1/3 inch fries. 

Place the fries in a bowl, add the Nature's Seasons and toss the fries with your hands until all potatoes have picked up some of the seasonings.  Do not proceed with this step unless you are going to put them directly into the oven.

Lay the fries out in a single layer, and lay them out in two rows on each side of the sheet pan for easier turning.

Place the rack in the middle of the oven and bake until the tops of the potatoes start to slightly brown in spots, about ten minutes. Take the sheet pan out of the oven, and carefully turn all fries over with a spatula. A word of caution here: because of the moisture content of the potatoes and the extreme heat of the oven, steam will have accumulated. Don't stick your face over the oven door as you open it, or this super-heated steam will hit your face, which is damned unpleasant.

Return the potatoes to the oven after turning, and cook another ten to fifteen minutes until the fries have browned. You'll notice that they will not evenly brown like potatoes cooked in hot oil. Instead, they will brown in spots, but you're looking for the potatoes to have browned like this consistently.

Remove from the oven, sprinkle with sea salt and serve immediately.