Especially Delicious Home Fries

This past weekend I spent on Bailey Island in Maine with some great friends. Part of the planning of this trip included food, who brings/makes what. Well, not only did we have great food, but the weather we had was pretty amazing, not to mention the views!

Mackerel Cove

The area of Bailey Island is called Mackerel Cove and the condo we stayed in can be rented out weekly during the warmer weather months by visiting Bailey Island Rentals and scrolling down to "Mackerel Cove Condo #4." Really, the views from this condo are amazing, and if you are looking for peace and relaxation (and some extra time for cooking and enjoying the views!) this is great.

This is what I woke up to, way too early (can you tell by the great quality?)

Back to the home fries...I had a bag of all purpose potatoes that desperately needed to be used, I had about 8 small to medium sized potatoes. Wash the skins, but do not peel, the skin is the best part when it comes to home fries! You will want to dice the potatoes into bite sized pieces, try to make the pretty close to the same size so that they cook evenly. My trick to making this is parboiling. A lot of people skip this step, and often times end up with not so lovely raw home fries, so DON'T SKIP THIS! Put all of the pieces in a pot of water, lightly salted, and bring to a boil. You do not want to over cook these or they will mash. Cook them for maybe 15 minutes, but keep checking for softness, you will need to drain and rinse with cold water before they reach the soft stage.

Next we have home fries spice. Its a secret, but I will share it with you. I use latin spice blend called Sazon and another called Adobo, the sazon adds a nice red color (and flavor!) and the Adobo adds another level of flavors.

Oh! Before I forget, I ALWAYS cook these in a cast iron skillet. A few reasons; the will not stick and the seasoned skillet creates a perfectly golden potato.

8 or so potatoes, washed and diced
1 large onion diced small
1/2 packet sazon
A couple shakes of Adobo and garlic powder
1 tbsp Olive oil
1-2 tbsp Butter
Salt
Pepper

First, preheat the cast iron skillet. Get it nice and hot but not so hot that it starts to smoke. Add your oil and butter and when the butter has melted you can add the potatoes. Let them sit, don't try to stir them too often or you won't get that nice golden brown crust. You can, however, add the sazon and adobo, but hold off on the garlic for now.

Fry the fries for about 8-10 minutes and then add the onion. You can now use a spatula to flip over the potatoes and give the onion a chance to caramelize. You can also add the garlic powder little by little, you just don't want to add so much that it burns.

Now, if you don't want to use the Sazon or Adobo, just get some garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, salt and pepper. It's not exactly the same, but will still be delicious!

I usually cook these babies for up to 30 minutes, making sure that the potatoes and onions are fully cooked and everything is perfectly seasoned. I also make these first, and then keep them in the oven at about 325F, just check them to make sure that they don't burn.