Thursday, October 24, 2013

Sweet Potato Fries, Recipe


Crisp - and - Yum-my
Sweet. Potato. Fries! ♫

Doesn't that sound like it should be part of a jump rope chant? And I realize that most of you would have no idea what on earth I'm talking about. But when I was in grade school, two kids would stand about 12 feet apart, each holding the end of a thick rope and swinging it, and the rest of us would be lined up, chanting the jump rope ditty, and ready to run into the center of the virtual elliptical prism* created by the twirling rope, making sure we don't catch our feet or hands on it. I was really, really good at jump rope. Unfortunately, it was not a sport that anyone really appreciated. And the effects of all that jump roping (jumping rope?) is totally not in evidence today.

And maybe I'm the only person in the Blogiverse who'd never made sweet potato fries before, but there it is.

SO, I had a chuck roast with garlic and red wine slow-cooking in the CrockPot all day. About an hour before dinner, I decided to make some sweet potato fries.

Sweet Potato Fries, Recipe:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

2 large sweet potatoes, pared
Cut sweet potatoes in half at the equator (of the potato, of course), then stand each half on its equator and slice from top to bottom, about 1/4 -3/8 inch slices. (This will keep you from cutting your fingers off.) When that's done, slice each of those into 1/4-3/8 inch thick straws. I think mine were actually more like 1/4 inch or less. I really get into cutting up vegetables (and meat) into very small pieces. It's therapeutic. I love it!

Place sweet potato straws into a gallon Ziploc bag.
Put 1/2 T. corn starch in the Ziploc bag too, and toss this well so that the corn starch is evenly distributed. I read that the corn starch, as much as I didn't want to use it, helps make the fries nice and crispy. I wanted crispy. Uncrispy is totally unacceptable.
Place 1/2 t. Penzey's Hot Curry Powder into the bag. Toss to distribute evenly.
Place 2-3 T. olive oil into the bag and toss to coat the sweet potatoes thoroughly.

Turn out onto a jelly roll pan that's been sprayed with a non-stick cooking spray.
Sprinkle a little salt and a little cayenne over the fries. (Yes, we like things hot.)

Bake for 15 minutes, then use a pancake turner to flip the fries over and 
Bake another 15 minutes.

Some of mine got really dark. You might think of it as a failure. I loved them. They were very crispy. But then, I like burned potato chips too. Ever notice how quality control has virtually eliminated those wonderfully burned potato chips??

Anyway, I think the whole thing was a success. They were delicious - and hot!

*Know how hard it is to describe this in words??!

And did you jump rope as a child? And do you remember any of the chants?  

***

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30 comments:

SImple and Serene Living said...

I love sweet potato fries and I loved jumping rope when I was a child. I was a double dutch queen. No more jumping for me, though. :)
xo Laura

Susie said...

Down in the valley where the green grass grows. LOL I jumped rope, we chanted little rhymes.:):) I like spicing up sweet potato fries and baking them in the oven. Yummy meal you are planning. xoxo,Susie

Vicki @ lifeinmyemptynest said...

Yummy - I have never made them like this and want to give it a try - pinning :-)

podso said...

It would not take me long to come up with the jump rope chants. And thanks for the recipe. I never thought to do the cornstarch. You are so observant; I never thought about the fact that the burned chips are gone.

Diane said...

Yes, us neighborhood girls used to jumprope a lot. If there happened to be only two of us, we'd tie one end to a lamp post!

Unknown said...

I just adore sweet potato fries.. if we go somewhere that has them, I always get them. As you say, though, soggy ones are unacceptable and that happens a lot. Will definitely be giving this recipe a try!

Muffy's Marks said...

I just can't get into sweet potato fries. Guess I'm a ketchup dunker, and spf's just don't go well with ketchup. Thanks for the cornstarch tip.

MadSnapper said...

yes to jump rope and yes to it doesn't show now.. i have had sweet potato fries at a resturant and liked them, and they have frozen ones with the frozen fries, i have seen them but not tried them... but i did do the carrot fries by baking, got that from blogger in Texas.. and they were good

Margaret (Peggy or Peg too) said...

This looks/sounds great. Will try this one tonight.

As for cornstarch. I must eat gluten free (not a fad for me) and I have been using cornstarch in place of flour now for awhile. I made General Tso chicken and the cornstarch puts a nice crisp on the chicken. Even if I could use flour now I think I would still use cornstarch for the crispiness. Try it!

Robin Johnson said...

Those look amazing! Can't wait to try my hand at making some. Hopefully the kiddos will love them.

Parsley said...

I love sweet taters ;-) never had them as fries though.

Yes, I jumped rope but I don't remember chants. Probably because I was always counting to get a higher number than my previous jump.

Heide at ApronHistory said...

They look good! I have never heard corn starch makes it crispy, will have to remember that fro future reference...

May Ann Francisco said...

I love it..I usually cook sweet potato fries in my home..

Anonymous said...

Oh, I would love these~hope you have a wonderful autumn day.

Sunny Simple Life said...

Oh you tempt me so. I have some sweet potatoes in the pantry and burgers in the freezer.

Sunny Simple Life said...

Yes pinning!!

Jean | DelightfulRepast.com said...

Judy, those sound yummy to me! If you're not a fan of cornstarch (I occasionally use only non-GMO cornstarch), try an equal amount of tapioca flour. I was a pretty good jump-roper (rope-jumper) as a girl, though probably not as good as you - I was too busy playing jacks, my real forte!

Margaret Birding For Pleasure said...

HI Judy Very tempting and now I am very hungry. of to gt dinner.

Terri D said...

Thanks for the recipe for sweet potato fries! I buy them in a bag, frozen, at Sam's Club, but I'm sure making them fresh is healthier.

I used to be a pretty good rope jumper, too. We did it a lot on the playground during recess, as well as at home. Probably a lost art these days.

Suzan said...

Down in the valley where the green grass grows,
There sits Judy sweet as a Rose.
She sang, she sang, she sang so sweet,
Along came Billy and kissed her on the cheek!!
~~~~~
I had a little teddy bear,
His name was Tinny Tim,
I put him in the bathtub,
to see if he could swim,

AND I could go on and on!! We either played hop scotch or jumped rope. The boys played kick ball!! That was in the 60s :-}} the "good ole days"!!

Suzan said...

BTW- Love sweet potato FFs!!

Dar said...

Hi, Chatty sent me your way and I'm so glad she did. Sweet Potato Fries, aren't they just the best ever?
Vegan Soap???gotta pass the word to my daughter. Interesting and yes, jump-rope was a pastime of all 6 of us girls and even the 3 brothers sometimes...ok, maybe they used the ropes to tie us up sometimes and then disappear til supper...
Thanks for sharing the 'crispy' trick.
Life is Good

Nancy said...

I love love love sweet potato fries...I can remember standing beside my mom while she was slicing the sweet potatoes and could hardly wait for her to be finished....

Your receipt sounds delicious....

oh yes, I do remember jumping rope and the chants we used....

Julie's Lifestyle said...

Hi I love sweet potato fries and I never made them homemade before always frozen. I will give these a try sometime. TFS on freedom fridays!
Julie at julieslifestyle.blogspot.com

Vee said...

Now those sound good...

Yes, I loved jumprope, too. We only played it in the spring.

Fudge Fudge
Call the Judge
Mama's got a newborn baby
Wrap him up in tissue paper
Send him down the elevator
1...2...3...4...

Now that was a whacky one!

NanaDiana said...

Oh, Yum, Judy. I love sweet potato fries but have never made them at home. You know-we never jumped rope at school when I was a kid!!! xo Diana

Chatty Crone said...

Well I pinned this to my potatoes - those look terrific and my daughter will eat those. I like them crispy too.

Can you believe I used to jump rope myself?

Katy Perry was on GMA today and she jump-roped fast and furiously.

Sandie

Donna said...

I like sweet potato fries better than regular ones! Yummylicious. And yes, I jumped rope as a young girl and did some chants. Sure can't remember any of them now though!

Judy S. said...

Sounds like a tasty recipe, thanks! How about Mabel, Mabel
Set the table,
Don't forget the
Red hot pepper!
It was fun reading the others and brought back some fun memories.

Carla from The River said...

Oh my, this made me laugh. I just made carrot fries and I had some dark, dark fries too. ;-) I liked them...the boys thought I was silly.

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