Sweet Potato Fries -- St. Patrick's Day Blog Hop

Okay, let’s get one thing straight–my Irish ancestors would probably disown me for using the sweet potato for this blog hop. But…they’re my favorite. And making sweet potato fries has been on my to-do list forEVER. And also I did my best to make this plate an Irish flag–green broccoli, white sauce, orange sweet potato fries?

Okay, yeah, Eire has officially revoked my heritage.

When Erin told us we could choose from potatoes, pistachios, and beer for this St. Patrick’s Day rendition of the Holiday Recipe Club, I knew right away that it’d be taters for me. And my biggest goal for these sweet potato fries? Crispiness!

My sisters and I have baked up sweet potato fries in the past but were disappointed when they turned out soft rather than crispy on the outside (granted, I know it’s hard to get a crispy fry when you’re not deep-frying ‘em, but hey, a girl can dream). I’ve done a lot of blog researching, and I found several sites that mentioned soaking the sweet potatoes in water after slicing them, but before seasoning.

I was super hungry the night when I made these for dinner, so I only let mine soak for 20 minutes–one site called for anywhere from an hour to a full day! But even still, my wish was granted–these fries had a nice little crisp bite to them! I want to try making them again soon and let them soak longer–I’d love to see if that’d make them even crispier. The spices I sprinkled over the fries before baking are a Tara “hey-let’s-see-if-this-works” experiment. I was really curious to see how the sweetness of the nutmeg and cinnamon would pair with the tang of the garlic powder. The result was phenomenal–a subtle but really complex flavor combo. I highly recommend!

Sweet Potato Fries

Ingredients:

• 1 large sweet potato (mine was nearly 8 oz)
• 2-3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder
• 1/8 tsp ground black pepper
• 1/8 tsp coarse salt

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F and line a 9×13 baking pan with nonstick aluminum foil.
2. Peel sweet potato and slice into long spears about 1/2 inch thick.
3. Soak spears in cold water for 25-30 minutes (I read on a bunch of sites that this was supposed to help the fries stay crispy). Drain and pat dry.
4. In a separate bowl, mix together cinnamon, nutmeg, garlic powder, salt, and pepper.
5. Turn potato spears out onto baking sheet and toss with olive oil to coat evenly. Now arrange in a single layer so no fries are touching each other (as much as possible).
6. Sprinkle spice mixture over sweet potatoes.
7. Bake at 450 for 15 minutes. Then use a spatula to flip the fries, and return to the oven for another 10 minutes, until the fries are starting to brown.
8. Serve like any good American–with ketchup.

As always, don’t forget to check out our other holiday hoppers below. And check out the group’s site if you’re interested in participating in the next hop!

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