Yucca Root

Having seen Yucca root nearly every time I walk through any produce section, this is the first time I have even gone near it. The other day while trying to decide which vegetable will be on the proverbial chopping block that evening, I caught a glimpse of that odd vegetable out of the corner of my eye. "Oh what the hell!" I thought to myself, figuring I'd eventually have to get to it, so why not now. I always laugh a little bit to myself when buying a vegetable I know nothing about. What do I look for? How do I know if it's ripe or not? Should it smell like that? Because I usually "wing it" in the produce store and grab what peaks my interest right then and there, I don't research my next "victim" that often. So I picked out a few yucca roots that I thought looked good and went home to figure out what to do with this weird looking vegetable. Within a few minutes of surfing the net, I found that yucca makes great french fries. So I followed a simple recipe and boiled the peeled root for 15 minutes, then cut into french fry like strips. Then I added to strips to a frying pan with olive oil and let them crisp up. Tossing them with some sea salt and coarse ground pepper immediately upon exiting the frying pan insured the seasoning would stick to the fries. The fries were awesome! No ketchup need for these guys. However, I did make a mustard garlic aioli to dip them into but the flavor of the yucca was so tasty on it's own we barely touched the aioli. Before the fries hit the fry pan, I tasted the boiled yucca root to get an idea of what I was in for. Even before the frying, the flavor was delicious and instantly fell in love with the earthy taste this veggie had. I can think of numerous dishes that I would use yucca instead of potatoes and think it would make a great edition to a few stew recipes I have. Now when I peruse the produce aisle, I will no longer avoid and say "yuck" to the yucca!