Homemade French Fries

Our pork loin hadn't thawed out in time for dinner tonight, so we decided to have hot dogs and french fries.  Only problem: we are out of fries!  So I decided to try a "homemade" version of them.  I started out using my mandoline but realized I don't have a julienne cutter on it, plus that would have made them too thin for "fries".  That's when Rob suggested my apple corer/slicer tool.  I cut large russets in thirds horizontally, then laid them cut-side down on the cutting board, and used the corer/slicer to cut them into little 2-3" wedges.  Of course, we had the middle part (that is supposed to be for the core of an apple), but we used that as well.  No such thing as a bad potato, as my daddy says!

After slicing, I tossed them with vegetable oil and sea salt.  Then I baked in a 450 oven for 15 minutes, turning after 10 minutes. 

Meanwhile, I pulled out my electric skillet and poured more oil (not a lot, maybe 2-3 tbsp) in it and preheated it to 350.

After removing the potatoes from the oven I put them in the skillet and cooked, uncovered, until golden brown.  Maybe 10-15 minutes longer.  Remove from the skillet and let drain on paper towel-lined plate, and season with salt.  Keep warm in the oven until they're all done.

My kids comments?  "Mommy, these are better than McDonalds!!"  Well, I don't know about that, but they really were quite tasty.  Not helpful to my waistline, but still, I will be making these again and again, especially when we have potatoes that we need to use soon!