However! The spice mixture I topped them with worked beautifully - that was the one upside to this little cooking adventure. Even though this is a relatively easy dish to make, I still could not pull it off. Failure?? No!!! I am proud of myself for trying to make something that I am not familiar with. Am I going to try it again - Yes!!!! Sweet Potato French Fries are my absolute favorite kind of fry to make (and french fries are my fave food ever), and I am determined to make it work so that I can serve it up any time my little ole' heart desires.
Also - you might remember that I am also participating in a 10 for 5 Challenge, where I submit 10 recipes using only 5 ingredients. I WILL be submitting this recipe, disaster and all!
So . . . I hesitantly, sheepishly, humbly share with you my Wonderful Fry Failure :-) Maybe you'll have better luck!?! Comments and ideas welcomed with big open arms!
Baked Sweet Potato Fries
2 sweet potatoes, cut
1 tsp. chili powder
1/2 tsp. garlic salt
1/4 tsp. curry powder
1 T olive oil
Heat oven to 425 degrees.
Place fry cut sweet potatoes in a 9x13 dish and pour 1 T olive oil over fries to coat. Mix well so all fries are evenly coated.
Mix spices together and sprinkle over fry mixture. Mix well to evenly coat.
Bake for 30 minutes. Or 40. Or just until they are crisp.
Here is what my mess turned out to look like . . .
The moral of the story? We have failures, but hopefully together, through this blog, we will experience more success than failures. It is perfectly fine to have things not turn out the way we hope. While I look forward to hearing your advice, criticism, laughter, I will also be doing my own research to learn how to perfect baking french fries - I really don't think I can live without them!! Feel free to share any cooking disasters of your own - it is always a good reminder that we never experience anything alone!
Live with gusto!
Carina
Hi Carina! I love sweet potato fries too! I also have had some failures with them though! But I have found that if you use just enough olive oil to get the spices to stick to the potato an bake them at like 450 they come out pretty crisp. I have also found that if I cut them thinner and skip the olive oil all together and just spray them with cooking spray so they don't burn and then season them after, they come out nice and crispy! let me know if this helps???
ReplyDeleteI learned from Rachael Ray that you should pat your fries super duper dry, crank your oven to it's highest setting and only turn the fries once-turn out good every time! On another french fry note, I tried deep-frying them once and they came out either hard or soggy. After re-reading the recipe, I somehow skipped a WHOLE paragraph in the directions, hence my nasty fries :)
ReplyDeleteOh! And try using an aluminum cookie sheet for baking :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Sabrina and Kristy! Yes, I realized later that I very likely didn't have the temp high enough. I also wondered if it might be more challenging in a Convention oven vs. a Convection oven. Not sure. But, I did receive a note from a friend that I should soak them first to reduce the starch. I will continue to research and I am determined to find a technique that works!!
ReplyDeleteSorry the first attempt at the fries didn't turn out. The baked ones sound delicious, especially with the spice mixture!
ReplyDeleteI make regular French fries all the time and have never tried homemade sweet potato fries, so I'm not sure if there's a difference or not. I have great success using only a very small amount of oil (just enough to make the seasonings stick), a very light coat of cooking spray on a cookie sheet, and then laying the fries out in a single layer on the baking sheet. I bake them at 400 for 35-40 min and turn them only once. Hope this helps!
ReplyDeleteI've had my own "issues" with turning out a crispy sweet potato oven fry. Looking forward to hear if you have any success taking your readers' suggestions, and I will for sure make a few tweaks to my own technique (using your readers' advice) to see if I too can make a great sweet potato oven fry.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comments ladies! I will for sure be turning my kitchen into a test kitchen and try different techniques. I have been researching and have not found a SURE FIRE way as of yet. I am now on a quest for the perfect baked sweet potato fry!!
ReplyDelete