Canada is a pretty great place
(don’t insert a comment about the weather here-we’re already obsessed and shouldn’t be encouraged to talk about it any more than we do), admittedly I am biased.
My Dad’s family came here during the Highland Clearances and my Mom’s family came here during the Irish Potato Famine.
Life would not have been easy but at least you had a chance to make things better or at least survive.
Millions of folks have come here since with the same dream and they bring tonnnes of goodies with them. By goodies I mean their national dishes and songs and festivals and dress and…
It’s amazing to be part of the whole miasma.
What we don’t REALLY have though is a national cuisine.
Many of us have tried mightily to make maple syrup a food group unto itself but even I have to admit it’s not a whole meal.
The closest thing we’ve got is Poutine.
What’s that?
Well, my friend.
Let me tell you.
Poutine (pronounce poo-ten in my area) is an amazing concoction of fries, cheese and gravy.
I know I had you at the fries but you really want this dish now that I mentioned gravy, don’t you?
Well, I couldn’t leave well enough alone the other day and made my own version.
This is going to go on dinner rotation often now.
I may become one of those people that they have to cut a hole in the house to get them out.
I started with 4 large Yukon Gold Potatoes (Idaho’s are a nice substitute) which I cut into chunky fry shape and tossed with 1 T. of olive oil.
I placed the whole thing on a cookie sheet with a silicone sheet on it (use parchment paper if you don’t have any), sprinkled them with sea salt and cooked in a 400 degree oven until crispy.
While my fries were cooking I made the gravy (you could skip this step if want and buy the canned stuff-it’s gravy, noone says no to any sort of gravy).
I toasted 1/8 cup of flour in a pot until it started to brown slightly and smelled nutty (about 3 minutes).
I then whisked in 1 1/2 cups of chicken stock and let the whole thing thicken over a medium heat for about 10 minutes.
Now for the assembly (obviously I was so excited that I jiggled my camera).
Layer of fries.
Layer of sharp cheddar and a few dots of goat’s cheese. (2 tsp in all)
Layer of fries followed by…
more cheese!
Top with gravy.
And why not? More cheese.
You’re thinking of moving here right now, aren’t you?
)
Almost done packing ~ what was your address again?
These are to die for. With my Italian heritage, anything with cheese that has additional cheese is heaven.
I’ll need to email it to you C: cheese really does make everything better.
Oh, mercy! I would never fit through the door!
I am in Canada too. Love Poutine. But I never tried making it. Next time, I will try your recipe at home. All those cheese and the gravy…
yummy yummy,yum….. Also subscribing your blog by email.
Go Jane Go!
My cousins have been living in Canada for almost ten years. (They hail from Edmonton.) They recently came to visit, and made Poutine for us when they arrived last July. Oh my god, it was so yummy. Suddenly chili and fries didn’t do French fries justice. You just can’t go wrong with gravy and cheese, together!
Happy SITS day again! I’ve been around all three of your posts. You’ve just made a new blog fan!
These we like to refer to in New York as Disco Fries!!! Yours look soooo good- much better than the diner version here!
DISCO FRIES! I love this name. I’ll have to use it the next time-small one is going to love the new label.
How could you not LOVE that name? LOL!!! I just showed my husband your fries & now we are both jones’n for them!!
Mmmm. I went to a French high school in Ontario and our cafeteria made poutine. So delicious. That recipe looks amazing. I can’t wait to try it out.
Happy SITS day to you, Jane!
This is a lot lighter version than what we’re offering in our school cafeteria. Slightly scary there C:
Would it be wrong to eat this for breakfast? It looks so delicious!
There’s a vegetable in there and dairy, surely that’s a breakfast food.
YUMMMM! I will definitely try this! (as a US girl with family from the south I was thinking cream gravy but this looks fantastic!)
Cream gravy would be especially decadent. How about one with the chunks of sausage in it? In for a penny…
Is this really a dish!! Wow, I want to try it but I’m a little scared. I think adding the gravy is the problem for me. But when and if I do try it I’ll be sure to let you know.
Gravy is always a good idea though C:
You had me at fries…but then you pushed me over the edge with cheese, since being in Wisconsin, no one else understands this obsession! This recipe looks so delish!! (Congrats on your featured blog at SITS!!)
Cheese does make everything that much better C:
Fries with cheese? I’m hooked! Visiting from SITS
There really isn’t a better phrase than one starting with “fries with…”
and I just gained all my weigh back lol. you have sme yummy stuff.
Meh, being suelte is severely over rated.
I have always wanted to try this dish.
This version is so easy, I really like that you can oven ‘fry’ the fries instead of hauling out the deep fryer.
MMM they sound great!!
lol! Loved this post….so funny! You know what is odd? How all of our families migrated from Europe and other parts of the world here in the US and we have these odd accents! How did we have British, Irish, Italian, French, etc…. and end up with country twangs, southern drawls, and New England type accents?
Isn’t that bizarre? I love how we all melt together but still keep all these great traditions from the past