Punchy Fries

The GYR vegan restaurant just wouldn't have been the same without them! The day before the Grand Opening of Grow Your Roots in 2016, one of my chefs, and also very good friends, Wendy, was telling me about these amazing fries she had had at another restaurant. They were cheesy, garlicky goodness apparently, except they weren't vegan.

“I can make those vegan!” I said

So we tried them out using my Cashew Parmesan, some Sea Salt, Parsley, Lemon and then made a delicious Lemon Garlic Mayo dip to go with them. Immediately after trying them, we put them on the menu and they never left.

We called them Punchy Fries because it was a fun way to describe the punch of flavor the lemon has with the French fries. I'm so glad we did because word spread FAST about the “Punchy Fries at Grow Your Roots” and it ended up bringing us a lot of non vegans into the restaurant that may not have otherwise come in.

Many of the non-vegans who came in hesitated to eat our food because they were too "afraid" of "vegan food" or didn't think they were into “vegan" food. Boy did we change their minds! whoo hoo!

So now it's your turn to toss up some delicious famous Punchy Fries at home! Our fries were always freshly cut and deep fried, but I realize not everyone has a deep fryer at home. Alternatively you could buy frozen fries and bake them. Most brands are vegan.

The dip for the fries can be made ahead of time too and is great for sandwiches or other 'dipping' as well. Feel free to double or triple the recipe so you have some dip in the fridge for whenever you want a little Punchy Mayo!

If you didn’t have the opportunity to try these fries in person, I am so confident you’ll love this recipe. The fries are

• Zesty

• Punchy (!)

• Lemon-y

• Cheesy

• Flavourful

Let me know if you love them! You’ll never look at regular fries the same again!