Baked Sweet Potato Fries

By Paul Briand

My wife Jane and I love sweet potatoes and all the culinary creations that come from them.

For Thanksgiving dinner, for example, my wife makes a sweet potato puff that is a family favorite. (Note to self: Let’s get this recipe published in time for Thanksgiving 2011.)

We’re also very big fans of sweet potato fries. As we try to eat with our health and weight in mind, they are a favored alternative to regular potato fries when we eat out.

A sweet potato, cooked and baked in its skin with no salt, is low in sodium, and very low in saturated fat and cholesterol. It is also a good source of dietary fiber, vitamin B6 and potassium, and a very good source of vitamin A, vitamin C and manganese. Read more here.

I do a variation of Baked Sweet Potato Fries at home that involves a coating of olive oil, black pepper and Old Bay seasoning. Old Bay, by the way, has a lot more uses than crab cakes.

The hardest part of homemade sweet potato fries is getting them to crisp up. To get there, I often will put them under a low broil in the oven for a couple of minutes after they’ve baked.

Here is another variation of sweet potato fries that I picked up from Food.com.

Given the brown sugar and the salt, these are a little higher in fat, sugar and sodium content.

Note: The amount of olive oil called for in this recipe -- ½ cup -- is way too much in my opinion. You can easily halve the amount and yield the same yummy results.

Ingredients

4 sweet potatoes, unpeeled and cut into wedges

¼ cup sage, fresh chopped (substitute 2 teaspoons if from your spice rack)

½ cup light brown sugar, packed

½ cup extra virgin olive oil

Salt and pepper

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees;

2. In a large bowl, combine the potatoes, sage, brown sugar, and oil. Season with salt and pepper, and toss;

3. Spread on a baking sheet;

4. Bake for 40 minutes and serve immediately.

Click here for recipe card.