potato | Adventures in Thyme

Sweet Potato Steak Fries

Tonight we’re sharing our oven baked sweet potato steak fries. Seasoned with fresh herbs and freshly grated Pecorino cheese they are perfect for a summer evening’s bbq.

Here’s what you’ll need:

3 Large, white Sweet Potatoes
1/4 to 1/2 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/2 cup grated Pecorino Cheese (Grated Parmesan will work as well, just don’t use the stuff in a cardboard can)
1 1/2 teaspoons Salt
1/2 teaspoon Pepper
2 sprigs fresh Rosemary, chopped fine

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees F.

Peal the sweet potatoes and then cut into wedges or slices about 1/4 inch thick and 1 inch wide. Combine the salt, pepper and rosemary. Toss the sweet potatoes with the olive oil to coat evenly. Then sprinkle the sweet potato fries with the salt, pepper, rosemary and grated cheese (having someone help you makes this MUCH easier) while tossing gently so fries get evenly coated.

Cover a couple of baking sheets with baking parchment. This will keep the fries from sticking and help get them nice and crispy!

Lay out the fries in an even layer on a couple of baking sheets. Place in the oven and bake 10 to 15 minutes. Turn all of the fries over and bake another 10 to 15 minutes or until they start to brown. Keep an eye on them as they can go from under done to burned very rapidly.

Serve hot and sprinkle with a little more grated pecorino cheese. And don’t forget the Ranch dipping sauce!

Potato Soup

It’s amazing how a humble little root evokes such memories of bygone days. When I was little and Dad travelled out of town or was late coming home, Mom would promise us “the special dinner”. No matter how much we begged, we only got it when Dad was gone. It was almost torture waiting…waiting for Dad to leave so we could have the most wonderful of all dinners – potato soup. And once “the special dinner” had been declared it meant we were taking a drive in our blue 1960s Chevy Stationwagon to the store for fresh sourdough bread. Mom would always let us rip off the ends and chew on them as we drove home, it was glorious. We had no seatbelts to restrain our enthusiasm as we giggled and tumbled around the back of that old wagon heading home to soup! Egads, a wonder we survived childhood!

Little did we know that “the special dinner” was special to Mom too. It’s a no fuss, easy peasy recipe that she could throw together easily. A perfect meal that allows plenty of time to relax after a long day. It takes 4 ingredients: water, potatoes, dehydrated onions, evaporated milk. That’s it. Let’s get cooking!

Dice your potatoes in bite sized squares. I gauge the amount needed by about one potato per person. Try to dice evenly so they’ll cook uniformly. Place in a pot and add water about 1″ inch over the top. Sprinkle the dehydrated onions on – more if you like onions, less if you don’t. Bring to boil. Add a little more water if the water boils down to the potato tops. After about 15 mins or so see how “fork tender” the potatoes are. Are they still too crunchy? Soft enough for you? Keep boiling if you’d like them softer, but once they are as tender as you like, decrease down to medium and add a can of evaporated milk (one can for 1-3 potatoes, more cans as needed). Once the soup has almost reached a boil, it’s ready. At this point, you can add a pat of butter, a pinch of garlic salt, a slice of sourdough bread, whatever suits you. Now sit back, relax, and ponder memories of childhood. How sweet they can be. 🙂