Generation Sweet Potato Fries – so good my Dad asked for recipe and makes them weekly too!

Hi comfort food followers,

I was making a recipe for black bean burgers one day and part of the recipe called for sweet potato cubed and cooked that later got blended into the burgers.  I tasted one of the cubes and it was delicious so I thought why not make fries with the remaining sweet potatoes.  They were amazing too.

A few weeks later I had my Mom and Dad over for dinner and served them the sweet potato fries as well.  They loved them.  In fact, my 75 year old Dad asked me for the recipe!  That was a first.

Now here is the thing, my Dad is a science guy so he decided that he wanted them crisper and started to make them testing different temperature and times to get them to the desired crisp that he wants.  I finally told him they will never be super crisp unless you deep fry them and that would take all the goodness away from this comfort food.

I personally like mine at a lower heat – they are sweeter and tastier.  The higher heat gives you a crisper outer coating but they are bit drier and not as sweet.  The main consistent part of the cooking process is the need to turn them every 10 minutes and even more often in the last ten minutes of cooking.  The high sugar content in them will burn quickly if not attended to frequently.

I also tried using the same recipe but making it in a tin foil bag on the BBQ at a friend’s cottage – they were soggy and would have been better mashed or baked.  The oven is your best choice.

So here is the recipe that my Dad and I just love:

Generation Sweet Potato Fries

• 4 – long organic sweet potatoes
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1 teaspoon pink Himalayan salt
• ½ teaspoon black pepper
• Want some more spice?
  • Add ½ teaspoon ground ginger and ¼ teaspoon ground cayenne pepper directly to your olive oil

Directions

1. Wash and scrub the sweet potato and remove any blemishes.  You will be eating the skin so make it is what you would want to eat.
2. Cut the sweet potatoes into French fries by segmenting them into long narrow sticks.  Try to make them as equal in thickness as possible for even cooking.  Length does not matter – in fact leave a few really long ones for fun.
3. Place all the cut sweet potatoes into a large bowl.
4. In a small bowl, mix the olive oil, salt and pepper.  If you want them a bit spicy add the ginger and cayenne pepper too.  Mix to combine.
5. Pour the olive oil on to the cut sweet potatoes and toss to coat.
6. Tip: if you use your hands to toss and you added the cayenne, wash your hands right away and refrain from touching your eyes or nose until you know your hands are really clean.  It will hurt – don’t try it just to see either – trust me on this one.
7. On two metal cooking sheets lined with parchment paper, divide the coated fries onto the pans.  Try to have each fry touching the sheet but not each other so they are less crowded – they crisp up quicker this way.
8. Put in heated 350 degree F over for 40 minutes.
9. Turn them every 10 minutes and in the last 10 minutes turn every 5 minutes and watching to ensure they do not burn.  They are cooked when browned a small bit on the outside and soft and sweet in the middle.
10. Take out of the oven and let sit for 5 minutes – this helps sweeten them up a bit too.
11. Ovens vary so you may need more time.  Using the convection option on your oven will decrease the time you need so start watching closed after 25 minutes.
12. You can cook them at 425F for 25 minutes for a crisper finish but they will be drier and less sweet.

Enjoy your Generation Sweet Potato Fries with friends and family.  They will love the comfort food.

To your sweet comfort,

Jo, your 9CupChallenge partner