I'm still getting used to the oven at my new apartment. It is very hot so I learned quickly that I need to turn it down about 25 degrees less than the temperature should be. Even so, sometimes I have a few problems with it, like yesterday.
I had decided to make some yam fries for dinner. I've got a great recipe adapted from Hungry Girl; just slice up the sweet potato, shake some cumin on each slice along with a sprinkle of black pepper and a pinch of salt, spread them out on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, and pop them into the oven at 425 degrees (400, for my oven). After 15 minutes, I flipped my potatoes, and then went off to read while I waited for them to cook. Less than 15 minutes later I returned to take them out of the oven... and they looked like this:
Hmph. But I managed to salvage a few:
I was all set to give up and just eat a jar of peanut butter for dinner (stop looking at me like that. Starving student, right here), but then I remembered that there was some regular potatoes rolling around in the bottom of our pantry. No match for a sweet potato, but you've got to work with what you've got. So I sliced one up, laid it out on the baking sheet, added the spices, and baked them for just 10 minutes. Flipped them and baked them for 10 minutes longer, and voila!
Potato chips! Lovely golden brown. And they actually tasted exactly like chips do. Which I guess shouldn't surprise me that much, but I've only ever eaten the sweet potatoes this way, not regular potatoes, and there's a very distinct difference in taste. Also, because the vegetable is naturally quite juicy, it lends a slight oily feel to the chips so that you don't even miss the oil! They were delicious and I shall be for sure making these again.
So that's this weeks lesson! If you burn stuff, don't give up. Try again and see if you can get it right the second time. You might be pleasantly surprised.
I had decided to make some yam fries for dinner. I've got a great recipe adapted from Hungry Girl; just slice up the sweet potato, shake some cumin on each slice along with a sprinkle of black pepper and a pinch of salt, spread them out on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, and pop them into the oven at 425 degrees (400, for my oven). After 15 minutes, I flipped my potatoes, and then went off to read while I waited for them to cook. Less than 15 minutes later I returned to take them out of the oven... and they looked like this:
Hmph. But I managed to salvage a few:
I was all set to give up and just eat a jar of peanut butter for dinner (stop looking at me like that. Starving student, right here), but then I remembered that there was some regular potatoes rolling around in the bottom of our pantry. No match for a sweet potato, but you've got to work with what you've got. So I sliced one up, laid it out on the baking sheet, added the spices, and baked them for just 10 minutes. Flipped them and baked them for 10 minutes longer, and voila!
Potato chips! Lovely golden brown. And they actually tasted exactly like chips do. Which I guess shouldn't surprise me that much, but I've only ever eaten the sweet potatoes this way, not regular potatoes, and there's a very distinct difference in taste. Also, because the vegetable is naturally quite juicy, it lends a slight oily feel to the chips so that you don't even miss the oil! They were delicious and I shall be for sure making these again.
So that's this weeks lesson! If you burn stuff, don't give up. Try again and see if you can get it right the second time. You might be pleasantly surprised.