Take A Cue From Jacques Pépin And Season Oven-Baked Fries With Herbs De Provence

If you're looking for home-baked comfort, few dishes offer equally satisfying mouthfuls as potatoes fresh out of the oven. Fries are the ultimate comfort food, and when seasoned and spiced to perfection, these crunchy nuggets of golden, salty, deliciousness can be enjoyed as a stand-alone snack or served alongside your favorite dishes. Leave it to Jacques Pépin to take a homemade recipe one step further with a generous smattering of herbs de Provence. 

Hailing from France's Provence region, the flavorful mix of dried herbs not only brings a boost of taste but also delivers health-supporting properties in a single spoonful. Sprinkled into soup and stews or used to top slabs of proteins, this convenient spice blend offers a ticket to France right from the comfort of your kitchen. What better recipe to add this tasty upgrade than to French fries? Ground rosemary, fennel seeds, thyme, marjoram, basil, mint, oregano, and tarragon are the savory upgrades your next batch of homemade fries deserves. 

Whether you have set out to make sweet potato fries or are slicing delicate matchstick cuts, you don't need much of the dried herbs blend to spruce up your recipe. In a clip of "Jacques Pépin Cooking at Home" shared by KQED on YouTube, Pépin starts by adding a teaspoon of herbs de Provence to his oiled-up potatoes and mixing the batch well before placing the pieces onto a non-stick pan. Depending on how many fries you're making and how flavorful a batch you'd like to serve, you can adjust the amount as needed. After 40 minutes or so in a 425-degree Fahrenheit oven, you'll have a tray of perfectly cooked potatoes to serve. 

Pépin reserves adding salt to the seasoned fries until after they are baked. Use flavored salt to keep your foot on the pedal of flavor or ground Himalayan pink salt over your hot fries for a sophisticated twist. These fries are so good they don't need any condiments, but by all means, dip these beauties into the sauces and dips of your choosing for a culinary vacation that is well worth the wait.