Taco-Spiced Sweet Potato Fries with Jalapeño Aioli
I'm back!!!
Hi! Welcome to “good mood food” from Kale Me Maybe’s Carina Wolff. If you’ve made it here and aren’t yet a subscriber, come join! You can expect recipes in your inbox every Tuesday, and paid subscribers receive even more every Thursday! You can also try a week for free!
CATCH UP!
Hi, I’m back!! It has only been about a month, but it feels like so much has transpired during that time, I can’t believe I haven’t written to everyone yet!
So, I got married! Woohoo! The ceremony was absolutely perfect, although it flew by so fast I couldn’t believe it. We spent the night at the Santa Monica Proper and did a mini staycation there the next day and ate dinner at Hatchet Hall (omg, highly recommend). Then Saturday we had our LA celebration with all our friends and family, which also turned out amazing but then…
Grant (along with a handful of some of our good friends) got covid after the party. I think most of you probably know this story already, so sorry to keep beating a dead horse, but that whole situation really through a loop in the whole wedding vibe. Although it was a major disappointment (we had to cancel our Atlanta celebration as well as change up our honeymoon plans), I can’t say I was that surprised. I had been pretty anxious leading up to the wedding about the rising numbers and the risk of being around so many people (even though the majority of the celebration took place outside). It’s a weird thing when you’re excessive worries and fears actually happen.
The hardest part (for me at least, because I was illness-free), was that we never got to really have a post-wedding newlywed glow. By the time I was able to settle down at home for two seconds after all the activity, Grant was starting to feel sick, and I was filled with a whole slew of anxieties and worries when some of our other friends caught it as well. I ended up separating from Grant when we realized he was positive, and then I worked on I canceling our original honeymoon trip to Portugal, rebooking it with new dates, only to cancel again out of an abundance of caution. As sad as it was to say goodbye to the trip I’d spent so long planning and looking forward to, it ended up being for the best because it took Grant almost 11 days to test negative and Portugal’s covid numbers were through the roof.
We ended up changing our plans to go to Baja California, Mexico, which ended up being incredibly relaxing, so beautiful, and an all-around great time that brought me almost all the way back to newlywed bliss.
All that to say, every single person who got sick was okay (thank the freaking lord), and it was only young people who caught it. Out of everything, that mattered most to me in the end. Unfortunately, these are just the times we are living in, which is a bummer because when we planned this last year, I thought for sure it would be a thing of the past. LOL, we all wish.
Coming back to work has been a bit of a struggle for me, as I’ve been completely out of my regular routine for almost a month now. That being said, I’m currently making a nice list of recipes to make, AND I’m finally going to finish writing the first draft of my damn novel so I can move forward with that process. I’m also thinking of some new exciting things to add to my newsletter, so buckle up!!
RECIPE!
I have been itching to make a jalapeño mayo (no idea where that came from), so I basically worked backwards on this recipe and tried to think of what would taste good with it. Sweet potatoes seemed like the obvious choice, so I thought I would keep it simple and stick to seasoning it with a taco spice blend!
I added a lot of lime to this jalapeño aioli, so it came out as more of a drizzling sauce than a dipping sauce. If you prefer to use it as a dip, decrease the amount of lime and increase the amount of mayo.
Also, I used goat milk cheddar here (I got it from Trader Joe’s), and I loved how light it was sprinkled on top.
Taco-Spiced Sweet Potato Fries with Jalapeño Aioli
Ingredients (serves 2 as an appetizer)
Fries
1 large sweet potato
1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp taco seasoning
1/3 cup grated cheddar (I used goat cheddar!)
Handful of cilantro, roughly chopped
Jalapeño Aioli
1/3 cup mayonaise
1 jalapeño, seeds removed and finely chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
Juice of 1 lime
1. Preheat oven to 425 F. Cut sweet potato into french-fry size slices. Add to a bowl and toss with olive oil and seasoning. Transfer to a baking sheet, and bake for 30 minutes, flipping half way through.
2. While potatoes are roasting, prepare the jalapeño aioli sauce by adding ingredients to a blender or food processor and blending/processing until smooth.
3. When sweet potatoes are done baking, add to a plate, and drizzle on some jalapeño aoili (you will have extra, save it for later). Sprinkle on the cheese, and top with cilantro.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT!
Last month, paid subscribers received a recipe for Rosemary Pesto White Bean Toast! I love doing these little two-for-one recipe posts — even if you’re not a fan of beans, I’m sure you’ll enjoy this rosemary pesto recipe, which I recommended using on potatoes, adding to your pasta sauce, and mixing into your eggs!
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