Sweet Potato Tater Tots

A few weeks back, I was perusing Facebook, as I often do, and I saw a notice for a new burger place on the South Shore opening up. The restaurant, called Wahlburgers, is owned by the Wahlberg brothers, Mark and Donnie, and their chef brother (I think his name is Paul...anyway). I looked at their menu online, and their burgers looked awesome, but the thing that caught my eye was sweet potato tater tots. I told Adam later that day that we needed to take a field trip down there to try a burger, and to have those tater tots (Five Guys has already been in our regular rotation, as there is a location about fifteen minutes away from us, and I thought, why not try something new?). Adam, in a stroke of genius (and because he knows I'll try almost anything), told me, "well, why don't you try to make your own?"

Genius. Of course. Why not, I have the grater and the deep fryer, and all I needed were the raw materials and the time.

As kids, we loved tater tots. I remember us calling them "trash cans", and it makes a little bit of sense-they kind of look like trash cans, right? It's weird for me to call them tater tots, or even just plain tots, as made famous by Napoleon Dynamite. So, tater tots is the actual recipe, but I don't think I'll be able to think of them without calling them trash cans.

But back to the sweet potato. As Guy Fieri might say, these things were money. (Apologies. I can't believe that actually came out of my mouth. But that's exactly what these things are). They weren't terribly difficult to do, but it did force me to exercise a little bit of patience. Waiting for the potatoes to cool after boiling was particularly difficult. I waited for twenty minutes and then dug in to grate and peel them, ignoring the fact that the hot steam was essentially burning my fingers.







I'd like to think that it was like a facial for my hands. Whatever that's referred to, anyway.





Once that was done, add in the other ingredients, mix together, form into logs, and drop into the deep fryer for four minutes. My taste tester ate four straight from the fryer. He's a pretty fair judge when it comes to my cooking, and when I had to swat his hand away, I knew I had a winner. Paired with a homemade cheeseburger on Portuguese bread and the Patriots/Giants game, it's a perfect evening.





My four-legged sous chef, on the other hand, looked on and sulked. I think he wanted one too. Next time, buddy.


Sweet Potato Tater Tots (adapted from Cook With Tom)
3-4 medium size sweet potatoes (enough to get 3 cups of shreds. I wound up with way too much shredded sweet potatoes, so I'd bump this down to 2. Of course, if you have too much, save it and use it for something else, like sweet potato latkes!)
1/4 c flour
1/4 c Parmesan cheese
1 Tsp alt
1 tsp pepper (not in original recipe, but necessary-it gave it the extra spice it needed!)
Canola oil

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the sweet potatoes and boil for 20 minutes (do not peel them beforehand!). Let it cool on a plate before peeling them, either with a knife or a peeler.

Shred the sweet potatoes to have three cups' worth. Wring them out in paper towels or a cheesecloth to remove the extra moisture.

Combine sweet potatoes with flour, cheese, pepper and salt. Mix well to combine. When in doubt, add just a little more cheese.

Using a 1 Tbs measuring spoon, portion out tater tots, and form into small tater logs.

Fry in a deep fryer or a deep pot filled halfway with oil, at 350 degrees, for 3-5 minutes, until brown (we found that four minutes was perfect, but it may depend on whether you're frying with a cover or not.).

These tater tots are perfect without any sauce, but feel free to use your favorite. If I have to pick one, it'd be honey mustard, but to each their own.