(baked!) sweet potato fries

 

boone and i have a sweet friend, craig, who was the main staple of our friend group in grad school (and boone's one-time roomie) he moved to ATL from Missouri, and had never, ever, ever in his life tried a sweet potato before moving to the south. 

can you imagine?

well, once he tasted this fruit of the earth he fell totally in love, so in love, in fact, that I planned a sweet potato feast for his birthday party our first year that included

sweet potato brazilian stew, casserole with marshmallows, and a sweet potato, spinach and g nut and special sauce dish and, of course, sweet potato fries. it was a hit, although we were all SUPER full by the end.

boone and I've had a couple of sweet potatoes in the kitchen for a few weeks now and wanted to eat them before they went totally bad, so for lunch we made those same fries again (although we've gotten A LOT better at making them since those early days.) they're SO easy and since SP are the super food and these are baked, they're also pretty good for you.

FYI: we heard from our farmer/mayor/gentleman friend ruffin that sweet potato fries have been SO in demand at restaurants and grocery stores these past few years that south delta farmers had orders they couldn't fill. but you don't have to buy yours in the frozen section now. :) read on for the recipe.

easy peasy (baked!) sweet potato fries

What you need:

2 sweet potatoes, peeled (or very heavily washed if you like the skin)

olive oil

sea salt

pepper

tony chachere's creole seasoning

cookie sheet + parchman paper

What you'll do:

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees. While the oven is preheating, peel and cut your potatoes in half across the horizontal center, then into 1/2" wide sticks. (see below for image)

 

 put the potatoes on the cooke sheet that's been covered with parchman paper or aluminum foil and cover with olive oil and seasonings to taste. (you can also coat them with seasoning and oil in a bowl, which really and truly helps cover them with seasoning more evenly...but i don't like to wash extra dishes.) place them in the oven for about 20-35 minutes (depending on how crunchy you like them to be) and bake.

 serve with ketchup, ranch dressing, or just by themselves. The fries below cooked for about 25 minutes and were firm but not crisp, which is how I like them... feel free to experiment with the crunch you crave. ;)

 what's YOUR favorite thing to do with the southern super food?