For a simple weekend brunch, no matter what the main course, I always crave a side of home fries. The humble potato is truly transformed into something exceptional when fried up alongside slivered onion and whatever else you may please, from the most rudimentary (salt and pepper) to something more hip and funky (green pepper, tomato and avocado). While I’m basically a purist when it comes to home fries, I do like them flavorful.
Over the weekend, we cooked up a batch of my favorite version of home fries. The process is incredibly easy. I had just started thinking about it, so asked myself three essential questions:
1) Feel like potatoes? Yep.
2) Feel like spice? But of course.
3) Have both in the house, and about 20 minutes to spare? Jackpot! Okay, then–let’s party!
I came up with this combination (likely not entirely original, I’ll venture) because we always have steak spice in the house for the HH’s carnivorous forays. I love spicy food, and the aroma of that particular combination of spices and seeds really sets my nose tingling. Well, I decided, if I won’t put the spice on steak, why not try it out on one of my favorites–home fries? The result worked amazingly well. Never mind the steak–just give me a plate of these, please, and I’m happy.
I’ll often do up a cheater’s version of this dish if I’m strapped for time. Like Johanna and her roasted carrots with dukkah, or Heidi and her friend’s skillet smashed potatoes, I’ll partially cook the potatoes before adding to the frypan, as I’ve found that, unless you overdo it and cook them completely, the dish isn’t really diminished by this move. If you begin with parboiled potatoes, you’re looking at no more than 15 minutes before you can dig into some browned, caramelized, crunchy-on-the-outside-creamy-on-the-inside potato contentment.
In fact, I love this recipe so much that I considered submitting it to “The Potato–A Blog Event” hosted by Eating Leeds, but I’ve decided I’ll just give the event a nod in this post, as I’ve got another potato-y prize in store for the event (which I’ll post later in the month). In the meantime, enjoy this super-easy way to cook up America’s favorite vegetable.
(“Mum, those do look great, but you know we’ll have to pass because we can’t have that onion. Sometimes you can be so heartless. . . “).
Montreal or Chicago Spiced Home Fries
This is a quick and easy way to provide a great side dish to a brunch or any protein main course. Feel free to adjust the spice to your own preferences.
4 large Russet or Yukon Gold potatoes, cut into 2″ (about 4.5 cm) chunks (leave the skin on)
2 medium onions (or more–they do shrink down!), sliced thinly in half-moons
2-4 Tbsp. (30-60 ml.) extra virgin olive oil
about 1 Tbsp. (15 ml.) Montreal steak spice, or Chicago-style steak spice*
Bring a large pot of water to the boil. Add potatoes and allow to boil for about 7 minutes, until just fork-tender. (Don’t overboil, or these will turn to mush in the frypan!) Alternately, if you’re okay with a microwave, you can nuke these until just soft.
Meanwhile, in a large skillet, heat the oil over medium heat and add the onion. Cover the pan and allow to cook for 5-10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onion is soft and just turning golden.
Add the potato chunks to the pan, stir well to coat with the onion/oil mixture, and sprinkle with the steak spice. Continue to fry for about 5 minutes at a time before stirring, until the potato chunks are browned and have accumulated some nice crispy bits on them, another 10 minutes or so. Remove to a serving dish and dig in. Makes 4-6 servings.
*we used Botanica brand, from Costco–it’s a mix of salt, dehydrated garlic and onion, plus herbs and spices; they mention only turmeric and paprika, but there are definitely others in there, such as peppercorns and perhaps some caraway. For the ingredient list of President’s Choice Montreal steak spice (probably better), check here.
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Hi! I'm Ricki, cookbook author, professional recipe developer, holistic nutritionist and anti-candida crusader. Let me show you how easy it is to eat plant-based, sugar-free, gluten free food that tastes great! 
Dude. Those look so tasty and warm…perfect for a cold Seattle Winter!
Thanks, Cakespy, and welcome! Can a woman be a dude, too? Okay, I’ll take it ;).
Now I’m totally craving these. YUM. Do you know that I rate most diners by the quality of their home fries? I’m so going to try this recipe soon!!
Best,
Karen
Karen,
I consider home fries to be the best part of a diner breakfast, so I’m with you on that one! Hope you enjoy these as much as we do over here.
Hey these look absolutely delicious! I’ve been meaning to search for a good “spiced potatoes” recipe and it looks like this one is perfect. I have a thing for rosemary, so I’ll try adding that as well. Thanks for sharing!
These work equally as well in the oven. Put all ingredients ( no parboiling ) in a plastic bag. Shake to mix well.Place in baking dish , cover tightly. Bake 30 to 35 minutes. Oh, Yum!!!
This is great to know, Bette, thank you! And actually sounds a lot easier. . . ! What temperature do you use?
When we have LEFTOVER boiled potatoes, I can’t agree with you more – as to method and seasoning. However, my MIL taught me a cheat to help get similar quality out of fried potatoes made from uncooked potatoes. I mean, I make them your way if I have leftover boiled potatoes, but otherwise, this is what I do now: 1) chop as desired (along with onions if desired), 2) place in pan with the right amount of somewhat preheated oil for my given pan (and when I changed skillets, I had to change that amount of oil, BTW…), 3) add salt and pepper and/or seasoning of your choice (yours is a great choice!), 4) COVER WITH A LID and cook on a slower heat…… the don’t absorb oil to death because the oil was preheated, – and that takes some practice – feeling the heat with my hand…….. 5) when the potatoes are beginning to be fork tender, turn up the heat and remove the lid – – – 6) brown stirring only as needed……. 7) finally enjoy – – – with a one-pot mess left over…… – – – yes, these might have a bit more oil absorption than your version (but then, we don’t eat these as often as I’d like…… they are saved for a pot of brown beans, or etc. – we typically do hash browns for brunch), but still, the oil absorption is surprisingly low when you get a sense of the right temp of oil based on the feel of heat coming off of the oil, but the crust on these are to die for………
Thanks so much for the tip, Rainah! 🙂
Bette, Just to clarify do you just mix everything in a plastic bag and dump it in something you can cover or are you using one of those bags like you bake a turkey in by renyolds wrap and actually putting that in the container and covering them sticking in the oven?
Carol, I’m not sure either–but either way, I think I’d still prefer the old-fashioned method since I don’t ingest any off-gassing from plastic that way. 😉