Saturday, April 16, 2011

Lemony Sweet Potato 'Fries'

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These aren't actually fried but baked and yet they are everything that you just love about fries - only healthier and without the side of guilt. Freshly baked with a sprinkle of salt clinging to their still hot sides you won't be able to restrain yourself.

Because the idea of  peeling and slicing potatoes for a large family is about as exciting to me as watching paint dry, my first attempt at this recipe was with a bag of McCains.
 
Bad news bears.

Although I used a lot of oil and didn't overcrowd the pan they stuck to the foil so badly that I had to scrape them off,  leaving behind a charred mess. The end results were limp, soggy fries that were burnt on the outside and  undercooked on the inside.

As if that wasn't bad enough, I read the ingredients. It's second nature when you have a child with a food intolerance to do so even when the food is naturally gluten free. Once it has been processed chances are there will be additives and in this case there seemed to more stuff in there than the actual potatoes.

Sweet Potatoes, Canola Oil, Sugar, Potato Starch - Modified Contains Less Than 2% or Less of Annatto (color), Corn Starch - Modified, Dehydrated Sweet Potatoes, Dextrin [see above], Extract of Paprika (color), Leavening (Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate, Sodium Bicarbonate), Malt Powder, Malted Barley, Wheat Flour, Dextrose, Maltodextrin, Medium Chain Triglyceride, Molasses, Natural Flavor, Rice Flour, Salt, Sodium Acid Polyphosphate [see above] Added to Maintain Natural Color, Xanthum Gum.

The highlighted ingredients make this food off limits if you are gluten intolerant. Luckily I found local frozen sweet potatoes that contained just one ingredient - sweet potatoes.

West Indian sweet potatoes have a somewhat different flavour than their almost day-glo orange American counterparts. The two most popular varieties aren't orange but yellow and a soft creamy white. Compared to the McCains, the local brand of frozen sweet potatoes produced a superior 'fry' that was lovely and crisp on the outside despite being baked in the oven as opposed to being fried. By themselves these are a lovely snack or they can be served as a side to a main meal.

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Ingredients
2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into fat chips

2 tbsp Taliani extra virgin olive oil with Lemon
2 tbsp sesame seeds
* coarse salt

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 390°F

2. Toss the sweet potatoes in the oil, sesame seeds and salt and roast in the oven for about 15 minutes, until tender within and crisp outside.

Yield: one generous serving

18 comments:

  1. Thesse sweet potato fries look fantastic and I love the crinkle cut detail too! :)

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  2. I think I can have bowl fulls of those fries and ketchup w/o a burp.Lemon is a wonderful addition,takes the flavor one level up!

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  3. I think I can have bowl fulls of those fries and ketchup w/o a burp.Lemon is a wonderful addition,takes the flavor one level up!
    Please excuse if this comment appears more than one time, my mac is playing up :)

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  4. oh this is an inspiration! I love sweet potato chips, too!

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  5. Hey WIzzy, these sound like a great idea…the acid from the lemon juice would be a real crisper upperer! AND frozen can never beat home made, come on, how hard is it to chop up potatoes?? hahahah :)

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  6. Beautiful, healthy fries. I adore sweet potato fries. The hubby consumes them to humor me. ;)

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  7. These look so delicious...! I've never had sweet potato fries but now I am tempted to try!

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  8. These sound so tasty and nutritious, hard to believe I am saying that about fries. Cannot wait to give them a try.

    BTW, think I figured out my difficulty in getting your site on a RSS feed. Its my browser - my default is Safari but I can do it on FireFox - go figure.

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  9. I like the idea of the lemon. Will try it that way the next time.

    So you get frozen already-cut sweet potatoes fries to buy? That's convenient.

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  10. I really have to make these. With the lemon that an awesome idea!

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  11. Yum!! I like the combo of the orange-American sweet potato fries with lime and chipotle! I used to get a brand of sweet potato fries here that were white but then they switched :(
    I like the addition of the sesame seeds!

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  12. This sounds and looks delicious! Gorgeous photos as usual. Have you ever tried butternut squash fries? They also work well when baked in the oven.

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  13. Yummy! Just found your wonderful blog and am a new follower!
    - Jessica @ http://cajunlicious.com

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  14. I make potato fries and wedges a lot at home .. but never did with sweet potato . I like how you added sesame seed :) !!! SO glad to find your blog !

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  15. i would walk 500 miles for sweet potato fries. regular fries? eh, maybe 5 steps. :)

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  16. What a great, healthy alternative to regular french fries. Delicious!
    *kisses* HH

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  17. Lovely lemony fries ... We get a white flesh sweet potato here in India and i think this lemon would be great with that too..I have some sweet potatoes from my garden right now :)

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  18. Wow all those ingredients in a "vegetable" lol our modern food is ridiculous! I'm glad you found a better brand and these look healthy and so so good!

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