It’s been a long time since I’ve put pen to paper, but it’s about time the blog hiatus comes to an end. The other night, with no particularly inspired meal plan in my mind, I made something blog-worthy. The kind of dish that syncs beautifully with one central ingredient and several well-chosen partners.
I had a sweet potato from the farmers’ market that had been sitting on the shelf for several weeks and was starting to stare back at me with a few eyes. I remembered a ridiculously good crispy roasted potato recipe {courtesy of Nigella Lawson} I had made for New Year’s Eve and wondered if I could apply the same technique to a more tender sweet potato with similar results. Granted those were roasted in duck fat, but the secret sauce was really in the technique. It’s good to be back sharing — enjoy!
Crisp Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Gochujang
1 large sweet potato, scrubbed
olive oil for drizzling
1 teaspoon coarse gray salt
1 teaspoon Izak N. 37 (or a blend of sweet chili pepper, cumin, garlic powder)
Gochujang for serving
- Scrub the potato and slice it into 1/4-inch thick circles. Because this guy was a fatty, I quartered each round.
- Preheat dry baking sheet in 450 degree oven
- Parboil the potatoes for about 5 minutes to warm them up and start breaking down the starch — this will help them start crisping as soon as they hit the hot oven.
- Once tender enough that a paring knife would easily pierce the potato {about 5 minutes}, drain the goods and throw them back into the empty pot. Add a generous drizzle of olive oil, coarse gray salt and one of my favorite sweet chili spices, Izak N.37 from La Boîte {or mix equal amounts 1/3 tsp each of sweet chili pepper, cumin, garlic powder}.
- And now the fun part. Put the lid of the pot on and hold tightly, shaking vigorously to take out all work week frustrations. The process of doing this roughs up the surface, which will allow for more surface area to release the moisture trapped in a potato and also creates more edges that will get good and crisp during roasting. Win, win.
- Once everything is nice and beat up, pull the preheated sheet pan out of the oven and drizzle with 1-2 tablespoons of oil and swirl around to coat the pan.
- Toss the coated potatoes on the pan {be careful as the oil may splatter} and throw in the oven for 10 minutes.
- Rotate the pan 180 degrees after 10 minutes and roast for another 10 minutes.
- Remove pan from the oven and use tongs or a spatula to flip each potato over to roast the other side. Toss the pan back in the oven for another 10 minutes {less if getting too dark too or more if desired darkness is taking longer}.
- Remove from the oven and sprinkle with a nice flake salt — I love Jacobsen Salt — and serve with a side of Korean Gochujang {a tangy flavor combination of vinegar and fermented chile paste} or your favorite dipping condiment.
Some Like it Hot:
Homemade Spicy Pickled Carrots
Homemade Spicy Carrot Kimchi! & Apple Chutney!
Spicy Tomato-Meyer Lemon Stewed Chick Peas
Some Like it HOT Pollo alla Diavola
Lime-Red Chili Grilled Swordfish
8.ate@eight 