Addicting. That’s the best word to describe these. French fries are not commonly seen on my plate, they don’t do much for me and there is certainly no nutrition to them. But these, these are different. I’ve seen this recipe before but passed it over on several occasions. I finally decided to give it a whirl when I had no other vegetable to go with dinner. Then I had them the next night, and the next, until I was making a fresh batch for every lunch and dinner for 3 weeks. The best part is, you can cut up several squash and store the uncooked sticks in the fridge for over a week and bake them on demand. And to ensure you don’t get bored with them I’ve concocted 3 different variations, all of which are delectable.
For those of you worried, the recent peanut butter salmonella contamination scare does not affect our favorite brand Naturally Nutty, I have confirmed it with Katie from the company who has checked all sources and posted a statement about it on their site. And mark your calendars for January 24th, it’s National Peanut Butter Day. I intend to have something fun planned for that day, any suggestions?
1 large butternut squash
2t olive oil
Regular Fries
kosher salt and pepper, to taste
Sweet & Spicy Fries
1T buffalo wing sauce or hot sauce
kosher salt and pepper, to taste
Cozy Fries
2T maple syrup
1t cinnamon
1/4t pumpkin pie spice
Peanut Sauce
Ketchup
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Peel squash, slice in half lengthwise and scoop out the seeds and strings. Dice into equal sized sticks.
2. Line a baking sheet with tin foil and coat with cooking spray. Place butternut squash sticks in a large bowl. Add oil and the ingredients for the chosen version of fries. Toss with your hands until the fries are evenly coated. Spread onto the baking sheet and cook for 35 minutes, flipping once at the 20 minute mark.
3. Dip the cozy fries in Peanut Sauce. Dip the spicy fries in ketchup. Dip the regular fries in either.
On a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being the crispest) I would rate these fries a 7 if consumed within 2 minutes of baking. After that they jump down to about a 3 but they are still delicious and usually don’t last that long anyways.
I tested these out on 2 people that like sweet potato fries and 2 people that don’t like sweet potato fries. All 4 of them love these and can’t get enough of them.
Leftovers:
I don’t recommend keeping the cooked fries for leftovers, they get mushy very fast. Instead, reserve the uncooked but cut-up fries in sealed containers in the fridge. Then, simply remove them from the fridge and proceed from step 2. They will last for over a week in the fridge this way. I’m not sure how much longer they’ll last because they’re always gone by then.