*poutine* with balsamic reduction & feta cheese

sean received a christmas gift from maple leaf foods down in lethbridge while driving for the business a couple of weeks ago consisting of two giant bags of fries, some bacon and a pork roast. yesterday while noticing our fridge and cupboards are rather barren and ready for a new years restock, we remembered the fries :) i haven't a photo but what we decided to make with them was DELICIOUS!!! i had some feta in the fridge, red peppers and onions & had the idea to make a balsamic"gravy" for a sort of poutine.

-while the fries are in the oven, reduce about a cup of balsamic vinegar in a small saucepan set on medium-high.

-add a tsp or two of grainy dijon mustard and some pepper while stirring often.

-at the same time add a coarsely chopped small vidalia onion to a little olive oil and
saute it in a small frying pan til nicely caramelized and golden brown.

-crumble the feta & dice a red pepper. set aside.

-when the fries are almost done, add about a 1/2 cup of light cream to the balsamic vinegar along with a tsp of cornstarch stirred into a little warm water to thicken the mixture just a little bit more.

-load fries onto plates, sprinkle crumbled feta on top and move around a little to get feta bits mixed thru-out. throw on a handful of diced red pepper. spoon the balsamic gravy over all and top with caramelized onion!

manje!

of course, you can use any fries you have...make your own...whatever you would like. i imagine sweet potato fries would be excellent as well. next time i'll take a picture. we were just too hungry to hunt for the camera. today i am attempting sweet potato gnocci from rocco dispirito's book, *now eat this!* i'll let you know how it turns out.