If you’ve been to Gjelina in the past few years, you know about the japanese sweet potatoes. If you went a few years before that, it was the sunchokes. Before that, it was the original sweet potatoes (with honey, espelette pepper and lime yogurt) featured in the Gjelina cookbook and the New York Times. During their reign, each of these menu items had a chokehold on the community of Venice, CA and beyond. I am pleased to share my favorite of these all-stars with you today.
This is the closest I’ve come to the current iteration, adapted using the bones of the original recipe and some VERY crucial tips screenshotted from my friend’s Instagram story in 2021. Thank you Cathryn Greenwald (@cathstable), you didn’t know until today but I’ve referenced these screenshots for the past 3 years and taken credit for the recipe at countless family dinners and festive gatherings, including Thanksgiving. Thanks!
I love japanese sweet potatoes because they taste more like white potatoes in that they are only subtly sweet, starchier, and go well with literally anything, but in particular citrus, spice, yogurt, and earthy flavors like tahini and toasted nuts. You can’t go wrong. I will attempt to sub any potato I eat in the future for the humble japanese sweet.
These are wedges, i.e. a mix between steak fries and extremely crispy roasted potatoes. This is one of me favorite forms of potatoes. You can chop them thinner to make actual fries but it’s a bit more work to flip each one in the oven, and the sturdier shape holds up best with the yogurt.
TOOLS:
sheet pan—I like Nordic Ware, lined with unbleached parchment paper (easy cleanup and avoids direct contact with aluminum. will still get crispy!)
good chef’s knife
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