This is honestly the ugliest thing I have ever made. But that’s what poutine is: fries with gravy and cheese curds. What sets this poutine apart from most is that I went with using my air fryer on to potatoes – this does not make them fully guilt-free, but it does alleviate some of that unhealthiness from using a deep fryer. For my gravy, I went with an umami-forward beef and tomato, since that would just pack a huge bunch in flavor, and along with the cheese, it would be a really tasty combination. Overall, this is a poutine that I would be happy to eat(with a bag over it or in the dark though, because it really is the definition of ugly-delicious).

For the beef gravy:
4oz skirt steak, cubed
2 tbsp unsalted butter
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tspn chili flakes
1 tspn tomato paste
a pinch of black pepper
2 tbsp all-purpose flour
1/3 cup beef stock
2 tbsp finely grated parmesan cheese, plus more for garnish

Sear the skirt steak in a nonstick pan on both sides for about 3 minutes. Dice into fine cubes. In the same pan, melt butter with garlic, and stir in the chili flakes, tomato paste, black pepper, and flour. Whisk in beef stock, cheese, and fold in the steak to finish.

For the fries:
1 russet potato, cut into 16 strips
salt

Boil the potato in salted water for 5 minutes. Dry off and air fry at 350 degrees F for 10 minutes. Allow the potatoes to cool down before air frying again for another 10 minutes at the same temperature to finish.

To finish:
Cheese curds(I also recommend using cotija cheese!)