How the January Samplr Cured My Sunday Night Blues

by samplrs

Sunday, January 22 was a sad day for Ravens fans. I sauntered home from the game, replaying that last missed field goal in my head–Superbowl glory dashed for yet another year. Luckily, I had just received my January Samplr, so I came home to a boozy box of Nunu Chocolates to drown my sorrows. As I made my way through sake, moonshine, and mezcal-chili ganaches, the world started to seem a little friendlier. Nunu founders Andy Laird and Justine Pringle started the company with the belief that the world is a better place when chocolate is involved. Mission accomplished.

After having my fill of chocolates, I dug into my Samplr to figure out what else to do with this month’s bounty. I’d stumbled upon a great recipe for seasoned sweet potato wedges, and I thought it sounded like a good Sunday night project to take my mind off of the injustice of the Patriots’ win. Thanks to a recipe from John and Elena Talk About Food, I now had the perfect complement to Sir Kensington’s ketchup and a great way to make use of the massive sweet potato I’d picked up at the 79th street farmer’s market.

This is an easy recipe that is made even more delicious with the addition of Sir Kensington’s. I sliced my sweet potato into quarter-inch thick slices, put the slices on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, and drizzled them with olive oil and seasoning (more on that later). After slicing, oiling, and salting, I realized I was out of cayenne and paprika, two of the primary spices in the “seasoned” sweet potato recipe.

Oops.

So I winged it. I used taco seasoning.

The sweet potato wedges baked for 40 minutes at 375 degrees (turned over once after 25 minutes). This cooking time and temp is slightly different from John & Elena’s version, but my oven is a little wacky. You really can’t mess these up, so feel free to experiment with cooking time and temperature depending on your preferences.

These wedges were delicious. Like I said… you can’t mess these guys up. Fortunately, my sweet potato was big enough for me to enjoy it the following week–over rice, dipped in hummus, and, finally, simply straight out of my tupperware container. Here’s what you’ll need:

Sir Kensington’s Spiced Gourmet Scooping Ketchup
Two sweet potatoes (or one really big sweet potato) cut into wedges
Olive oil
Salt
Pepper
Cayenne
Cumin
Paprika
Garlic Salt

I went to bed happy on that Sunday. Sad about the Ravens, but happy about enjoying another month of local, lovingly crafted artisan foods, drowning my sorrows in the Nunu booze box, and finding a new use for taco seasoning.

- Emily Weinman

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