Soooo ... I got a box of vegetables from my friends at Frieda's Specialty Produce to have some fun with, and the one thing I'd been thinking about when I found out what was coming was the purple sweet potatoes.They're delicious and so ... purple.
My first effort didn't work exactly as I planned, but I was determined to spiralize those potatoes and use them for something. Because I thought they'd look crazy fun.
For my second effort, I decided to do something simple, and even more important, I wanted to make sure they wouldn't fall apart. Not everything you spiralize will turn into noodles, people. It's not magic, it's just a different way of cutting.
As a side note, I used the new Kitchenaid spiralizer attachment
. Which I did not get for free, so this is not a sponsored post for them. But I have to tell you about it! It's really cool! It works like the hand-crank spiralizer, but you don't have to crank, and it's mostly metal, so it's super-sturdy.It has two slicing blades - the same thickness, but different-sized cores. And then two spiralize blades for different thicknesses of the cuts. I've only used the smaller one so far. And it also has a peeler attachment, so you could use it to peel things. It worked really well to peel and slice apples all at once.
So anyway, this was super-simple, but fun. The result is tasty. And ... depending on how you serve them, this could be spooky or not. Call them curly shoestring purple sweet potato fries and they're not scary at all. Call them something ... scary ... and they'd fit very appropriately on a Halloween table.
I mean, imagine a nest of these potatoes with a pair of eyes (radish slice for the whites an olive half for the pupil) in the middle. Right? Right? Or arrange the spiraly potato pieces around a meatball to make a spider. Or ... I'm sure you can think of plenty of other things.
Spiralized Spooky Purple Sweet Potatoes
Purple sweet potato(es), as neededOlive oil, just enough to coat the potatoes
Salt, to taste
Heat the oven to 375 degrees while you prep your potato(es). The oven temperature can be flexible if you've got something else in the oven that requires a precise temperature - like if you're baking a cake or a pie.
Peel and spiralize the potato using whatever spiralizer gadget you have.
Place the spiralized potatoes on a baking sheet in a somewhat even arrangement. You can line the baking sheet with a silicone baking mat
for easier cleanup if you like. A few bits of potato might stick, but it's not a dealbreaker if you don't use the mat.Drizzle olive oil on the potatoes. You need enough to coat them, but you needn't get carried away. Add a sprinkle of salt. Add pepper, too, if you like, or other seasonings.
Bake at 375 degrees for 30-40 minutes, until the potatoes are cooked through, stirring once or twice during the cooking time to rearrange them to make sure they cook evenly. The ones at the edges of the pan will cook faster, or if you've got some super-tight spiral or they're piled on top of each other, they'll take a little longer. It's fine if some bits get a little crisp. I actually like the crisp edges and bits, but watch to make sure they don't completely dry out or they're a little tough on the teeth!
Serve hot or at room temperature.
I loved the purple sweet potatoes cooked this way, but decided to add more color to the plate - I added a kohlrabi and a yellow beet to another batch cooked the same way.
It was an interesting mix and really good!
