Eating the Alphabet: Baked Jicama Fries

It's time once again for the Eating the Alphabet Challenge.  This month we had to chose a fruit, vegetable, grain, bean, or legume that began with the letter I or J.

Our choices were pretty limited with the letters I and J!  I decided to go with jicama. I have seen jicama a lot on other blogs and have heard lots about it, so I figured it was time to try it out.  Most recipes I have seen that call for jicama use it raw.  I guess it's really good in slaws and other raw veggie salads.  I wanted to do something a little different, so I made baked jicama fries.  I didn't use a specific recipe; I perused through a few (mostly from paleo recipe websites), and then just kind of did my own thing.  Here's how I made mine.

Baked Jicama Fries

Ingredients:

1 jicama, peeled

olive oil

1 tsp salt

1 tsp smoked paprika

Directions:
Preheat oven to 425°.  Line a baking sheet with foil.

Slice jicama into french fry-sized pieces.  Lay the jicama on paper towels and blot to remove any excess moisture.  Place fries on the baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil.  Toss to coat.  Sprinkle with salt and smoked paprika and toss again to evenly distribute seasonings.  Make sure fries are in a single layer so they all get contact with the baking sheet.

Bake in the preheated oven for about 30 minutes, turning fries halfway through.  Serve warm.

Makes 4 servings.

They turned out pretty well.  I might have overbaked them a tiny bit, as some of the ends got a little done.  Didn't help that I had trouble cutting them into uniformly-sized pieces.  I used my crinkle cutter and need more practice with it!

While my kids weren't crazy about them, my husband and I really liked these fries.  The jicama stays more firm than potatoes do, and it had a subtle, but pleasant sweetness to it.  

I'm really glad that I got the chance to try a new veggie!