Fiction-Food Café: Marceline's Red Fries

♥ Happy Valentine's Day! ♥

Marceline from "Adventure Time" may be the Vampire Queen, but she doesn't drink blood. Instead, to satiate her vampire-ness, her ingestion of choice is the color red (which blood is once it's oxidized....but anyway, blood's just not how she rolls.) Other than red, her favorite food is french fries. In the episode "It Came from the Nightosphere" Marceline shares a heartfelt song (simply called "The Fry Song", written by the wonderful Rebecca Sugar) about a time when her dad ate the fries she'd been saving for herself. She took his actions as evidence that he didn't love her.

(Video from Cartoon Network UK )

It's okay, Marceline! Your demon dad might be The Lord of Evil and suck the souls out of all lifeforms deemed inferior (which is pretty much everybody), but he loves his little girl (as is revealed further on in the episode)! FYI: Did you know that the voice actor for Marceline, Olivia Olson, and the voice actor for Marceline's dad Hunson Abadeer, Martin Olson, are father and daughter in real life? That is totally awesome and makes me more endeared to the show. (Martin Olson is also the author of The Adventure Time Encyclopaedia.)
Because of Marceline's top two preferences for eats, I decided to combine them and make red french fries so she can both suck and chomp her meal! (That sounds so awkward, but you know what I mean. Extra satisfying!)

Note: As you can see, I made my fries like normal fast food type fries because I thought that would be better for color absorbtion, but I'd encourage you to cut the potatoes more like the bigger rectangle steak fries so that they'll cook nicer. The bigger potato cuts will soak up the red just fine if let soak for the suggested time. Also, the fries Marceline had were steak-type fries.
Edit: I made the fries again, but this time bigger. See the end of this post for pictures!

Marceline's Red Fries

Ingredients:
1 -2 Large Yukon Potatoes
1/2 Cup Lemon Juice (+ extra as needed)
Red Food Coloring (I used the Americacolor red gel drops)
Canola Oil OR Cooking Spray (or regular Olive Oil, not extra virgin)
Salt

Important Items:
Large, shallow dish
Kitchen Tongs (to handle the soaked potatoes so your fingers won't turn red!)
Mesh Strainer or Colander

Directions:
1. Peel the potato(es) & cut out any spots. Cut into steak fry sticks, about 1/2" wide & 1/4" deep. Arrange the potato sticks in a single layer (not overlapping) in a large, shallow plastic container or glass dish (or more than one). In a liquid measuring cup measure out the lemon juice & then thoroughly whisk in enough red coloring to get a thick & vibrant red liquid. Pour this over the potato sticks. Whisk up a little more red liquid if you need it to cover the sticks completely. Let the sticks sit in the red liquid, uncovered, for at least 3 hours.
2. Drain the now very red potato sticks in a mesh strainer or colander. Double line a large tray with paper towels & lay the potato sticks on top in a single layer. Place more paper towels on top & press down to absorb some of the liquid. Let the sticks sit for a couple of hours to dry completely (feel free to sprinkle on a little salt at this point).
3. Heat the oven to 400°F. Remove the potato sticks & paper towels from the tray & spray the tray with cooking/non-stick spray. Spread the potato sticks on the tray in a single layer, spray, & sprinkle with salt (I used fine sea salt). Bake for 15 mins & then turn/toss & lightly spray & sprinkle again. Bake for another 15 mins or so, check for tenderness, & then crank the heat up to 450°F & bake for another minute or 2. FYI: The fries will have a slight lemon flavor, but that's not a bad thing! Serve with ketchup or try mayo mixed with ketchup + a little curry powder (love this). A great drink for the red theme is cranberry ginger ale ('cause it's really red) with a couple of maraschino cherries thrown in!