Hi everyone. I'm back. Last week Patrick got you all off to a fittingly alcoholic start to the season, but now it's my turn to start the season off with a ballpark treat that is one of my favorites and, as far as I can tell, originated as a ballpark food at AT&T Park: garlic fries.
While I've never had the Gilroy's Garlic Fries at Telephone Park that started it all, I have had the ones they sell at Chase, which are delicious. The one problem with them is the only food stand that sells them is behind home plate, and when you're sitting down the foul line in the nosebleeds, that's a bit of a walk for artery clogging food, so why not just make them at home? But before we do that, let's have a bit of a scouting report, shall we?
The Scouting Report
"What in the name of the Doctor is a scouting report for food?" I hear you asking. Well, basically what this section is going to be this season is maybe some back story on the food item, some places famous for serving the dish, some interesting facts about the food, or it will just devolve into me lamenting the dearth of "Doctor Who" related curses in day-to-day life. I really don't know yet.
The garlic fries that are served in San Francisco are found at "Gilroy's Garlic Fries", named after Gilroy, CA, whose claim to fame is being the "Garlic Capital of the World". Gilroy's also bills itself as the first green concessions stand. Now, these normally come fried. However, I currently have absolutely no way to fry food, so we're going to bake them Your heart will thank you.
The Recipe
Courtesy America's Test Kitchen
Ingredients:
1 1/2 pounds russet potatoes, scrubbed, peeled, and cut into 1/4 inch spears
6 to 10 cloves of garlic, minced (depends on how badly you want to keep vampires, and loved ones, away)
6 tablespoons veggie oil
2 tablespoons cornstarch
Garlic powder, salt, pepper, and minced parsley to taste
Directions
1. Adjust oven rack to lowest position and heat oven to 475 degrees. Combine garlic and oil in large bowl and microwave until garlic is fragrant, about 1 minute. Transfer 5 tablespoons oil (leaving garlic in bowl) to rimmed baking sheet, turning sheet to coat.
2. Add potatoes to bowl with remaining oil mixture and toss to coat. Wrap tightly with plastic wrap and microwave on high power until potatoes are translucent around edges, 3 to 6 minutes, shaking bowl to redistribute potatoes halfway through cooking.
3. Sprinkle cornstarch over hot potatoes and toss to coat. Arrange potatoes in single layer on prepared baking sheet and bake, turning once, until deep golden brown and crisp, 30 to 40 minutes. Season to taste with garlic powder, salt and pepper, garnishing with the minced parsley. Serve.
And there you have it! Garlic fries, the San Francisco treat! Or maybe not. Who knows...
Fang Food is a series of weekly baseball food articles written by imstillhungry95 (Blake) and Turambar (Patrick). Check out the archive of past articles! Questions, comments, suggestions, concerns? Email us at fangfood@gmail.com or contact us on Facebook!