I fired up the grill a few weeks ago to make burgers. Grilling
season is always something to look forward to; especially on the weekends. Picking
the meat dish to grill is the easy part. I often struggle to come up with a
side dish to prepare that requires minimal work. When we get great Saturday or Sunday
afternoon weather, I want to enjoy family backyard time, and spend as little
time in the kitchen as possible. When I am out of ideas for an accompaniment to
burgers or chops, I will occasionally defer to a potato item (fries, wedges,
tots) that can be easily cooked on a cookie sheet while I am outside grilling.
My side dish at the time ended up being the Alexia Crispy
Seasoned Potato Puffs with Roasted Garlic and Cracked Black Pepper. These were
on sale at the nearby Jewel and I have tried this brand’s sweet potato fries
before and enjoyed the flavor. The bag of tots or “puffs” were on sale for
$1.99 and figured this to be an easy sell as I enjoy the flavor of just about
any items that includes hints of garlic and pepper.
The preparation of these puffs is easy as I unloaded the
full bag onto a foil lined cookie sheet. I use a full bag to feed our hungry
group of five. The oven was preheated to 425 F and baked for about twenty seven
minutes. If you plan on making half a bag, then bake for about twenty two
minutes. Technically you are supposed to turn them midway through baking. I did
not perform that extra task as I was busy outside with grill and kids.
The result of skipping the turning step resulted in a more
brown finish on one side of the tot which was really no big deal. If I was
inside, I would have taken the time to flip them. Skipping this step for with
some ovens may cause the one side to burn.
The potato puffs had a pleasingly light crunch and zesty
garlic and pepper flavor. Four out of five of us enjoyed the puffs to accompany
our burgers. My five year old was not a huge fan as he detected the slight hint
of black pepper and wasn’t a big fan. I would definitely prefer this puff over
a basic tater tot as it has a great flavor. A recommend the Alexia Crispy
Seasoned Potato puffs as a strong buy.
