Oven Baked Sweet Potato Fries with Homemade Ketchup

Do you know any dishes in which nutmeg is the main ingredient? I have to admit that I don't know the answer to this question. As I understood, an excessive consumption of nutmeg can lead to hallucinations, nausea and other unwanted symptoms that you don't want to know about unless your skepticism leads you to google it. Don't worry a few tablespoons of nutmeg won't harm you!

At some point, in the life of an amateur cook, you feel that it is necessary to make your own version of products that are largely available in stores and see how it turns out. In the past, I tried several version of homemade ketchup (or catsup) that are available online. The taste was decent but none of these approach to the taste of Heinz ketchup. One day, I bumped into Michael Smith's Chef at Home show where he made homemade ketchup, I was shocked to hear that nutmeg is a key flavor to ketchup and he did put a few tbsp of nutmeg into his ketchup. I said to myself that this statement can't be right since most of the time, a pinch of nutmeg enough to enhance flavors to our dishes. I read some food blogs who also had some doubts about the quantity of nutmeg used and ended up using a pinch of nutmeg in their ketchup. At the end, they were more or less satisfy of their end results.

Michael Smith's recipes have not failed me yet so I decided to take a leap and follow exactly his recipe. He was right, nutmeg is essential for ketchup and taste really close to the store-bought one. I still have a full jar of homemade ketchup lying inside my fridge. My only change to his recipe is to reduce the amount of red wine vinegar to 1/2 cup.

The best way to taste your homemade ketchup is to serve with healthy and tasty oven baked sweet potato fries with a hint of cumin and paprika.

Serves 6
Preparation Time: 20 mins
Cooking Time: 45 mins
Printable Recipe

Ingredients

Homemade Ketchup

1 (28oz.) can crushed tomatoes
1 small can of tomato paste
1 medium onion, chopped
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup olive oil
about 2 tbsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground allspice
3-4 bay leaves
Salt and pepper

Sweet Potato Fries

2-3 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into small strips

1 tsp cumin
1 tsp paprika
Salt and Pepper

Olive oil to coat

Procedure

1. Combine all ingredients into a large saucepan.

2. Place over medium heat and bring to simmer. Stirring occasionally, until mixture reduces to half, about 45 mins. Remove bay leaves. If necessary, use an immersion blender to make the ketchup even smoother.

3. Preheat oven to 425F.

4. Meanwhile, prepare sweet potato fries. In a large bowl, combine sweet potatoes strips with spices. Drizzle with olive oil to coat.

5. Align aluminium foil onto a baking sheet. Arrange potatoes in a single layer.

6. Bake for 30-40 mins until soft and golden. Turn over fries halfway. Serve with homemade ketchup.