Tried-It-Tuesday - Carrot and Potato Fries

Tried-It-Tuesday

I've been wanting to start a weekly project, since I'm finding myself figuring out something to do for dinner Tuesday nights, since Unka Seesee is gone all day. I've been toying with whether or not to set it up as a fun blogger event, since I can be a flake sometimes, and totally forget to post/set it up. Plus I'm already doing a post for Muffin tin Mondays and What's For Lunch Wednesdays each week, which can get busy! But we'll give it a shot.
So here's the plan - each week I'll attempt something new, and have people link up their posts or make a comment about something new you've tried since the previous Tuesday. It can be a new recipe, purchase, restaurant or shop you've discovered, project or craft... anything, as long as it was new to you, or something new you've introduced to your family!
Since I'm not all awesome and savvy with the technology, my Mr. Linky might not work. If it doesn't, just post your link in the comments and I'll see what I can do.
I'll try and post these Monday nights, so that it's ready to go for Tuesdays!

Monday night Unka Seesee was out, so we were on our own for dinner. I thought it might be a good idea to use up some (green) yellow potatoes I had left over from the organic farm co-op and make some baked fries, and we usually cop-out and do frozen sweet potato fries from Costco, so I decided to try carrot fries instead. We rounded out our meal with leftover Seesee's fried chicken and pork chops.

Baked Carrot Fries (My Version)

2 large carrots
1 tbsp virgin olive oil
small garlic clove
kosher salt (to taste)
Italian seasoning (to taste)

I pretty much ditched the original recipe, since I couldn't find any Rosemary, and I was too lazy to figure out how I should cut the recipe for the amount of carrot I was using. So I just adopted the potato fry recipe, but used the cooking instructions from the carrot one.

Step 1 - Preheat oven 450F [the recipe says 425F, but the potato one was 450, so I decided to chance it and check on them sooner.]

Step 2 - Peel and mince garlic. Combine with oil in bowl and microwave for 30 to 60 seconds (until you can smell the garlic.)

Step 3 - Peel carrots. Slice off tips and top ends. Cut into half, thirds, or fourths, depending on how long your carrots are and how long you want your fries to be. Then cut in half lengthwise, and those in half again. Whee!

Step 4 - Toss carrots in garlic oil, until coated thoroughly. Use excess oil to coat baking sheet [I used parchment paper and coated it with the oil.] Lay carrots out evenly on baking sheet.

Step 5 - Sprinkle salt and Italian seasoning on top as desired.

Step 6 - Bake 20 minutes. Check on them halfway, and you can shuffle or turn them if you feel they need it.

Step 7 - Remove from sheet after cooking and place on paper towel-covered plate and salt again if desired/needed.

Step 8 - Watch ungrateful child reject efforts and demand macaroni & cheese, without even trying. Stare daggers at husband until he tells you they are delicious.

They weren't as crispy as I expected. They were kind of mushy, but they held together well, and were mighty tasty. Really they tasted like french fries, with an aftertaste of carrot.

Baked Garlicky Fries

Pretty similar recipe as the carrots, since I co-opted this one for them, but a little different. And slightly different from the original recipe I was using. Pretty much the same directions as above, with just a few additions.

3 small yellow potatoes
3 tbsp virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic (plus a little one.)
Kosher salt (to taste)
Italian seasoning (to taste)
Garlic powder (to taste)

Step 1 - Peel (or not) and cut potatoes into wedges. I did approximately 8 wedges per potato, but only 6 on the smaller one. My potatoes had sprouts growing on them, so I made sure to peel down until there was no trace of them. Something about potatoes being related to Deadly Nightshade and sprouts being bad...

Step 2 - Peel and mince garlic. Combine with oil in bowl and microwave for 30 to 60 seconds (until you can smell the garlic.)

Step 4 - Toss potatoes in garlic oil, until coated thoroughly. Use excess oil to coat baking sheet [I used parchment paper and coated it with the oil.] 

Step 5 - Cover and microwave 3 to 6 minutes, shifting and redistributing them around halfway through. I'm not sure what you're looking for here, as mine didn't get translucent on the edges like the original recipe said, but I didn't use Russets. I opted to use a second bowl to cover, rather than risk microwaving plastic wrap, or doing all the extra cooking, as in the original recipe. I just did mine for the 6 minutes, flipping the bowls halfway through. [Use hot mitts if using bowls that heat up at all.]

[I couldn't see much difference before and after microwaving.
But they sure smelled great!]

Step 6 - Lay potatoes out evenly on baking sheet. **I recommend using tongs rather than fingers. Owowowhothot!**

Step 7 - Sprinkle salt, garlic powder and Italian seasoning on top as desired.

Step 8 - Bake 30 to 40 minutes. Check on them halfway, and you can shuffle or turn them if you feel they need it. I baked mine for 30 minutes, flipping them over halfway through, and they were a smidge dry and the garlic bits that clung to them tasted burnt. But they were crazy delicious.

[This is only when I flipped them the first time. I forgot to take a pic at the end! Doh!]

Step 7 - Remove from sheet after cooking and place on paper towel-covered plate and salt/season again if desired/needed.

I cooked both kinds together, so I used the same oil for everything, and started the carrots for 6 minutes while the potatoes were getting nuked. I then took the carrots out, smooshed them closer together to make room and added the potatoes. I checked on them after another 10 minutes (16 minutes total so far for the carrots) and opted to give them another 5. (So roughly 20 minutes at a higher temp than the original recipe called for for the carrots, and 15 minutes for the potatoes.) I took them out, removed the carrots and flipped the potatoes, and put them in for another 10 minutes, but probably a bit longer. We were watching TV and no one was really checking the time. But definitely less than 40 minutes total for the potatoes, since I *did* check the times at the end... I just can't figure why they'd be overcooked at 25 minutes, so I must be forgetting some time. But maybe all that microwaving did the trick.
Either way, both were delicious and fairly easy. The hard part was the logistics of transferring stuff around to share the oil and remembering different cooking times and such.

Little Z refused to try either kind, but I give her a pass, as she's only 2, and not a real person, with empathy or gratitude or an understanding of how much of an effort some stuff takes, plus she's been sick and eating only a fraction of her normal dinner this past week. But my husband says they were really good. Although he's biased and wants me to cook more, so he may just be saying that. But *I* liked them. I preferred the potato ones, so I'll have to try the carrots in the original recipe with the sugar and rosemary.

Link up here, or post a comment about something new you tried this past week!