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We are adventurous eaters in this house. We love to experiment with new foods, cooking techniques, and flavors. But most of all, we love new ingredients. You never know what will spice up those chicken cutlets or even a roasted chicken without trying new things. One such new ingredient we recently experimented with was Yucca. For those who do not know, yucca is a fibrous tuber, think 90% potato, 10% celery. It is like a fibrous potato, but when cooked the texture is unique, not stringy, and can complement many main dishes.
We tried a few recipes with our frozen yucca from Goya. Of them the two stand outs were oven fried yucca fries and mashed garlic yucca, both of which are easy to make. When preping the yucca, be sure to boil it until it is soft as your first step, then take out the tough inner core. On some pieces, the core was already removed, but most had a bit of it left. You may not understand what this core is, but when you see it you will know. It is a shade darker then the rest of the flesh and is easy to distinguish as visibly more fibrous as well. Below is our recipe for oven fried yucca fries followed by mashed yucca with garlic sauce, enjoy.
Oven Fried Yucca Fries:
1 bag (24 oz.) frozen GOYA® Yuca
½ cup GOYA® Extra Virgin Olive Oil
3 tbsp. GOYA® Minced Garlic, or 8 cloves garlic, finely chopped
3 tbsp. GOYA® lite Adobo spice Mix
First boil the yucca as described above, then remove the core of the yucca. As the yucca is boiling, grab a plastic zipper bag and put in the Adobo, garlic, and olive oil. Shake up gently mixing the oil and spices. After this, slice the yucca into french fry shapes- long stripes. After cutting up approximately 3 yucca toss them into the oil and spice mixture, zip, and shake. Once properly coated, transfer the yucca to a cookie sheet for baking. Set the oven to 350 degrees and start baking. The yucca are done when they are slightly brown. These are not the same brown as french fries, so be sure to keep an eye on them.
We found the Yucca to be very similar to potato based french fries, but clearly different. I this it would be interesting to make French Fries three ways, on classic with potato, one new with sweet potato, and one neuvo way using yucca. Each with its own dipping sauce, of course.
I would suggest hitting up your local grocer for your own taste adventures, Goya being one of our favorite brands to stick with.
Mashed Yuca with Garlic Sauce
Serves 4
Prep time: 5 min.
Total time: 45 min.
Ingredients
2 bags (18 oz. each) frozen GOYA® Yucca
1 tbsp. GOYA® Adobo All-Purpose Seasoning with Pepper, divided
½ cup, plus 2 tbsp. GOYA® Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 tbsp. GOYA® Minced Garlic, divided
1 small red onion, finely chopped (about 1 cup)
2 packets Sazón GOYA® without Annatto
Directions
| 1. | In large pot over medium-high heat, bring 6 cups water to boil. Add yuca and 1 ½ tsp. adobo. Cook yuca until completely tender, about 20 minutes. Drain, reserving ½ cup water. Transfer yuca to cutting board. Carefully halve yuca pieces lengthwise; remove and discard woody cores. |
| 2. | In large bowl, using potato masher, mash yuca with reserved water, 2 tbsp.olive oil, 1 tbsp. garlic and remaining adobo until smooth and combined; cover with foil to keep warm. |
| 3. | Meanwhile, heat remaining oil in medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add onions; cook until soft and translucent, about 10 minutes. Add sazón and remaining garlic; cook until fragrant, about 15 seconds more. |
| 4. | To serve, transfer yuca mixture to serving bowl; drizzle with garlic sauce. |
I’ve never had yucca, but this looks like a good way to try it.
yucca fries sound delicious.
That looks amazing, definitely something that we are going to have to try.
The Mashed Yuca with Garlic Sauce looks delicious. I love how you can take vegetables like this and cauliflower and make them as a healthy alternative to potatoes.
Raki
i will have to try that