Parmesan thyme truffle fries is the perfect side dish to go along with a tasty steak. Well, any meat dish really. Conversely, I prefer to eat them on their own with a robust glass of Chardonnay.
Parmesan thyme truffle fries are full of flavor. These salty, herbed thick cut potatoes with just a touch of cheese are the epitome of comfort food. One bite into these glorious fries will have you begging for more. They melt in your mouth, but only after a crunchy crispiness rivaled by very few side dishes.
Truffle fries are a bit of an anomaly, they have a wonderful truffle taste, without a iota of truffle in the recipe. You see, the truffle taste is provided by white truffle oil, but white truffle oil is very often a synthetic, dare I say it, abomination made up of olive oil and a chemical with a rather odd name – dithiapentane. Many chefs would slap your face if you dared to serve them white truffle oil. But we don’t have to worry about upsetting the hoi polloi of the food industry, this dish is for us.
The herbs in this dish are wonderfully authentic, they are fried together with the potatoes and add a subtle balance. I would suggest removing the thyme from it’s stems once fried, it makes this dish much easier to eat. I left the thyme on their stems just for eye appeal, so don’t follow my lead.
This recipe asks that you pre-cook the potatoes in the microwave. Now I know that this might be sacrilegious for some, but it’s merely a time-saving effort. If this act is just too much to bear, you can pre-cook the potatoes in the oven at 425 for approx. 1 hour.
Parmesan thyme truffle fries is a crowd-pleaser and a must when you have guests. They will work just as well at a sophisticated dinner as they would at a cocktail party, just makes sure you have plenty to go round.
Parmesan Thyme Truffle Fries
Ingredients
- 3 lb golden potatoes
- 3 cups peanut oil
- handful fresh thyme
- Drizzle white truffle oil
- 2 tsp coarse kosher salt
- 2 tbsp parmesan grated
Equipment & Utensils
- Microwave
- Large dutch oven
- Skimmer
Instructions
- Wash the potatoes thoroughly, then pierce each potato several times with a fork.
- Place potatoes in the microwave and cook on high for approx. 17-20 mins.
- Potatoes should be very easily pierce with a fork once cooked.
- Allow potatoes to cool so that you can handle them, then cut each potato in half and then slice into fries - no more than 1/4" thick.
- Heat oil in dutch oven until hot, then place half of the thyme in oil, then carefully add half of the potatoes into the oil.
- With the skimmer, gently shuffle the thyme and potatoes around, so they mix up together.
- Allow potatoes to fry, they will get golden on one side.
- Flip them over and continue to fry until they are golden on both sides.
- Remove from oil using a skimmer and allow to drain on paper towels.
- Remove thyme from stems and sprinkle over fries - discard stems.
- Transfer to serving plate or dish, then drizzle with oil and then finally sprinkle with salt and parmesan.
- Serve immediately.
