Crispy Blue Cheese Oven Baked Fries

I am O B S E S S E D with these fries!! Crispy Blue Cheese Oven Baked Fries. Need I say more?

No, but I will.

My husband Will generally comes home from his day job pretty late, around 7-8pm. The poor thing then clocks in for his second job as CEO (Chief Eating Officer) for My Little Larder – no rest for the wicked! Will coming home between 7-8pm means that when I come home from work I have to do the whole night time routine with baby George, who is usually very tired from day care, by myself. Not my favourite time of the day! A couple of weeks ago Will took the day off from his day job to catch up on errands. It was so wonderful! Not only did I come home to a beautifully tidy house (isn’t he amazing?) he had also picked up George and organised dinner. So spoilt! Dinner was spicy chicken wings, slaw and blue cheese fries. Yes, blue cheese fries! Will said he was watching some daytime TV and doing the ironing (have I mentioned how amazing he is?), saw something about Buffalo Wings and fries and had an epiphany. Bake some fries, crumble over lots of blue cheese, then let it melt and bubble all over the fries for the last 5 minutes of cooking. Finish them off with a little fresh chives. Num num num. So easy, but so so good. Why didn’t he think of this before? Since then we have been having blue cheese on fries and crispy roast potatoes all the time. That’s really how good they are.

The melted blue cheese is not the only thing that’s great about this dish. The fries are baked! A.k.a. (semi) healthy, but still so crisp and delicious. I’ve never been a big fan of deep frying at home. It smokes out my house and if I save all my deep fried goodness for when I’m out at restaurants I feel like its more of a treat and I’m being a little bit healthier. If you do want your home baked fries all crisp and delicious then you do have to follow a few simple rules: (a) cut your fries reasonably narrow, no fatter than 0.5cm/1/5in, (b) ensure your fries are dried with a paper towel or tea towel before baking, (c) ensure your fries are spread out in a single layer on your baking tray, and most importantly (d) do not, I repeat, do not over crowd your tray. In these photos I’ve packed in way too many fries, I would normally bake this amount of fries on two baking trays, but I overcrowded them so that the photos would look good. Don’t follow my example! What’s even better is that you don’t have to fluff around with 50 different dishes and parboil your fries, this recipe is simple, easy and works!

These Crispy Blue Cheese Oven Baked Fries are perfect with some garlicky or lemon aioli or ketchup on the side. Better yet, take the lead from our North American friends and pair them with some tangy ranch dressing (okay, if you do that it may just undo all the goodness you did by having oven baked fries, but it may just be worth it).

Enjoy!

xo Kate

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Crispy Blue Cheese Oven Baked Fries

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes

Total Time 40 minutes

Servings 4 as a side

Author My Little Larder

Ingredients

• 1 kg baking potatoes Agria, Russet, Burbank, Maris Piper or Ilam Hardy, skin on
• 2 Tbsp oil I used olive oil, but any oil works
• Coarse sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper
• 90 g 3oz crumbly blue cheese
• 1 Tbsp fresh chives finely chopped

Instructions

1. Preheat oven at 220C (430F).
2. Cut potatoes into 0.5cm (approximately 1/5 inch) thick matchsticks. Dry the fries with a paper towel. In a large bowl, toss with oil. Evenly spread fries in a single layer over a baking tray or trays lined with baking (parchment) paper.
3. Bake for 20-25 min or until almost golden. Remove from oven, gently toss the fries, spread back over the tray/s, then evenly crumble the blue cheese over top. Return to the oven for approximately 5 minutes or until the cheese is melted and bubbly and the fries are golden.
4. Remove from oven, season and sprinkle with chives and serve immediately.
5. Serve with lemon or garlic aioli, ketchup or ranch dressing, if desired.