This recipe is pretty epic. I recently asked my Facebook followers to tell me what meal they missed most since going paleo. Among the many amazing answers, one stuck out the most to me. Poutine. I pronouce it ‘poo teen’. No idea if that’s right, but I’m going with it. And the reason this meal stuck out to me was because I had no idea what it was. I had to Google that business and figure out what all the craze was about. Well, french fries with gravy and cheese curds DEFINITELY caught my attention. Holy balls. I really wish that meal would have occurred in my life prior to paleo. So instead, I made up my own recipe. I don’t know what poutine tastes like so this could be nothing like it, but I don’t really care. It tastes like sweet heaven.
I had a fun weekend. Let’s recap. I had a Coaches Prep Course all weekend. Learned how to be a better coach as well as some tips for becoming a better athlete. Pretty damn awesome when you have people like Nicole Christensen, Russell Berger, and Chris Spealler helping you correct your form. I’m pretty sure I’m in love with Chris Spealler. I never wanted to jump on the bandwagon and be obsessed with him, but he’s just wonderful. And good looking. I’m sure his wife is very good looking as well. And his child. I can’t wait to meet my very own Chris Spealler. A really good looking CrossFitting man who is super humble and kind. And single. Where are you bro?
Anywho, on Friday I told Sergio that I wanted to go out Saturday night. That quickly changed as soon as I got home from my course and sat on the couch. And immediately decided going to a bar sounded like sh*t. And watching ‘Love Actually’ sounded much more fun. Then Sergio showed up at my house and gave me the look of disappointment, so I had to go. But once we got in his car, with heated seats, I was happy. And then I got to see a ton of friends that I rarely see since I’m slightly antisocial. AND since Sergio was so appreciative of me going out to the bars, he grabbed my phone and changed my Facebook status to ‘I gotta go poop so bad’. What a good friend. Always making me look good for all the single men out there.
I just ate an entire sweet potato. With butter. Real butter. It was stupid good.
Bacon Sweet Potato Poutine
- Yield: 2 1x
Ingredients
- 1 sweet potato, cut lengthwise into preference sized french fries
- 6–8 strips of bacon, cut into 1 inches pieces
- 1 head of cauliflower, stem removed, cut into small florets
- 1/2 cup canned coconut milk
- 1 tablespoon almond butter
- 1 shallot, thinly sliced
- pinch of dried thyme
- pinch of black pepper
- pinch of sea salt
- 1 tablespoon fat of choice
- Coconut Oil spray
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Cut your sweet potato in half lengthwise, then slice the sweet potato into 1/2 inch strips then cut those in half. This is all in an attempt to create perfect little french fries.
- Place parchment paper on a cookie sheet and line sweet potatoes on it so they are not overlapping.
- I used spray coconut oil and lightly sprayed the sweet potatoes then topped them with a pinch of salt.
- Then remove your stem from your cauliflower and roughly chop cauliflower into small florets. Cheese curd size will do.
- Place in a glass baking dish and drizzle a tablespoon or so of your fat of choice.
- Place cauliflower as well as sweet potatoes in the oven to cook for 20-25 minutes. (Your cauliflower may take longer)
- While the goodies are in the oven, add your diced bacon into a skillet over medium heat. Use a wooden spoon to break up the bacon and help cook on all sides.
- Once bacon is done cooking, remove from heat and remove bacon with a slotted spoon and place on a paper towel.
- Pour excess bacon fat into a jar or can (save it ya dummy) leaving 2 tablespoons behind in your skillet for the gravy.
- Place skillet back over low heat, add your shallots to cook down for 2-3 minutes, then add coconut milk and almond butter then some thyme and black pepper.
- Let the coconut milk come to a slight boil then use your spoon to mix together and begin to cook down.
- Once the mixture begins to thicken, add your bacon back to the gravy and remove from heat.
- Once your sweet potatoes and cauliflower are done cooking, place in a bowl or on a plate, top with gravy, and devour!!
Coconut oil spray rocks.
If only bacon grease was sprayable…
It’s freaking awesome. And I agree, you should invent that!
Juli, you never let me down! I’ve never had authentic poutine either, but I can’t imagine it being better than this. I didn’t have enough leftover bacon so I added 2 leftover sausage patties. It ended up tasting like Southern-style sausage gravy! Next time I’ll double the amount of gravy, since it would taste great on everything!
That’s perfect JC, nice work! Glad you liked it!
This looks delicious. I have to try it.
But living in Quebec, the birthplace of poutine, I have to say I’m pretty sure it won’t even remotely taste like the real thing.
Poutine is awesome. If you ever come in Quebec you HAVE to try it, even if it’s not paleo. Awesome post deadlift training meal.
I will definitely try it when I make it to Quebec! Let me know if you try this recipe and how it compares!!
This sounds awesome!! {drool} This may sound like a stupid question but I don’t care… where does one find coconut oil spray?? Oh and that darn couch… such a de-motivator (word?).. once the butt hits it, it’s o.v.e.r. 🙂 Now, can you please find a substitute for coffee/espresso ice cream w/ Reese’s peanut butter cups, brownies and almonds mixed in it??? I SOOOO miss that!!!
I just get mine at Whole Foods Rebecca! Yeah, I really wish that were possible. I could eat peanut butter cups all day
SO creative. I love paleo-ing a dish, it can be fun. Although I’ve never tried poutine its popular in canada and I live about an hour from the border so most people around here rave about it. But personally I think this sounds WAY better. Just curious what the almond butter does to the gravy- thicken?
Yes ma’am, just thickens it a bit! I used fresh ground almond butter!
My Canadian family and fans will love this! If they haven’t taken the Paleo/Primal plunge yet, what’s stopping them now?
Ok, this recipe looks awesome. It’s on my “to do” list now. Thank you!!
As for the person missing ice cream, etc, have you tried Clemmy’s ice cream? I found it at Sprouts grocery, here in Texas.
It’s definitely a “splurge” food item, but it’s lactose free and sugar free. Their coffee ice cream rocks, and you could do some bits of super-dark chocolate, a bit of sun butter swirled in and then some chopped almonds? For SURE not Primal or Paleo, but not totally SAD either.
AustinGirl, I haven’t tried Clemmy’s. I might just try it out after your suggestion though. I’ve tried some of the almond ice creams and coconut ones but, nothing really compares to the real deal. 🙁 Maybe one day someone will come up with a satisfying Paleo/Primal substitute for my first love. {insert wistful sigh here}
Oh my goodness thank GOD this is the recipe for today. I just watched Ann Burrell make french fries with cheese sauce and ham and it made me really want to cheat on Paleo. But since I have this fabulous recipe from my awesome friend Juli… Paleo’s and my relationship will be saved!
Hope you try it out Emily!
I’d never heard of poutine until I saw it on Triple D this weekend. I’m not sure what to think about those curd things. Sounds like a massive gut bomb, so I like yours better. I may be leaning toward some loaded sweet potato fries in my near future. How about “sweet potato fry” week? I used your recipe last week (haven’t really done fries), and I’m freaking hooked.
Curd things. It’s called cheese curds aka heaven explosions in your mouth. Actually, I’ve never had cheese curds so i would knows. I think sweet potato week is a genius thing. But isn’t that pretty much every week on my blog?
Juli, love your site!! Being from Canada I would say your pronunciation of “poo-teen” is close enough. Ate lots of poo-teen in my pre-paleo days. Will try it and let you know how it holds up. Thanks for the recipes!
Can’t wait to hear what you think!
Another awesome food suggestion. I like spicy fries though so I would sprinkle a little cayenne pepper on them before baking. Makes me want to try this asap!
Oooo that sounds awesome!!