Week 7: Sweet Potato Fries

The Recipe
~500g sweet potatos
50g corn starch
3/4dl COLD water
~1/2 l oil for frying
Salt, pepper and spices (e.g. paprica, chili, cayenne pepper, cumin etc.) to taste.

Peel the potatoes and cut them into thin fries. Mix the corn starch and water in a bowl and whisk until the corn starch has completely dissolved. Dump the fries in a few at a time and put them on a rack to drip.

Meanwhile heat the oil over high heat in a thick-bottomed pot. You want it REALLY hot or the fries will boil rather than fry. Once it's hot enough, put in a handful or so of fries - you don't want to overcrowd them. I found I could do about 15 at a time. Don't be tempted to turn down the heat - I did, and it meant an entire batch was boiled rather than fried. Still tasty, but not really what I wanted.

Cook each batch of fries for about 5-7 minutes until golden brown. Move to paper towels to let excess oil drain. Move to a plate and season with salt, pepper and whatever spices you fancy.

You could put them in the oven at low heat (about 100C) to keep warm while you cook the rest, or just do what we did, and eat them while you cook the next batch!

The Verdict
A LOT of work, but so, so good!!! Don't know when or if I'll ever make this again, but it was good!!! YUM!

Oh, as for boiling some? In the photo below you can clearly see the difference between those that were boiled (top) and the ones that were properly fried (bottom).

Week 6: Squash Nachos

The Recipe
(Serves 2 with very little left over)
2 squash, cut into ½ cm slices
salt and pepper
oil
1 can corn (~300g)
1 cup shredded cheese
1 bell pepper, diced
1 cup tomatoes, diced
300g chicken (optional)
2-3 green onions, sliced
1 avocado, sliced
1tbsp sour cream or greek yogurt
Juice from 1 lime
hot sauce (optional)

Preheat oven to 200C.

Season the squash with salt and pepper. Heat oil in a pan over medium-high heat and cook the squash slices for 2-3 minutes on each side or until tender but still crispy (I had to do this in 2 batches in order not to crowd the pan). Move to an oven proof dish and top with cheese.

In the same pan, cook corn, green onion and bell pepper for a few minutes before transferring to the oven proof dish. Add a bit more oil if necessary and cook chicken until just done. Transfer this to the oven proof dish as well.

Bake for about 5 minutes until the cheese has melted.

Meanwhile mix sour cream / yogurt with the lime juice and hot sauce. Once the squash nachos are out of the oven, add avocado, tomatoes and the dressing.


The Verdict
REALLY good! I think I grilled the squash for a tad too long, as they weren't really crispy any longer, so I'll try to get that better next time. But other than that, I really loved it, and there weren't nearly as many leftovers as I had neither expected nor hoped!

I left the hot sauce out of the dressing and just served that on the side instead, as DH isn't a fan of things being too hot.

Week 5: Firecracker Chicken

The Recipe
1/2 dl hot chili sauce (e.g. Sriracha)
1/2 dl honey
1/2 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
Butter for cooking
450g chicken
salt and pepper

In a small pan, heat chili sauce, honey, soy sauce, vinegar and garlic until the honey has melted.

Melt the butter in a large pan, season the chicken with salt and pepper and brown for about 3-5 minutes per side. Transfer to an oven proof dish and pour a spoonful of the sauce over.

Bake at 200C until the chicken is cooked (about 15-20 minutes depending on the thickness), basting with the sauce every 5 minutes or so.

The Verdict
I served this with baked potatoes, sweet potatoes and parsnips cut up into "french fries". Went really well with the sauce :-D

Quite hot, so I ended up only basting my chicken, and leaving DH's as-is. I really loved it though, and DH liked the tiny bit of sauce his chicken picked up from being baked in the same pan. Quite simple to make too, so definitely something I'll make again.

Week 4: Crockpot Thai Curry

The Recipe
1 can coconut milk
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp curry paste
1 tsp oyster sauce (optional)
1 tsp ground ginger
2-3 cloves garlic, chopped
salt to taste
450g chicken
1 onion, chopped
2 bell peppers, diced
1 squash, diced
1 sweet potato, peeled and diced

Add first 7 ingredients (coconut milk through garlic) to the crockpot and mix until combined. Taste and add salt and extra curry paste to taste. Add chicken, turning over once or twice to make sure it's covered in the sauce.

Add all remaining ingredients. Cook on LOW for 6-8 hours or HIGH for 4-6 until the chicken is done. Shred chicken and return to pot.

Serve with rice.

The Verdict
I'd forgotten the salt, and it showed :-P Fortunately easily remedied though, and I really liked it otherwise. The curry paste added a nice "bite" without being too hot for my less-than-chili-crazy DH. The sauce was a tad thin compared to what I had expected I might try turning the chicken in flour first next time, to see if that makes a difference.

I cooked mine for all 8 hours, which was a tad too much, as the sweet potato had gotten too mushy. I'll try to check after 6 hours next time.

Week 3: Honey Garlic Sesame Chicken

The Recipe
450g chicken
1 onion, sliced
2-3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tsp dried ginger or 1 tbsp fresh
4 tbsp honey
4 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp ketchup
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
1/2-1 tsp sambal oelek (chili sauce)
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds

Place everything except sesame oil and sesame seeds in the crockpot. Cook on HIGH for 2-5 hours or LOW for 6-10 hours.
Shred the chicken and mix it back into the sauce together with the sesame oil and seeds.

Serve with rice and grated carrots.

The Verdict
The taste was very intense, so it definitely needed the freshness of the grated carrots to work. I did like the way it tasted though, so perhaps it was just a tad too acidic? I'll probably try to leave out the vinegar next time.

Week 2: Jerusalem Artichoke Soup

The Recipe
300g Jerusalem artichokes
2 large potatoes
1 onion
2 garlic cloves
1/2l chicken or vegetable stock
2.5 dl heavy cream
lemon juice
salt and pepper

Peel artichokes and potatoes and cut them into smaller pieces. Chop onions. Saute the vegetables in oil for about 5 minutes. Add minced garlic and stir for 30 seconds. Add the chicken stock and let it simmer, covered for about 20 minutes.

Use a stick blender to puree the soup. Add cream and bring it to a low boil again. Add lemon juice, salt and pepper according to taste.

Serve with warm bread, artichoke chips and possibly bacon.

The Verdict
Take two of the recipe - this version was made in 2025 and ended up being MUCH better, so I deleted the old one. Really yummy!

Best Recipes of 2018

I didn't quite make it all 52 weeks this year, but i've done alright :-) And found some awesome new recipes in the process!

Here are the best new-to-me recipes of 2018:
Nutella and Peanut Butter Brownies
Oatmeal Cookies with White Chocolate and Raspberries
Mushroom Risotto
Adobo Pork Tenderloin
Texas Dry Rub
BBQ Chicken Cobb Salad
Slow-Cooker Pulled Pork
Jalapeno Chicken
Honey-Mustard Pork Chops
Chocolate Peanut Lava Cake
Creamy Parmesan Chicken Pasta
Creamy Pasta Casserole w. cherry tomatoes
Ham and Potato Corn Chowder
Honey-Mustard Chicken