Sweet and Spicy Oven Fries

On Sunday, the weather was nice and I made some grilled BBQ chicken.  To go along with it, I wanted something sweet and spicy that would compliment the BBQ sauce – so I decided to make some oven fries. I had a few yams that needed to be used, so I whipped up some sweet potato fries (I guess technically they are yam fries, but that just doesn’t sound as nice).  I was quite pleased with how they turned out – they don’t look real pretty, but they sure did taste delicious! If you don’t want the brown sugar to caramelize too much, you may want to drop the oven temperature a bit and cook them for a little longer.  They won’t get quite as crispy, though.

This recipe makes enough fries for two (since I was only cooking for two)… It can easily be doubled (or tripled), though.

Ingredients:

• 2 large yams, peeled and cut into fries
• 1 – 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon sweet paprika
• 1 teaspoon Kosher salt
• 1/8 teaspoon black pepper

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 425°F.  Cover a baking sheet with aluminum foil (for easy cleanup) and spray with cooking spray.  Set aside.

Soak the yams in cold water for 15-20 minutes.  Drain and pat dry.  Spread the yams out in a single layer on the baking sheet and drizzle lightly with olive oil.

Combine the brown sugar, paprika, salt, and pepper in a small bowl.  Sprinkle half of the mixture over the the yams.

Bake for 15 minutes. Carefully turn over the fries and sprinkle with the remaining spice mixture.  Bake for another 15-20 minutes until the fries are tender and the sugar has caramelized.