Sweet Potatoes; Sweet and Savory

Tonight was a rather lame cooking day since dinner was left overs from last nights BBQ marinated chicken and tomato basil pasta with chopped asparagus and mushrooms , which was delish. But as its my first cooking blog day, it's quite a good day to share the little bit of cooking I did do, as well as the BBQ marinade I used, because, OH. MY. BBQ GOD.


Turns out the big sack of SWEET POTATOES I've been drooling over for a month, are actually mine, not my roomies as I had thought. Yay!
Since I had so many of them and had never really tried to make sweet potato fries before I thought I should experiment in 2 different ways. So I cut them up in skinny fry form, and put half of them in a pan and half of them in the oven.

This is what I did...Im not giving instructions....cus I never know what I'm doing, but I'll be honest about how it turns out and maybe you'll try it too :)

3 small-medium sweet potatoes

OVEN baked Garlic and Herbs De Provence Fries

• pre-heat to 375
  
• on a baking sheet scatter the fries around evenly so that each one is laying flat.
  
• about 1 tbs of WALNUT OIL. Um, the best discovery ever. It has a higher heat temp and a gorgeous nutty flavor. Creamy and buttery. YES.
• salt and pepper
• 1tsp of Herbs De Provence
  
• 2 cloves of garlic freshly squished through a garlic press, since its hard to equally spread the garlic unless you have a cooking brush-ooo fancy- I prefer to use my hands.
  
• Toss the fries around so they are all garnished in garlic and herbs.
• Sprinkle a little paprika and pop it in ....say...20 mins...my oven is as old as the hill the hollywood sign is on so, it may not take that long in your oven, so beware. You want them crispy, but not burnt. ;-)
  

Balsamic Glazed Fries in a PAN

• heat up a lil EVOO (Extra virgin olive oil)
• add a pad of butter so the oil wont burn
• pop in the fries, leaving them sit in 3 minute intervals...were gonna add stuff but they also need to sit a bit in between adding ingredients to let the flavors marinate.
  
• salt
• cayenne pepper- cayenne because this type of spice is sexy with the other additive...
• non sweetened coco powder- 2 three fingered pinches. The coco is a spice, I think we forget that it has a beautiful rustic flavor and can be used with meats and savory dishes.
  
• 1 tsp Balsamic creme- AWESOME ingredient. Get it. Taste it. Use it. Its not like a regular Balsamic vinegar. Crema di Balsamico is a syrupy reduction of Balsamic vinegar and grape must, the same juice of the Trebbiano grape used in the production of balsamic vinegar. Again, can be used for sweet and savory dishes.
• Now, I tasted it wasn't as sweet as I was wanting, it may be for you, so taste. I added a little honey for the extra sweetness I was needing.
• 
  
• add 1 more pad of butter and a pinch more of salt and mix it in.
  
• now just let it glaze..keep an eye on it and stir till its at the consistency you want.

They turned out really yummy. :)

Now, for the BBQ Sauce: Trader Joes Bole and Smokey Kansas City Style BBQ Sauce. :)

Hope it works for you. I'm new to the explaining portion of cooking. :)

Bon chance mon ami