Aka Italian Fries, as served at the Grill in Macalester College‘s old Student Union (circa 1990s, before the remodel and adding an extra “e” to create the Grille, which seems WAY too healthy to ever serve such a concoction). I got a tip on ingredients list relayed from a friend of a former Grill student worker. Came up with quantities & directions through several (mostly delicious but occasionally ridiculously cheesy) trials.
Update: my friend “Pyronious” who I met when he was living in St. Paul and sharing an apartment with another friend who was a Macalester student (Hi, “Miles”) also had plenty of first-hand experience with the originals. He’s an excellent cook and food photographer; he made this recipe recently and kindly shared this much more attractive photo, showing the way to cut & serve. (Note the strips should be narrow enough to dip into your marinara.) Bask in the beauty!
My original photo, how it’ll look when it’s time to take out of the oven:
Ingredients
- Pizza crust, 12″ (Boboli original is the closest I found, feel free to use your preferred pizza dough – it needs to have some body to be like the originals)
- 4 oz shredded mozzarella
- 4 oz creamy Italian salad dressing (I use Field’s)
- Parmesan cheese
- Olive oil
- Garlic salt
- Pepper
- Marinara sauce
Directions
- Preheat oven to 450
- Brush outer ring of pizza dough (crust) w/olive oil
- Pour 4oz dressing in middle of pizza, brush out to meet crust/oil band. Feel free to go lighter depending on how “juicy” you liked your i-fries.
- Sprinkle 4 oz mozzarella evenly. (It might look like it’s not enough, but it is.)
- Grate Parmesan generously over the pizza
- Garlic salt: 3-6 shakes
- Pepper: 3-6 grinds
- Bake at 450 until cheese starts to get a little browning – 8-12 minutes.
- Take out, let rest for a minute or two so all the cheese doesn’t slide off, slice into 1″ wide strips, rotate 90 degrees and cut all the strips in half
- Serve with marinara sauce for dipping
What Mac memories do i-fries bring back for you?