Home-made French Fries (+ GIVEAWAY Winner Announced!)

First and foremost,
A big thank you to everyone who submitted an entry in The Little Bitchin Kitchen's first giveaway in honor of our one year anniversary.

Secondly, congratulations to Laurie, who followed all of the entry directions and was excited to make her first ever batch of sugarless fig jam! (I am actually dying to know how that turned out, so Laurie, if you want to share your recipe, please do!) I will contacting you soon for shipping details. I hope you enjoy the Barefoot Contessa cookbook as much as I do!

Now, for some good grub:

Last Sunday was a day of rest at our house. Most of it was spent re-cooperating after a night out to celebrate my  friend Krystle's birthday.  Let's just say that shots, mixed drinks, and late nights are not as easy to bounce back from these days!

In addition to being a wee-bit under the weather, it was football Sunday and what better excuse to indulge a little, right? These golden fried fries complimented my mushroom and swiss sliders wonderfully.  I guarantee you will love them, that is, if you try them. (So try them!)

Home-made French Fries
Serves: Four (4) as an appetizer, Two (2) as a side dish

Ingredients:
Four (4) medium sized russet potatoes
One (1) teaspoon kosher salt
One (1) lemon
Vegetable or canola oil, for frying
Seasoning salt or kosher salt, (to taste,) after frying

Directions:
Peel and rinse the potatoes thoroughly. Now, cut them into sticks by cutting the potato in four or five vertical pieces, then cutting each piece into sticks. (I prefer mine to be about 1/2 inch in thickness, but thicker or thinner is your preference.)

Add your cut potatoes to a large bowl of cold water and add one (1) teaspoon of kosher salt. Squeeze the juice of one (1) lemon over them, making sure to catch the seeds, and then toss the lemon into the bowl too!

Let the potatoes soak for a minimum of 2 hours, but no longer than 24 hours.  I prefer a little longer, but 2 hours will be just fine!

Remove potatoes from the bowl and discard water and lemon. Place potatoes on a baking sheet lined paper towels and pat dry.

In a dutch oven, heat oil to approx. 300°F degrees.  If you have a thermometer, use it!
300°F is ideal, but you could get by on medium/high heat. You just don't want them turning brown and crispy... yet. If they are turning brown within the first 4 minutes, turn your heat down.

Next, in batches, add your potatoes to the oil and par-cook for about 5 minutes per batch, or until potatoes are soft. Remove each batch and return to baking sheet lined with new/dry paper towels.

Once all potatoes have gone through their first batch of frying, turn up the heat to 400°F. When the oil is hot, start to fry each batch again, this time until each batch starts to get perfectly golden brown and crisp around the edges. Remove from the oil and set on new/dry paper towels and sprinkle with a seasoning salt or kosher salt.

You just put restaurant fries to shame. Seriously... how good do they smell right now? Get out some ketchup and chow like no one's watching!

Source: Slightly adapted from: The Pioneer Woman Cooks.