Baked Sweet Potato Fries

Most sweet potato dishes are full of bad-for-you ingredients (deep frying oil, brown sugar, butter, marshmallows). And sweet potatoes are very very good for you. They're packed with vitamin C, fiber, and tons of antioxidents, just to name a few. They're also lower in carbs than regular potatoes. If you battle with blood-sugar issues, regular potatoes are disastrous, but ironically "sweet" potatoes are much better. The sweetness comes from complex carbohydrates (the good kind) and not simple carbs (the bad kind). Also, they're tossed in olive oil which is well known for it's healthy qualities. This is a great, healthy alternative to french fries and they taste fantastic.

Baked Sweet Potato Fries

2 medium-sized sweet potatoes*
2 T extra virgin olive oil
1/2 t cumin
1/2 t oregano
1/2 t coriander
1 t kosher salt
1 t parsley
fresh ground pepper (about 10 turns of a pepper mill)

*you want 1lb sweet potatoes after they are peeled, sliced, etc. If you weigh them at the store make sure you have a little more than a pound to allow for the peeling, and tossing of small pieces.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Spray a cookie sheet lightly with cooking spray. (Do you need to spray it? Probably not. But I feel safer doing it!) Don't use a silpat, or parchment, or anything like that. You want them right on the cookie sheet.

Slice your sweet potatoes into french fry shape and size. I like mine to be 1/4", or maybe a tad bit bigger. Cutting them larger, like steak fries, will sometimes result in a big soggy mess, so stay small to get the best results.

It's important that all of the pieces are evenly sized to ensure even cooking. So toss any irregular pieces aside (or eat them in another dish). When you're ready, you'll have something that looks like a pile of carrots.

Put the sweet potatoes in a bowl and drizzle the olive oil over them. Use your hands to make sure each one is coated. If you've got more than a pound of sweet potatoes, add a little extra olive oil. They should all be glistening.

Then sprinkle on all of the herbs and spices and continue to toss until well coated.
Place the fries on the baking sheet. It's very important that they are not touching, but can be pretty close together.

*if you end up needing more than one cookie sheet, make sure they are spaced more than one rack apart in your oven to prevent steaming. Also, rotate the pans when you take them out to flip.

Place cookie sheet in pre-heated oven and set the timer for 15 minutes. Don't open the oven door, not even for a peak! Let them do their thing.

After 15 minutes take pan out of oven and flip the fries. If you try to do it one at a time, it will take forever. Flip a bunch at time then make sure they're spaced out again. Be careful because at this point they're quite soft.

Put the pan in the oven and cook for another 15-20 minutes. Just keep an eye on them. They should be nice and golden brown. Click on the picture below so you can see the nice caramelization in detail! Mmmm...I want to eat that up right now. Crispy crunchy on the outside, and sweet and soft in the middle.

Take them out of the oven and serve immediately. They cool off very quickly so they're best eaten right away. Serves about 4.
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