air fried potatoes

[mellowtigger]

This works well for making very healthy "french fries". I'm not even using ketchup, because these days that's mostly corn syrup anyway.

The trick is to nuke them first to get them soft but not mushy.

1. Cut the green spots or dark spots from one large "baking" russet potato.  If you have smaller potatoes, then use two.  Leave as much of the skin as you can, because that's where you find a high concentration of minerals.
2. Put it whole in a glass bowl with some water in the bottom for a useful steam effect to keep the skin from going crispy yet.
3. Stick it in the microwave oven on half intensity (I use setting 5 of 10) for 10 minutes. Specifically, I use 999 seconds, because that duration is easier to key on the keypad. Increase the intensity on your next try, if your microwave is leaving crunchy parts in the potato when you slice into it.  You want it to become soft but not fully cooked, so it still holds its shape.
4. Cut the potato in half lengthwise through the thickest section, so you get two wide flat pieces.
5. Cut each of those halves into ribbons about half a centimeter wide or more.  If it's crunchy, cut it thin, so it can cook more thoroughly.  If it's soft, cut it thick for juicier goodness later.
6. Separate the pieces into a bowl, so the whole surface area of potato is exposed for spices.
7. Add spices to the bowl and toss to coat everything. I used the Louisiana brand of cajun seasoning and pepper. It ends up too salty for me, so maybe next time I'll try rosemary and black pepper.
8. Put in the air fryer. Hit the magic "fries" button, and let it do its thing.

It comes out crispy on the outside, but it's soft on the inside.  Very tasty 1-person meal, ready in about 25 minutes with little effort.