sweet potato shoestring fries with garlic and rosemary

Two things transpired causing this recipe to happen in my life. Firstly, I went to the Spotted Pig when I was in NYC recently and their shoestring fries with rosemary and garlic blew me away. Secondly, I went shopping with my friend Shanna from PineappleandCoconut.com while in Vegas for Uncork’d and we stumbled upon these purple sweet potatoes. I had never tasted or seen them before so just had to buy them. I knew I was with a foodie kindred spirit when she didn’t flinch at me buying potatoes to transport halfway around the world.

They don’t taste any different to orange sweet potatoes, but they looked so damn pretty. While shooting them I thought I should have done both to create contrasting colours.

Anyway, that didn’t happen.

I’m a fan of vegetable fries, crisps or chips. In fact, these zucchini shoestring fries are right up there amongst my favourite food. Not at all healthy, but superb for a special treat. The rosemary sizzles in the oil as they fry and the garlic imparts a subtle flavour. You could eat the garlic crisps but I found them a little too bitter.

There is no recipe here because this is just sweet potatoes cut into the thinnest julienne and fried with rosemary and garlic. I used a mandolin to cut ribbons and then sliced these to make the chips. If you know of an easier way please leave a comment below. I initially tried to use my new spiralizer as I had done with this sweet potato noodle recipe, but the purple variety was too narrow and I didn’t get nice curls.

Heat a pot of oil about 8cm or 3 inches deep to 180C / 350F and fry these in batches draining on kitchen paper when they start crisping up and going brown. It is essential that you do not overcrowd the oil as this lowers the temperature and releases too much water. It’s a little tricky to tell when the purple variety is done, but you can feel them harden when you touch them with the slotted spoon. I added about 4 – 5 sprigs of rosemary and a few loose leaves to each batch I fried. I also cut the garlic very finely on a mandolin and added about half a clove per batch. Sprinkle with salt as they come out and serve hot with drinks or a delicious burger. Either a salmon burger or a vegetarian burger mushroom burger. Or any burger that you love. I reckon fries need a burger.