Yes, I made poutine.  A friend of mine wanted to hit down-town for some but I already had it in mind to cook up these braised short ribs.  So I told her to come over for dinner and I will also attempt to make poutine.  Never have I done this and was afraid of taking on the challenge but was so happy I did.

First of all, I thought to myself, how the hell am I going to make the fries?  I didn’t want to go buy a bag of frozen fries, I had to make them from scratch!  My second thought was that I have never made gravy, what the hell was I thinking when I offered to make Poutine?!?!

There are so many great poutine restaurants in Toronto, how the hell am I going to compete with them?

One of my favs is Poutini’s, their fries are perfectly cut with a perfect amount of beef gravy, love love love them!  I enjoyed seeing them at the distillery last weekend.

Poutini’s at The DistilleryPoutini’s Poutine

Then I thought if I could only make my poutine like Smoke’s Poutinerie and add some yummy interesting toppings like their Pulled Pork Poutine…yums!

Smoke’s Poutinerie in Mont Tremblant, QuebecSmoke’s Poutine

I then started thinking about adding some goat cheese and walnuts to my poutine like the ones at Le Papillon on the Park.

Poutine Chevre at Le Papillon on the Park

So combining my 3 favourite places to go for poutine, I made mine with left over gravy from my braised short ribs, goat cheese and walnuts, plus cheese curds and topped off with some chives.

Poutine à la Maison

I made the fries from russet potatoes.  Simply cutting them lengthwise and tossing them with some olive oil, salt, pepper, paprika and dried rosemary.  Roasted them in the oven for 20 minutes, tossed them and then threw them in for another 20 minutes at 425 degrees F.  Making sure the fries came out nice and crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.

Threw them on the platter, poured the braised short ribs gravy on top then threw some crumbled goat cheese, cheese curds, walnut pieces and sprinkled with fresh chives.  It was very easy to make except for the gravy but well worth it if you have the time.  Otherwise hit up one of the many great poutine restaurants I mentioned above.

Enjoy 🙂