My parents and Shane's parents both grew up in Idaho in the heart of potato country. We both grew up eating lots of potatoes. They were a staple to say the least. I am not a huge fan and so we eat them sparingly at our house. My kids several years ago wouldn't eat them at all. I found out about blue potatoes (although my kids call them purple since they look way more purple than blue) while rifling through a gardening magazine. I thought that my kids might actually eat them if they were a fun color. I think it was 6 years ago that I planted them for the first time. Back then you had to order them online and they were hard to find even then. Now, I buy the starts at Home Depot! I am glad they are easier to find because they really are a fun thing to grow.
My kid's favorite way to eat them is to make homemade fries :)
After scrubbing them like crazy, I peel them and rinse them off again. We like thin and crunchy fries so I cut mine thin-ish. Too thin and they will be too hard to eat.
As I cut them I put them in a bowl of cold water. Once they are all cut, I drain them and dry them off with a dish cloth.
Coat a cookie sheet with your choice of oil or with butter. I have one of those spray pumps for oil and I also spray the potatoes. After I coat them with oil, I sprinkle salt on them. If you don't have a way to spray the oil, you can also add them to a gallon sized baggie and mix them around.
I bake them at 425 degrees until they start to brown. The time will depend on the thickness of the fries and your oven but it is usually around 15-20 minutes.
We like to eat them with fry sauce and of course, burgers. This burger is a yummy black bean burger that I shared the recipe for the other day. You can also read how I make the southwest style fry sauce.
PIN for later:
Do you ever make your own fries? Do you deep fat fry them or bake them in the oven?
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Hmmm...I never made my own fries because I assumed they had to be fried in a big vat of oil. Baking with a light sprinkling of oil sounds way better and so much healthier. Thanks Stacy - Now to find some of those fabulous purple potatoes!
My dad always grew purple potatoes while we were growing up. We had fun serving them to people who'd never seen them before and watching their reactions.
If you boil them, leave them in their skins. Otherwise the color leaches into the water and they end up icky green. It makes for some funky looking spuds.
I'll have to try mine this way. I fried our purple potatoes in oil and they turned grayish and didn't stay crispy. They came out crispy but turned to that soggy rubbery texture after about 30 seconds..
This looks amazing! I am craving them now! Hahaha. Purple/blue potatoes are so yummy and look so pretty. I bake mine as well. Love your pictures! Beautiful. :)
Never knew there were purple potatoes!! I'll have to check it out!
Thanks for linking up with Welcome Home Wednesdays!
liz
Not sure how I have not seen this before, but will be growing some in the spring! Anxious to see what my kids will think.
I once made mashed potatoes with purple potatoes, mine stayed purple after boiling, then for fun, when I made the ham gravy I added a wee bit of red food coloring so I had purple mashed potatoes and red gravy. I finally got my grand kids to try it. They ate it but the oldest saide "this just isn't right Grandma, potatoess are supposed to be white.