Sweet Potato Fries with Saffron Aioli

I had sweet potato fries two times this past weekend. Well, three if you count the ones that I made. Oh, and I ate a different aioli with each batch. I've learned two important lessons from these meals:

1.) Mayonnaise and sweet potatoes are delicious together.

2.) I look really good next to sweet potatoes. There's no good explanation for it, it's just a fact.

So, feeling inspired (and beautiful), I decided to make my own variation on sweet potato fries. I also made my very first mayo, which I turned into a flavorful saffron aioli. I'm basically a God.

First, scrub your potatoes. Or not. Look, you can be as disgusting as you want. No one is watching. After you have/have not washed your taters, it's up to you whether you want to peel them. I didn't, as a lot of nutrients are in the skin, plus I feel like the skin allows the fries to hold up better. Again, no one is watching. Whoopsy, did you drop a potato on the floor? NBD, just put it back in the bowl. That's right...

After you have/have not washed and have/have not dropped it on the dirty floor, cut it into strips. There's really no rhyme or reason as to how you should cut them, but since I'm making fries, I tried to make fry shapes. I like to live life on the edge. On the edge of glory, that is.

In a bowl, drizzle some melted coconut oil (about 1 Tbsp per potato) on the fries, and add a generous pinch of salt and pepper. Mix 'em around so they're well-coated and transfer to a cookie sheet. Try to spread them into one layer, with a bit of room.

{Clearly, I did not give them much room.}

Hopefully you've pre-heated your oven to 450 degrees, because otherwise, you're gonna have to wait around for a while before you can pop these bad boys into the oven for 20-25 minutes. Bad planning on your part dude. Bad planning.

While those bake, start making your aioli. I made the decision to make this by hand (read: my arm nearly fell off by the time it was done), but I'd recommend using your electric mixer. A food processor isn't a great idea, unless you're planning to double or triple the batch.

Start by soaking a small pinch of saffron in a Tbsp and a half of warm water.

{That's saffron. That's all ya need. It's expensive. It's also delicious.}

Do that part first, because you'll need it to soak in the water for about 20 minutes. 

In the meantime, combine two egg yolks, a small clove of minced garlic, and a quarter tsp of salt in a deep bowl. Then, verrrrrrrrrrrrrrry slowly, like, slow enough you almost don't wanna bother, drizzle 3/4 cup of olive oil into the egg mixture, whisking vigorously all the time. This process will take anywhere from 8 to 15 minutes, depending on whether you're using a hand mixer or whisk. 

Once it looks like mayo, and you've added all the oil, add the saffron water to the mixture, along with a squeeze of fresh lemon (don't skip this part), and add a grind of black pepper. Whisk that shit together and then refrigerate your aioli for a few hours before serving.

This is my new favorite snack, paleo or otherwise. You will NOT be disappointed. Well, I guess you might be disappointed, but if you can be disappointed by mayonnaise, you don't have enough to worry about in life. Looks like somebody needs a hobbyyyyyyyyyyy!!!!

*Editor's Note: Sweet potato fries are not as crispy as regular fries. Supposedly, you can coat your fries with corn starch before cooking which makes for a crispier fry, but that's not Paleo, so I'm going to try using coconut flour next time. If you use either of these, let me know. Think of it like in olden times when the king would have someone taste his food first to see if it was poisoned or not. If you don't die, I expect a full report back.