Pan-Fried Chili Home-fries

Simplicity. Home fries on a Monday night. You just read that sentence and you thought, hey, this girl is going to cook some potatoes and take some pictures of it. For real?! Yes, for real. I am going to share with the world that I cooked some potatoes.

Pathetic.  PAH-thetic! Nope. It's perfect. And I will tell you why.

Potatoes do not require a lot of effort or talent to cook up nicely. And because this is a food blog, people expect there to be posts on items that do require effort, that take a bit of imagination, and that are skillful representations of delicious dishes. I totally agree with this statement. The food and recipes should inspire you. They should create a sense of amazement and should increase the reader's personal recipe box. Yes, I agree.

However, when I'm reading other blogs I do find myself sometimes drawn to something more than others purely because of the mood I am in. For example, when it is cold and rainy out, a blog on soup totally piques my interest. Maybe it's Thursday and I really could use an awesome Saturday night appetizer for when friend's come over (a little planning ahead business). Or maybe it's a lazy Sunday and some wicked french toast just hits the spot.

Wellll it's Meatless Monday, and all I want are some nicely slow pan-friend spicy home fries. Done and DONE.

These darlings require time but really aren't too high maintenance, aka they don't require too much attention. And time means about half an hour, not hours on end. I know, I know, they should be more along the lines of man cooking: get in, get out, get eating. Unfortunately, to get the crispy outs, and soft ins with the right amount of spice, we are going to let it take it's own sweet cooking time.

Let's start it off with some salt, pepper and spiciness! (Oh and of course oregano to balance the flavours)

Then after (not!) chopping the potatoes into relatively similar 1/2 inch cubes, we turn the heat up on the pan, get the oil going and begin our slow process of pan-frying.

And the lid goes on.

Browning is starting. This is a good sign.

Lid goes back on. Starting to follow the technique?

Give it a good stir to let the browning happen on all sides, golden, crispy, 20 minutes later? Done!

Simple, non-uniform success

Perfect for a fork, also nice for fingers...

Pan-Fried Chili Home-fries

Serves 4

4 small or 3 medium sized white potatoes, skin left on, scrubbed well

11/2 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp chili powder

1 tsp oregano

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

Ketchup, for serving (optional)

Directions

1. Over medium heat, add oil to a large skillet. Allow the oil to heat up in the pan, approximately 203 minutes.

2. Wash and scrub potatoes well. Cut the potatoes into 1/2 inch cubes. Once the oil has heated up, add the potatoes to the skillet. Cover the skillet with a lid and allow to cook for 10 minutes, stirring once or twice.

3. After ten minutes, remove lid and add chili powder, oregano, salt and pepper. Stir the spices around to allow even coating over the potatoes. Cover with lid and allow to cook for an additional 10 minutes, stirring once or twice during this time.

4. After 10 minutes of cooking with the spices, increase heat to medium-high. Replace lid and allow the potatoes to cook for an additional 5 minutes, stirring once.

5. Serve hot with your favourite condiment (obviously my suggestion is a classic ketchup). Other suggestions are salsa, Parmesan cheese, or some hot sauce.