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20th December 2016
12:18am GMT
Show me somebody who doesn't love garlic cheesy fries and I'll show you a dry day in Ireland during winter.
They're one of the tastiest things you'll ever eat but – for the vast majority of time we only go near them in late-night establishments after a night out.
I wanted to come up with an idiot-proof recipe for making them at home, with the added bonus that you don't need a deep fat fryer. Prepare to have your life changed and to loosen a couple of notches on your belt.
The beauty here is that you just need five simple ingredients, most of which you'll probably find in your local Centra or Spar or what have you. Start off by preheating your oven to 200C.
Peel the potatoes, leaving them as square as possible. The bigger a potato you get the better.
The important part here is cutting them very evenly in size. You want them all to cook evenly, so making them identical in size helps.
Pop them into a large oven tray with a generous amount of oil and a good sprinkling of salt. Toss them around so as they are all covered evenly. Then pop them into the preheated oven.
Peel a couple of cloves of garlic. Chop them up and then sprinkle a good lashing of salt over it. This will help turn it into a paste.
Next, instead of chopping, use the back of the knife to crush the garlic into a thin paste. This will take a couple of minutes, but you'll end up with a perfectly smooth end product.
Grate a large handful of cheese. I prefer the sharpest cheese possible and you want to grate it on the thinnest part of the grater possible.
After about 15 minutes toss the chips in the oven tray. They'll get stuck to the bottom slightly, but that's good because those bits get extra crispy. You may need to do this a couple of times during the process.
Pop a small pot onto a low heat with some oil and throw the garlic paste in. Simmer it very gently for about two minutes.
Next add in the cream cheese. Be generous with it, Keeping the heat very low you'll be able to melt it down in no time.
Thin the sauce down with a small bit of milk. You'll need to judge this yourself. More cream cheese to thicken it or more milk to thin it out.
Add in a large handful of cheese and get the sauce to the consistency you want. Don't be shy with the cheese.
Whip the chips out of the oven. They should be golden brown, crunchy and soft in the middle.
Pour the sauce over the chips and finish with another handful of cheese. Absolutely fucking delicious!
These are perfect for a match or movie night at home.
Cook up a big tray of them and and watch all the faces light up – go grab the five simple ingredients right now and get cracking!
