French fries!

My son had been begging for french fries for hours today. I dug a couple of my yukon golds and fried some up for him. Here's how I do it:

1. heat about a quart or so of your choice of frying oil over medium heat.
2. meanwhile, cut your potatoes. I find this easiest to quarter the potatoes and then cut them into french fry shapes, trying to keep them similar in size.
3. test your oil to see if it is at the right temperature. you can do this by dropping one of the fries in the oil. if it sizzles like you see in the photograph, the oil is hot enough.
4. fry potatoes in small batches until browned (these potatoes are Yukon Golds, a dual purpose potato, so they aren't as brown as a mealy/starchy variety would be).
5. drain them on paper towels.
6. salt them while still hot.
7. eat!

Easiest noodles and cheese

Guy loves pasta. He asked me for lunch today if we could have "some noonles?"  But what kid doesn't love pasta, right? Especially if you couple it with cheese.

One way that I've found I can get a little green vegetable into my son's diet is to use spinach pasta (but any pasta will do) such as this. The consistency is just like regular pasta.

Here is how I cook pasta:

1. Bring water to a rolling boil. Add Kosher salt. I like Diamond Crystal, which comes in a red box. I add enough salt to make the water taste like the sea.

(I know that sounds like a lot, but you won't need to add any more salt when you drain the water off).

2. Boil noodles until tender, drain off most of the cooking liquid, leaving a couple of tablespoons behind. This is how the Italians cook their pasta.

3. Put the pot back on the burner, add some olive oil or butter, and add some grated cheese. Any cheese will do. This particular cheese is just plain old cheddar (even easier than mac n cheese!).

4. Stir rapidly, coating all the noodles evenly. Simple tongs work best for this. The noodles will be ready when the cheese, butter and cooking water have turned into a saucy consistency.

5. Make sure to get some water on your pot and tongs right away for ease of cleanup. Better yet, toss  the dishes into the dishwasher and run through the rinse cycle if you're not ready to clean up quite yet.


This is a silly and dizzying video of Guy eating noodles, posted mostly for the grandparents.