Food Rule 45 and Crispy Sweet Potato Fries

This has got to be my one of favorite rules in the entire book:

Uh, hello!  I love to cook, and who doesn't love to indulge in fatty, salty, or sweet foods?  This is pretty much a done deal for me!

This recipe for Sweet Potato Fries deviates from your standard slice-em-and-bake-em recipe in that it turns out Crispy.  Giving the sweet potato sticks a light coating of corn starch allows them to bake up with a barely-there coating (similar to the way that our Baked Coconut Shrimp crisp up).  And, there are definitely no deep fryers involved here!  Go on, and zoom in on a photo or two, if it's not too early to be scoping out french fries.  No steamy, slimy outer layers in sight!  Just a slight crisp without a greasy mess.

Ok, so I didn't go full blown junky junk food on you with this recipe (I honestly can't bring myself to deep fry anything at home), but these are still very much in the delicious category.  As I was editing the photos last night, Bo commented, "Yeah, those were good." 

We ate them dipped in a spicy mayo: About 1/2 cup mayo mixed with a teaspoon of chili sauce, 1/4 tsp. cayenne, and a pinch of salt.  Feel free to change up the amounts to your liking.  I just threw things into a bowl and tasted as I went.

Enjoy!

         

Crispy Sweet Potato Fries
adapted from The Art of Doing Stuff

1 large sweet potato
1/3 c. corn starch
seasoning salt
2 Tbsp. canola oil

Cut the sweet potato into even sticks.  (No need to peel the potato first, because you can trim the skin as you cut the potato into sticks).  Soak the sticks in water for an hour or more.  Drain the potato sticks, but do not blot dry.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Place a baking rack onto a cookie sheet and lightly spray the rack with oil.  (Note: You can skip the rack and just use a cookie sheet, but you'll need to flip the fries over midway through cooking in order to get all sides crisped.)

Working in batches, add a tablespoon of corn starch and a shake of seasoning salt to a plastic bag.    Add in a small handful of sweet potato sticks (about 6 or 7) and close the top of the bag, making sure there is air inside to create a balloon shape.  Shake the bag to completely coat the sweet potato sticks.  Remove the sweet potatoes, shaking the excess corn starch off, and set aside.  After all sticks have been lightly coated with corn starch, drizzle oil over all the sticks and use your hands to make sure the sticks have a light coating and then place onto prepared baking rack.

Bake for 20 minutes, or until sweet potato sticks are fork-tender.  Increase oven temperature to Low Broil and continue baking for a few more minutes, until fries begin to crisp.  Makes 2 servings.

         

Ingredient Lineup: