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Photo: Jennafer Ashley
Truth is, with some vegetables we just haven’t got a clue what to make out of them. If you’re trying to fight food waste, not knowing how to deal with certain foods is obviously no good. Once you’ve saved them from a Food Cycle Market for example, chances are that you’ll leave it lying in your kitchen with the intention of finding a good recipe, but the further you procrastinate, the less appealing they start to look. Now here’s a super simple recipe that not only helps you to prevent this situation, but also offers you a solution for when you’ve already let it gone too far.
The idea is simple: You can make fries out of basically anything!
1. Just chop the vegetable into long, rectangular pieces
2. Add some vegetable oil, salt, and pepper
3. Add spices that match the type of veggies (scroll down for ideas).
4. Toss everything and spread the fries out on a baking tray
5. Roast them for about 10 minutes on 200 °C
6. Toss the fries around for a bit and let them bake in the oven for another 10-15 minutes until they’re tender and a little bit browned. If they don’t appear done, leave them longer.
And that’s all!
One additional thing to keep in mind if you had your vegetables lying around for some time already, is that they might be a little bit dry, in which case they won’t turn out to be very tasty. To fix this, just bathe the cut-up pieces in a bowl of water for at least 3 hours (preferably overnight), right after you’ve chopped them and before the seasoning.
So what spices go with what vegetable? That really depends on your taste, but here’s some tips based on what I like:
Celeriac -> Paprika powder OR curry spices
Parsnip -> Rosemary & garlic powder OR thyme & agave syrup/honey
Sweet potato -> Paprika powder OR thyme
Pumpkin -> Pumpkin spice (for sweetness) OR garlic powder & oregano
Carrot -> Agave syrup/honey & rosemary
Kohlrabi -> Chili powder & cumin
Parsley root -> Rosemary
Rutabaga -> Garlic powder & rosemary
By the way, most of them will also taste just fine with only salt, pepper, and oil!
Lastly, just a small disclaimer: some veggies are not really the kind to become crispy in the oven, and therefore won’t really turn out as the type of fries we’re used to. But if you spice them right, they will still be very tasty!
ENJOY!