Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves just came out. And your’s truly posted reviews last month of the two prequel books, The Druid’s Call and The Road to Neverwinter. Between these three I’ve been thinking about what these intrepid adventurers eat. And I couldn’t help but be drawn to Holga’s love of the simple potato. Now she calls herself a purist in The Road to Neverwinter, claiming to only want simple fire-roasted potatoes. But I think that my cooking just might change her mind. To tempt her (and your) tastebuds I’ve got not one but TWO delicious potato recipes in this Cosmic Cuisine so read on and prepare to drool.
Seasoned Fries for Holga
Holga may like her potatoes roasted over a fire and whole in Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, but here at the Cosmic Circus, we like to spice things up. These delicious homemade seasoned fries go great with everything from hamburgers to steaks. Because they're baked and not fried they taste great and are healthy for you! That makes them the perfect things to fill your crew before you head out to pull a job, kill a dragon, or just head to soccer practice. And check out Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, currently in theaters. Check out our review of the film!
Ingredients
- 8 medium Golden Potatoes
- 2 Tbsp + 1 Tbsp Olive Oil
- 2 tsp onion powder
- 2 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 Tbsp grated parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425° F.
- Wash the potatoes. Leave the skins on.
- Slice the potatoes into approximately 1/4 wide sticks.
- Place sliced potatoes into a large mixing bowl. Drizzle 2 Tbsps of Olive Oil on top of the potatoes.
- Sprinkle the onion powder, garlic powder, black pepper, salt, and parmesan cheese over top the potatoes.
- Stir the potatoes with a large mixing spoon until they are evenly covered with the oil and seasonings (I use the pepper as a guide for coverage).
- Take two baking sheets, and grease them with the extra tablespoon of oil (alternately, use cooking spray).
- Divide the fries evenly between the two pans. Make sure to spread them out ensuring proper space to cook up crispy. Otherwise, the fries may come out soggy.
- Place pans in preheated oven and bake for 20 minutes.
- Turn the fries over and rotate the pans in the oven, cook for an additional 10 minutes until they are golden brown and crispy.
- Cool the fries for 5-10 minutes before eating because they will be very hot.
- Enjoy!
Delicious seasoned potato fries recipe
My first offering is oven-baked seasoned fries. When I make these for my family I make two sheets and the boys still fight for the final scraps. The nice thing about these fries is that they’re oven baked. This makes them healthier than a loaded baked potato by a long shot but even more delicious! These seasoned fries can easily be tweaked, with flavors and seasonings to your taste. Want them a little hotter? Increase the pepper, or throw some chili powder in there. Want savory? Add a little extra parmesan and garlic. Or toss some Italian seasoning in the mix. Looking for a Mexican theme? Add a little cilantro. Basically, take this technique and make the flavor yours. Although I think my offering is pretty top-notch already!
When you’re making these fries it can be really easy to get them stuck. Greasing the pan with a little oil before placing the potatoes on (per the recipe) can help with that. Cooking them on parchment paper (my best cooking buddy) can also help, especially if you don’t want the extra oil. Another trick is to actually let them cook a little longer. There is a sweet spot between not yet cooked (sticks) and burned (sticks) where the fries will naturally let go of the pan on their own. That spot in my oven tends to be about 20 minutes in. But all ovens are good so you might have to adjust that time for yourself. Unfortunately, that’s just a trial-and-error process.
Finally, this recipe makes the perfect (debatable in my boy’s eyes) amount of fries for my family of five. Feel free to use more or fewer potatoes for your family. Just remember to not crowd the pans so that the fries cook nicely.
Holga's Garlic Herb Sweet Potatoes
Sweet potatoes are usually thought of as, well, sweet. So they are typically prepared with cinnamon, nutmeg, and sugar, as a sweet dish. But this savory take on the humble sweet potato will blow your mind. Perfect for Holga as she prepares for battle in Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves! Or for your family, any day of the week for an exciting twist on a classic dish. Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves is In theaters now, check out our review.
Ingredients
Garlic Herb Sweet Potatoes
- 2 lbs sweet potatoes
- 2 Tbsps + 1 Tbsp Olive Oil
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1/4 cup garlic herb butter
Garlic Herb Butter
- 1 stick (1/2 cup) butter
- 1 Tbsps minced garlic
- 1 tsp Italian seasoning
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 450°F.
- Peel sweet potatoes. Chop into half-inch chunks.
- Place chopped sweet potatoes into a large mixing bowl. Drizzle with 2 Tbsps olive oil. Salt and pepper to taste. Toss potatoes until evenly coated.
- Grease a large baking sheet with 1 Tbsp of olive oil (alternately, use cooking spray).
- Spread potatoes out evenly on a baking sheet. Remember not to crowd the potatoes, as this may cause your potatoes not to roast properly. If necessary, use a second sheet to ensure proper space.
- Put potatoes into the preheated oven and roast for 20 minutes.
- While the potatoes are roasting, place the stick of butter, minced garlic, and Italian seasoning into a medium, microwave-safe bowl.
- Microwave the butter for 30 seconds.
- Remove the butter from the microwave and stir until all the lumps are gone and the seasonings and thoroughly mixed in.
- Set the butter aside, stirring occasionally as it cools to keep seasonings evenly distributed.
- Take the pan out of the oven, turn the potatoes, and return the pan to the oven for an additional five minutes, or until the potatoes have a beautiful golden color. During this stage, it's important to keep an eye on them if possible, to make sure they don't burn.
- Put the roasted potatoes into a large serving bowl. Add 1/4 cup (about half) of the garlic herb butter to the potatoes and stir until the butter is fully melted and covers all the potatoes.
- Enjoy this fresh take on Sweet Potatoes!
Mind-blowing sweet potatoes recipe
Okay, I promise, I’m not overselling these sweet potatoes! I can eat sweet potatoes but they’re not my favorite. They’re just okay. Even boiled, mashed, and double-baked in a souffle they tend to stay very fibrous and I don’t care for that texture. Still, they’re healthy so I eat them. Then I tried roasting them and tossing them with the homemade garlic-herb butter and I kid you not, I moaned! The sweet potatoes had that crisp roasted exterior but inside they were as smooth as butter! I ate a ridiculous amount the first time I made these and not a single one was even slightly fibery, they were all perfect. And the garlic-herb butter (that I threw together in a few minutes on a whim) was delicious. It gave them a delicate taste that was delicious but not overpowering. Even purist Holga would enjoy these, I’m certain.
Now some of you out there are wrinkling your noses just like my little brother did when he was first served these. As a society, we have relegated sweet potatoes to the dessert menu. They are associated with cinnamon, nutmeg, marshmallows, and pies. So pairing garlic and herbs with them in a savory dish seems wrong. My brother took some real convincing to try them. It was funny to watch his face as it went from “This is going to be bad” to “Oh my god, give me more”. So please, give them a chance. Even if it’s with my brother’s attitude. Just promise me to have someone there to watch your face when you taste them!
Once again, this recipe makes a (again debatable) perfect amount for my family of five. Feel free to prepare more or less for your family. Just keep the garlic-herb butter and potatoes in the ratio of two Tablespoons of butter to a pound of potatoes to keep the same flavor.
Slicing potatoes for these Dungeons & Dragons-inspired dishes
Make sure to use a nice, sharp knife when slicing potatoes of any kind. A dull knife is more dangerous than a sharp knife any day. After washing and drying the potatoes, take one slice off the long side of the potato. Then lay the potato flat side down on your cutting board and continue slicing. This keeps the potato stable, making it less likely to roll or slip as you’re working and making accidents less likely.
I happen to have a tool I love that lets me cheat when making fries. It’s a box with a metal cutting grid that fits over the top and a second top that slides over the whole box. I can place a potato on the grid, put the top over the potato, and just smash it down. It does all my cutting for me. I don’t usually advocate for kitchen gadgets, they take up too much space for the most part. But if you like to make homemade fries, this is a good investment, it has saved me an immeasurable amount of time over the years. And it keeps the fry size uniform, which helps a ton with cooking!
Be adventurous, just like Holga
I know that fries are often looked down on and only eaten with burgers or chicken nuggets. But these fries are delicious and can hold their own next to pretty much any dinner. My family especially loves them with pork chops. Although they’re happy to have them with literally any meat I’m cooking up.
But I want to ask you to be even more adventurous than that. These fries work beautifully as a breakfast hash, especially if you have leftovers (hahaha, I wonder what it’s like to have leftovers of either of these). Just chop them into squares and toss them in with scrambled eggs and sausage. Meanwhile, adventuring with the sweet potatoes could look like a quiche with them tossed in (have done, it’s divine). Be bold, go where others won’t, and just watch out for thieves!
Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves is currently in theaters. Are you interested in trying Holga’s potatoes? Let us know on Twitter or in The Cosmic Circus Discord. And if you haven’t already, check out our review of the film!
Review: Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves
Cosmic Cuisine: Second Star on the Right Cinnamon Bread
