Oven-Roasted Rosemary Steak Fries

If there are three dishes that Kerry could eat all the time they would be, in order: pizza, burgers and fries. He is addicted. Living in NY, we are blessed with great pizza parlors and diner joints for burgers. However, fries are always a bit of a problem. Both of us like a thicker French Fry and most hamburger joints have thin, nearly shoestring fries.

A few weeks ago a Smashburger chain restaurant opened a ½ of a mile away from us. Of course we had to try it. The burgers were great but the fries left something to be desired - shoestring. However, on the menu were rosemary fries. They tasted great and I knew that it would be a wonderful recipe if made at home with thicker steak fries.

These Oven-Roasted Rosemary Steak Fries provide the hint of fresh herbs, Kosher salt, a dash of pepper and the thickness we like. This recipe serves two (2); however, it could easily be increased.

Ingredients

2 Idaho Russet Potatoes (cleaned)
2 stems of fresh rosemary - 2 tablespoons (chopped)
⅛ teaspoon freshly ground pepper
¾ teaspoon Kosher salt
1 tablespoon Olive Oil

Directions

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.

Gather all your ingredients on one place. The French call this miss en place (everything in place). Trust me, getting everything ready beforehand will save you time on a busy weeknight.

Cut lengthwise the potatoes in half, then half again, then half again. If your math and cutting is right, you'll get 8 steak fries per potato.

Place the potatoes on a cookie sheet.

Strip the rosemary leaves from the stem. You do this by holding on to the top of the stem and pulling the leaves down. They come right off. (FYI - my rosemary was from our garden - it made it through the winter in pots.)

Chop the rosemary leaves finely.

Sprinkle the olive oil over the potatoes.

Put the chopped rosemary, salt and pepper on top of the potatoes.

Now for the fun part. Take your impeccably cleaned hands and toss all the ingredients together so every potato wedge is covered with oil, rosemary, salt and pepper. Spread out the wedges on the sheet.

Place in the preheated oven on a middle shelf. Bake for 35 minutes and turn the wedges over. (You can see below the wedges on the top were turned over.)

Continue baking another 30 - 35 minutes until the wedges are cooked thoroughly through. (You can test by putting a knife in the thickest part of the potato and it comes out with little resistance.)

Serve with your favorite ketchup or mayonnaise and enjoy!