Baked Lemon Basil Fries

I, for one, am crazy about French fries. I wish I weren't, but I even have a hard time saying no to nasty ones. I once told my mom at a funeral that when I died, I wanted people to bring fries instead of potato salad to the reception. Anyway, when I made these little wonders, I was elated because they are so delicious and they're not fried - hurray! The salt, lemon, and basil flavor combination is pure happiness paired with the starchy crispiness of the baked potato.

Although they are easy to prepare, it takes a long time to bake them in my bite-size oven. I suspect I would make them a lot more often if I had a standard size - time will tell, I guess.

• 3 large potatoes
  
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
  
• Zest and juice of one lemon
  
• 1/2 cup freshly basil, chopped
• 1/8 cup olive oil
  
• Pinch of sea salt
• Freshly ground pepper to taste

1. Preheat your oven to 375 F / 190C
   
2. Wash the potatoes well, pat dry (this is important!) and slice them into long strips, about 1 cm thick.
3. In a large bowl, mix garlic, lemon juice, oil, salt, and pepper.
4. Toss the potato strips in the mixture until well coated - add more oil if needed.
5. Arrange the potatoes flat on a baking sheet and bake until golden, about 25 minutes. Keep an eye on them, though and lightly cover with foil if browning too quickly. (I'm starting to think this is an isolated problem with my oven.)
   
6. Flip and bake another 15 minutes. Test for doneness either by poking or tasting.
   
7. Remove from oven and set on paper towels to drain excess oil.
   
8. Transfer to serving platter and sprinkle with salt, pepper, lemon zest, and basil.
9. Serve immediately or keep warm in the oven.