Now just look at those homemade sweet potato chips. Don't they look good? Well, they weren't.
 |
| Homemade sweet potato chips with homemade blue cheese dressing for dipping |
At least not as good as I expected them to be. And they were quite "fussy" to make (read that "tedious!") ... the amount of effort required was not worth the result. Though Mark just said from the kitchen, as I'm typing this post, "I like the sweet potatoes pretty good." The flavor was decent, so maybe I'll try to re-work the spicing from this recipe into a roasted sweet potato side dish. Maybe...
Anway, both recipes (the sweet potato chips and the blue cheese dressing) are from my "50 Recipes for 2011" list (click here to see the list). The potato chips have a combination of chili powder, cumin, and paprika on them. Hmmmm, I thought to myself - if we dip buffalo hot wings in blue cheese, might it be tasty to dip these spicy sweet potato chips in blue cheese?? And that's how today's cooking adventure was born. So, I went to work making sweet potato chips and blue cheese dressing.
I'm happy to say that the blue cheese dressing is fabulous! The recipe is from my friend Jennie, and I can say with confidence that, as of today, it will be a rare day when I buy pre-fabbed blue cheese dressing. I'm now a homemade convert. So, let's begin there.
First, put all your blue cheese dressing ingredients - minus the blue cheese - in a bowl.
Give it a good stir to get everything all cozy together.
I actually tasted it at this point, before adding the blue cheese. It was already yummy!
Now put in your blue cheese crumbles, and gently fold those in.
You don't want to over-work it and break up all those nice, big hunks of blue cheese. You want it to be all lumpy-bumpy.
With phase 1 of the adventure done, it was time to move on to the sweet potato chips. Unfortunately, phase 2 didn't go so well. The first challenge was to get the sweet potatos sliced thinly - about 1/8" thick. My food processor isn't able to slice that thinly, and I don't own a mandoline (and would be afraid I'd cut my fingers off if I did! I'm a clutz.), so I tried the slicing side of my 6-sided box grater. No luck. This left me with only the option of slicing by hand. Do you know how hard it is to evenly slice by hand? "Fussiness" #1.
Next, toss the potato slices in a canola oil-and-spice mix to coat, and lay in a single layer on baking sheets. Oil coated potato slices stick together and are not that easy to separate. "Fussiness" #2. Then bake, watching carefully to make sure they don't burn. Remember that trouble I had slicing them evenly? Well ... here's what happens when some of the slices are thinner than others ... they end up like these guys -- "Fussiness" #3.
 |
| Thin potato slices ... a *bit* crisp ... not so good |
The final result - sweet potato chips that were very unevenly cooked - sometimes burnt, sometimes just right, and - more often than not - soggy and flimsy. While the flavor was good, I was severely disappointed with the end product.
So ... the very fabulous, absolutely yummy, amazingly wonderful homemade blue cheese dressing ended up being enjoyed like this. Yum.
 |
| Good ol' veggie sticks with blue cheese |
Blue Cheese Dressing
Source: A Friend
Ingredients
3/4 c. nonfat plain yogurt (I used nonfat plain Greek yogurt)
3/4 c. mayonnaise
1 medium shallot, finely chopped (I used just a small slice from a regular onion, and grated it)
1 T. fresh lemon juice
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1/4 tsp. freshly ground pepper
3 to 4 oz. blue cheese, crumbled
Directions
In a bowl, combine all dressing ingredients except the blue cheese. Crumble in the blue cheese and fold together gently. (NOTE: Don't use finely crumbled blue cheese - you want it chunky.) Store covered in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours before serving.
Now just look at those homemade sweet potato chips. Don't they look good? Well, they weren't.
|
| Homemade sweet potato chips with homemade blue cheese dressing for dipping |
At least not as good as I expected them to be. And they were quite "fussy" to make (read that "tedious!") ... the amount of effort required was not worth the result. Though Mark just said from the kitchen, as I'm typing this post, "I like the sweet potatoes pretty good." The flavor was decent, so maybe I'll try to re-work the spicing from this recipe into a roasted sweet potato side dish. Maybe...
Anway, both recipes (the sweet potato chips and the blue cheese dressing) are from my "50 Recipes for 2011" list (click here to see the list). The potato chips have a combination of chili powder, cumin, and paprika on them. Hmmmm, I thought to myself - if we dip buffalo hot wings in blue cheese, might it be tasty to dip these spicy sweet potato chips in blue cheese?? And that's how today's cooking adventure was born. So, I went to work making sweet potato chips and blue cheese dressing.
I'm happy to say that the blue cheese dressing is fabulous! The recipe is from my friend Jennie, and I can say with confidence that, as of today, it will be a rare day when I buy pre-fabbed blue cheese dressing. I'm now a homemade convert. So, let's begin there.
First, put all your blue cheese dressing ingredients - minus the blue cheese - in a bowl.
Give it a good stir to get everything all cozy together.
I actually tasted it at this point, before adding the blue cheese. It was already yummy!
Now put in your blue cheese crumbles, and gently fold those in.
You don't want to over-work it and break up all those nice, big hunks of blue cheese. You want it to be all lumpy-bumpy.
With phase 1 of the adventure done, it was time to move on to the sweet potato chips. Unfortunately, phase 2 didn't go so well. The first challenge was to get the sweet potatos sliced thinly - about 1/8" thick. My food processor isn't able to slice that thinly, and I don't own a mandoline (and would be afraid I'd cut my fingers off if I did! I'm a clutz.), so I tried the slicing side of my 6-sided box grater. No luck. This left me with only the option of slicing by hand. Do you know how hard it is to evenly slice by hand? "Fussiness" #1.
Next, toss the potato slices in a canola oil-and-spice mix to coat, and lay in a single layer on baking sheets. Oil coated potato slices stick together and are not that easy to separate. "Fussiness" #2. Then bake, watching carefully to make sure they don't burn. Remember that trouble I had slicing them evenly? Well ... here's what happens when some of the slices are thinner than others ... they end up like these guys -- "Fussiness" #3.
|
| Thin potato slices ... a *bit* crisp ... not so good |
The final result - sweet potato chips that were very unevenly cooked - sometimes burnt, sometimes just right, and - more often than not - soggy and flimsy. While the flavor was good, I was severely disappointed with the end product.
So ... the very fabulous, absolutely yummy, amazingly wonderful homemade blue cheese dressing ended up being enjoyed like this. Yum.
|
| Good ol' veggie sticks with blue cheese |
Blue Cheese Dressing
Source: A Friend
Ingredients
3/4 c. nonfat plain yogurt (I used nonfat plain Greek yogurt)
3/4 c. mayonnaise
1 medium shallot, finely chopped (I used just a small slice from a regular onion, and grated it)
1 T. fresh lemon juice
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1/4 tsp. freshly ground pepper
3 to 4 oz. blue cheese, crumbled
Directions
In a bowl, combine all dressing ingredients except the blue cheese. Crumble in the blue cheese and fold together gently. (NOTE: Don't use finely crumbled blue cheese - you want it chunky.) Store covered in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours before serving.
No comments:
Post a Comment