Sweet potato fries
Ingredients:
4 medium baking potatoes or sweet potatoes (I obviously used sweet)
2 tbsp oil
1/2 tsp salt
Procedure:
1) Scrub and dry potatoes (peeling is optional). Cut into thin sticks or wedges and place in large container with a tight lid. Pour oil on potatoes, cover, and shake to thoroughly coat fries with oil.
2) Sprinkle salt on fries and mix. Spread fries in a single layer on baking sheets. Bake in preheated oven at 425 F until golden brown and fork tender, 30-45 min, stirring and flipping fries ever 5-10 minutes. Serve immediately.
So before I start talking about the recipe itself, I should mention that I first learned of this recipe from Leah this past Christmas break. She was the one who first introduced me to the Simply in Season cookbook. As I looked through the Simply in Season book, I realized this was the recipe that Leah had made, only she did it a little differently. Now, on to the recipe.
It turned out okay. Leah herself said that sometimes this recipe turns out great with the fries nice and crispy and sometimes it turns out okay, with the fries cooked but more mushy. I definitely had one of the more mushy experiences. We still had cooked fries (some were burnt) but none of them had the crisp texture I was looking for. It honestly came out so mediocre that I am double thinking of ever trying this recipe again. However, as I said earlier, Leah did things differently. When she did it, she just cut up the fries and then poured olive oil over them on the baking sheet mixing them around so every one would get evenly coated. When I did it, I followed the original recipe and mixed it in a bowl. The two tablespoons of olive oil were not nearly enough to cover the fries, so that could be part of the problem. I made them in three batches. On one I just sprinkled salt. On the second, I sprinkled half with cayenne pepper and half with curry powder. On the third one, I sprinkled garlic salt and a garlic cheese mix. Unfortunately, they all came out pretty mediocre. At least they were semi-what healthy.
The other difficult thing about this recipe was cutting up the sweet potatoes. Scott got a type of sweet potato that I had never seen before. It was more whitish like a regular potato than brown. It was also really difficult to cut through. I have been aware for some time that I need to sharpen my knives. This brought that realization to the fore. I have tried over the past few days to sharpen knifes using a sharpening wheel and then a butcher's steel but had no luck with either. I am sure it is just my incompetency rather than the sharpeners themselves. Or maybe I just have bad knives....
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| The first two batches of sweet potato fries |
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| These ones were flavored just with salt and turned out a little crisper |
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| This was the Cayenne pepper/Curry powder bunch. They were much softer. |
I bet you were right about not having enough oil. You can't make things cripy without oil. I guess. Also it looks like you may not have turned them often enough as it's claer that one side is more dark then the other. When I make fries in the oven I just stir them in a bowl with all of my toppings and pour them onto the cookie sheet. The mushiness could also be from the type of potatoe. Some are just more soft, like the purple potatoes, I can't get those to crisp, they just stick and are mushy on the inside.
ReplyDeleteThere are some great guys at the downtown market that sharpen knives for a really good price. I had them do 3 knives and a pair of hair cutting scissors for $11. Maybe you could try that. Note: They are at the market 2 weeks on, one week off, 2 on 1 off. So, ifyou don't find them go back the next week and they'll be there.
Good advice, Keri! Have you successfully made oven fries? And thanks for the tip about the farmer's market sharpener. That doesn't sound too expensive at all!
ReplyDeleteIs it possible that Scott bought yams, not sweet potatoes? Also I suspect the water content of the sweet potatoes may vary.
ReplyDeleteWhen I first read your comment, I thought so too! But after Scott had said that he bought Sweet potatoes, I researched a little on the internet and found out that there are two varieties of sweet potatoes; the brown skinned one with the orange flesh that I think of when I think of sweet potatoes and the whiter one that I used for this recipe. Who knew?
ReplyDelete