Oven Baked Sweet Potato Fries Recipe

The baking times are approximate; it depends on how thick you cut the wedges or rounds of sweet potatoes. Try to cut them evenly so they all cook at about the same rate. For best browning results bake only one sheet at a time. Why the sugar? To help with the caramelization and to intensify the sweetness of the fries, but you can easily leave it out if you want.

INGREDIENTS

• 2 pounds sweet potatoes, about 3 large ones
• 1/4 cup olive or other vegetable oil
• 1-2 Tbsp sugar
• 1 Tbsp salt
• 1-2 Tbsp spice or spice combination of your choice: chipotle powder, smoked paprika,
• Chinese five-spice, pumpkin pie spice, garam masala, Cajun seasoning, etc.

METHOD

1 Preheat oven to 450°F.

2 Peel the sweet potatoes and cut off the ends. Cut the potatoes in half lengthwise and then, if they are very long, in half crosswise. Cut each piece into wedges. Alternately, you can slice the peeled sweet potato into disks either with a mandoline or a sharp knife.

3 Put the sweet potatoes into a large bowl and add the oil. Mix well to combine. Sprinkle with salt, sugar and spices of your choice. Use your hands to mix well, so all pieces are coated with oil and spices.

4 Spread the sweet potatoes out in a single layer on a baking sheet; the oil they are coated with should keep them from sticking to the pan. If you are trying to cut fat, reduce the oil to 2 Tbsp and use a non-stick coating on the baking sheet.

5 Bake for a total of 25 to 30 minutes. After the first 15 minutes, remove the baking sheet from the oven and turn over all of the sweet potato pieces. Return to the oven and bake for another 10-15 minutes, or until they are well browned. Let cool for 5 minutes before serving.

Serves 4-6 as a side dish.

Fudge

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400 g	sugar
70 ml	water
60 g	butter
25 ml	syrup, golden or maple, or any other preferred syrup of your choice
400 ml	condensed milk
5 ml	vanilla essence

Method

Lightly grease a 27 x 17cm pan.

Cobine sugar and water in a saucepan and stir over low heat until the sugar has dissolved.

Add the butter and syrup, stirring until the butter has melted. Add condensed milk and bring to the boil, stirring continuously. Cook for about 25 minutes until mixture starts to thicken.

Remove saucepan from the stove, add the vanilla and beat until it thickens more.

Pour into a pan and leave to cool.

To serve, cut into squares.

Felafel

Ingredients

Prep time: 15 min Cook time: 25 min

Makes 16 falafel

• 2×400g tinned chick peas
• 2 small onion, finely chopped or grated thickly
• 3 garlic clove, crushed
• 2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 2 teaspoon ground coriander
• 3 tablespoon chopped herbs such as coriander or parsley (optional)
• 4-6 tablespoon flour
• Salt
• Ground black pepper
• Oil for frying

For the Mint, Yoghurt and Cucumber Dip

• 150ml natural yoghurt
• 2 tablespoon mayonnaise
• Juice of ½ lime
• ½ cucumber, thickly grated, drain on kitchen roll
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 2 tablespoon chopped mint
• Pinch of salt

Instructions

1. Place the chick peas in a bowl with the onion, garlic, cumin, ground coriander, salt and pepper and use a pestle and mortar to lightly mash the chick peas until the mixture begins to stick together. Add the chopped coriander, if using.
2. Take walnut-sized portions and shape them into small, flat rounds 1cm thick. Roll the falafel in the flour so they are well coated and chill for 15-30 minutes. Heat the about 2.3cm oil in a frying pan, when hot add a few falafels and cook over a medium heat for about 5-6 minutes, turning frequently. Drain on kitchen paper.
3. Serve with a dip such as Mint, Yoghurt and Cucumber (see below) along with crudités sticks of cucumber and red pepper.

To make the Mint, Yoghurt and Cucumber Dip

1. Place the yoghurt, mayonnaise and lime juice in a bowl and whisk with a fork.
2. Add the drained cucumber, garlic and chopped mint, mix well and add a pinch of salt if necessary.
3. Cover and leave in the fridge for at least 1 hour before serving to allow the flavours to intensify.

To freeze ahead: Complete the recipe up to the end of step 2. Cool and pack into an airtight container for up to 6 months.

To use: Place the falafel on a baking sheet and warm in the oven at 180°C (350°F) mark 4 for about 10 minutes or until piping hot

Chapati's

Ingredients

At a glance

Diet

Vegetarian

Cooking Method

Frying

Difficulty

Easy

Course / Dish

Indian Bread

Serves

4

*  1 cup of Wheat flour (can use wholemeal flour)
*  1/2 tsp salt (optional)
*  1 tsp ghee
*  65 ml of warm water

Methods/steps

• Prepare dough by mixing together ½ cup of water with 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp ghee and just enough wheat flour.
• Knead well.
• Keep aside for about 45 mins.
• Take some dough and make small balls - size half of tennis balls.
• Dust with wheat flour.
• Roll into chapatis on a rolling board.
• Ready the chapati tawa and keep on flame.
• Roast both sides of chapati on the tawa moderately.
• Ready to serve.
• Add ghee on top of chapati if needed.

Homemade Creme-Fraiche

To make 1 cup of crème fraiche, pour 1 cup heavy (whipping) cream into a clean jar, add 2 tablespoons buttermilk or yogurt, cover the jar tightly, and shake it for about a minute. Then just leave the jar at room temperature for 12 to 24 hours, or until the crème fraiche thickens slightly. How quickly it thickens will depend on the temperature of the room - the warmer the room, the faster it will thicken.
When it is nice and thick, chill the crème fraiche in the refrigerator for a day before you use it.
It can be kept in the refrigerator, covered, for about 2 weeks and will get a bit tangier day by day. 

Homemade yoghurt

Makes 500g

Ingredients

• 500ml whole milk
• 25g dried milk powder
• 3 tbsp live, plain whole-milk yoghurt

Method: How to make homemade yoghurt

1. Pour the milk into a saucepan and whisk in the dried milk powder. Put the pan over a medium heat, stand a cooking thermometer in it and stir gently, watching the thermometer carefully, until the temperature reaches 46°C.

2. Take the saucepan off the heat and pour the milk into a warmed mixing bowl. Check the temperature hasn't gone beyond 46°C. If it has, stir the milk until the temperature drops back. Whisk in the live yoghurt. The bacteria within it will start to work on the fresh milk, converting it into yoghurt.

3. Cover the bowl with a lid or some cling film, wrap it in a towel and put it somewhere warm - in an airing cupboard or above a radiator are good places. Alternatively, you can pour the mixture into a warmed, wide-mouthed Thermos flask and seal.

4. Check the yoghurt after 6-8 hours, or leave it overnight. If it's still runny, leave it wrapped up in the warm for another 1-2 hours. When it has thickened and looks set, pour it into a clean container, seal and refrigerate. Homemade yoghurt isn't as thick as commercial varieties. If you’d like a thicker finish, you can strain the yoghurt through a muslin-lined sieve over a bowl in the fridge for a few hours.

Ginger Beer

Ingredients

• 2 litre bottle of still mineral water
• large chunk of root ginger (you need 1½ to 2 tablespoons of grated ginger)
• 1 lemon
• 1 cup of sugar
• ¼ teaspoon of dried yeast

1) Lay all your ingredients out to make sure you haven’t forgotten anything.

2) Realise you’ve forgotten the yeast, so get that too.

3) Decant the water into a suitable temporary container (skip this step if you are using tap water)

4) Using a plastic funnel, pour the sugar into the bottle. (if you don’t have a funnel fashion one out of paper like me)

5) Add the dried yeast to the bottle.

6) Now, grate the ginger until you have between 1½ and 2 tablespoon’s worth. I used 2 tablespoons because I really like ginger, but feel free to vary this according to your tastes. Also, you may wish to cut the skin off before grating. I’m lazy so I left it all on.

7) Next, extract the juice from one lemon.

8 ) Mix the grated ginger and lemon juice together in a cup or other suitable piece of crockery.

9) Next you need to add the ginger/lemon mixture to the bottle. This is where a plastic funnel comes in really handy. for some reason paper funnels don’t work so well once wet.

10) Now, you need to add the water to the bottle. Fill it up until it is about ¾ full, then put the cap on and shake the bottle until all the sugar is dissolved.

11) You then need to top the bottle up until there is approximately a one inch gap at the top. This gap is to prevent explosions once the yeast gets to work.

12) Put the cap on the bottle as tightly as you can, then place the bottle somewhere warm. I put mine in my airing cupboard. You’ll need to leave it for 24-48hours to let the yeast go to work. Once the bottle is very hard, and can’t be squeezed, the ginger beer is done. It took 24 hours for my batch to be ready.

13) Place the bottle in the fridge overnight. This halts the yeast and stops the bottle exploding. You really don’t want to leave that bottle in a warm place for any longer than 48 hours.

14) Once the ginger beer is chilled, pour it into a glass and enjoy. I sieve mine when pouring so I don’t have any lumps of ginger in the drink.

Tiramisu

(+ 6 hours chilling time)

Preparation Time

20 minutes

Ingredients (serves 4)

• 250ml (1 cup) strong espresso coffee
• 80ml (1/3 cup) Tia Maria liqueur
• 16 savoiardi (sponge finger biscuits)
• 2 eggs, separated
• 55g (1/4 cup) caster sugar
• 1 x 250g tub mascarpone
• Shaved dark chocolate, to serve

Method

1. Combine coffee and Tia Maria in a bowl. Dip biscuits, 1 at a time, into the coffee mixture and use to line the sides of four 375ml (1 1/2-cup) capacity serving glasses. Drizzle with remaining coffee mixture.
2. Use an electric beater to beat together the egg yolks and sugar in a medium bowl until thick and creamy. Add the mascarpone and beat until combined.
3. Use a clean electric beater to whisk the egg whites in a bowl until soft peaks form. Use a metal spoon to fold half the egg white into the mascarpone mixture. Fold in the remaining egg white until combined. Spoon mascarpone mixture among glasses. Cover with plastic wrap. Place in the fridge for 6 hours to chill.
4. Sprinkle with chocolate to serve.

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Agnolotti with roasted pumpkin and sage

Ingredients (serves 4)

• 700g butternut pumpkin, peeled, cut into 2cm cubes
• 2 pinches chilli flakes
• 1/2 teaspoon coriander seeds, crushed
• Olive oil cooking spray
• 625g fresh ricotta and spinach agnolotti pasta
• 80g butter, chopped
• 1/2 cup fresh sage leaves
• 1/3 cup chopped walnuts
• Shaved parmesan cheese, to serve

Method

1. Preheat oven to 200°C/180°C fan-forced. Line a large baking tray with baking paper. Place pumpkin in a bowl. Add chilli and coriander. Spray with oil. Stir to combine. Arrange pumpkin, in a single layer, on baking tray. Roast for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden and tender.
2. Cook pasta in a large saucepan of boiling salted water, following packet directions, until tender. Drain, reserving 1/4 cup cooking liquid. Return pasta to pan.
3. Meanwhile, melt butter in a frying pan over medium heat. Cook sage and walnut for 3 to 5 minutes or until butter is golden and sage crisp.
4. Add pumpkin, sage mixture and reserved cooking liquid to pasta. Season with salt and pepper. Toss over low heat until combined and heated through. Serve topped with parmesan.

Notes

• Super saver: Use 500g potato gnocchi instead of agnolotti pasta