I still cannot get rid of the impression that when we had finally decided to leave our hometown, we weren’t in the right state of mind. In the beginning, everyone thinks that it’s this huge adventure, fun and if you even choose some awesome country, it can feel like a vacation. But that’s not the truth at all. Life is practically the same. You still have to work, sometimes even more since you are usually starting from zero. Movings like these are very stressful, but on the other side, it gives you so much. Before we came to Valencia, with all our luggage, we didn’t think that we will stay here. However, since the first moment, we fell in love. Love at first sight.
And just like that, with no knowledge of the language, culture or basically anything important, we’ve stayed. How bold but a great decision. And what is the better way to get to know the local culture, than through the food? The local dried ham, jamón serrano, found its place in our kitchen pretty quickly.
From the two most known types of dried hams, jamón serrano is the cheaper and widespread one. Its drying and aging take approx 6 to 9 months and the taste of the meat is more intensive.
Unlike the ham Ibérico (which would be considered a sin), serrano is perfect for heat treatment. And that is why I love to use it in my cooking. For example, ham and eggs gets a completely different meaning with this ham.
But today we are going to be talking about something more vegetable. Sweet potatoes are very popular in the Spanish kitchen so why don’t we mix them together into something so delicious and easy to make?
Baked sweet potato fries with jamón serrano
Ingredients
- 3 big sweet potatoes
- 100g slices of jamón serrano
- salt and pepper
- 1 sprig of fresh rosemary, finely chopped
- 100g slices of jamón serrano
- virgin olive oil
Instructions
- Prepare a pot with water and salt and put it to the stove to boil.
- Peel the sweet potatoes, chop them to fries and let them simmer for 3 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 200 °C and put the baking paper into the baking tray.
- Drain the potatoes and let them cool a bit. After that, add salt, pepper and wrap them in the slices of jamón serrano and put them on the baking tray. Pour the rosemary and olive oil.
- When they are all prepared like this, bake potatoes for 15 to 20 minutes till they soften.
Notes
Tip: Of course you can use any dry ham you wish. If you have Italian prosciutto in your fridge, use lemon thyme instead of rosemary. Will be awesome!
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