The flashing-neon preface to this recipe is that this is our InCultureParent twist on poutine, the popular Canadian French fry specialty. Because we always try to feature healthy recipes, it didn’t feel right to us to encourage you to eat French fries, even if they are Canadian French fries. So we made our own variation of this Canadian dish, with baked sweet potatoes as French fries. It’s healthier but with the gravy and cheese cruds, still a treat.
Ingredients:
2 pounds of sweet potatoes
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons flour
2 cups chicken or beef stock
2-3 T thyme Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1/2 pound fresh cheese curd (if you can’t find cheese curd, you can use mozzarella cheese)
Parsley (to garnish)
Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 425. Peel and cut sweet potatoes into French fry size.
2. Toss with olive oil, salt and pepper and lay on a baking sheet. Bake about 25-30 minutes, until golden.
3. While fries are cooking, combine the butter and flour in a saucepan, over medium heat. Cook for a few minutes, until a little darkened.
2. Add in stock. Bring the liquid to a boil then reduce the heat to medium low. Add in thyme, salt and pepper. Continue to cook until thick (about 15 to 20 minutes).
3. To serve, spoon the gravy over the fries and crumble the cheese on top. (Although if you have kids like mine that want the sauce a different, unpredictable way each time (i.e. on the left side of the plate, off the plate, under the fries, NOT ON the fries) then you are better off leaving the gravy as dipping sauce even though this is not the real way to eat them. Garnish with parsley. Serve immediately.
Sources: Inspired by these three recipes: 1.poutine recipe from norecipes.com; 2.poutine recipe from Emeril; 3.poutine recipe from janetishungry.com
