French Fries w/ Herbed Mayonnaise

Mayonnaise and I have a love-hate relationship.  I can love her when spread thinly across a piece of bread in between a sandwich.  I can love her mixed in with chicken or tuna salad.  I can even love her when mixed as a salad dressing.

However, where I draw the line to loving her and start hating her, is when she's used as a dip - such as aioli (which is basically a garlic mayonnaise).  When she's hidden, she's fine.  But when she's just out in the open, I get kinda weird.  I know, makes no sense. 

But homemade mayo.  Now that's a different story.  It doesn't quite possess the "weirdness" that I'm afraid of.  It's a whole other breed of sauce to me.  Mixed with a few herbs, and all my fear suddenly goes away.  I can fearlessly dip fry after fry in the stuff and be okay.  Well, somewhat okay.  It's still mayo, at the end of the day, and we've got to watch our portions! 

Anyway, this one's a keeper, even for the mayo-haters out there!

Ingredients:

French Fries:

2 russet potatoes, battonet (1/4" x 1/4" x 2")
2 tablespoons olive oil
salt and pepper, to taste

Herbed Mayonnaise:

1/4 cup spinach leaves, stemmed
2 tablespoons shallots, chopped
1/4 cup parsley leaves
1/2 tablespoons dried tarragon
2 egg yolks
1 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1/4 teaspoon mustard
1 & 1/2 cups vegetable oil
 salt and pepper, to taste

Preheat oven to 425 F.

Toss the potatoes in olive oil and season with salt and pepper.  Arrange in a single layer on a baking sheet and bake for about 25-30 minutes, flipping the potatoes once or twice in between.

To make the mayonnaise, bring a small saucepan of water to a boil.  Add the spinach, shallots, parsley, and tarragon.  Boil for about 2-3 minutes, or until leaves are wilted.  Drain the herbs and run under cold water until cool.  Squeeze out excess moisture.  Chop the herbs finely.

In a medium bowl, whisk the egg yolks until lighter in color and slightly thickened.  Whisk in red wine vinegar and mustard.  Whisking constantly, slowly drizzle in the vegetable oil, being careful not to add more until the previous amount is fully emulsified.  Continue until all of the vegetable oil is incorporated.

Stir in the finely chopped herbs and season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Serve the french fries along side the herbed mayonnaise or condiment of your choice! 

This mayo is good enough that I put it on sandwiches, hot dogs, french fries, whatever!  For a mayo hater like myself, it does just the trick!

Hope you guys have a great weekend!