Beyond Burgers and Bratwurst

Growing up, my family would have 30+ guests over for Thanksgiving dinner every year.  My parents would organize a potluck dinner, meaning my dad would make a turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and pie, and my mom would make gravy and corn casserole.  Everything else was brought to the table by our friends.  They would bring everything from fresh dinner rolls to homemade cranberry sauce  (though sometimes my mom would also add a sauce of her own – there would always be about three or four cranberry dishes on the table, to my chagrin).

My piano teacher, whose husband worked with my dad and whose daughter went to my school, would always bring green bean casserole with sliced almonds.  I loved it.  It was absolutely my favorite dish on the table (aside from the stuffing and gravy). 

Alright folks, it’s been a whirlwind of a week, so I apologize for the announcement and then no follow-up recipes right away.  However, despite the delay, today we’re going to talk about sweet potatoes.

These are not your traditional marshmallow sweet potatoes.  I don’t really care for them, so if you want those I would suggest you turn to this Bon Apetit recipe for your inspiration.  However, if you want an awesome way to prepare sweet potatoes, keep reading!

A few years ago I got my bi-monthly issue of Cook’s Illustrated and it had a recipe for roasted sweet potatoes.  I love Cook’s Illustrated mostly because I know the recipes will work, and it tells me why they do.  That is so important!  I don’t like it for other reasons, mostly because it can be a bit pretentious.  Anyway, I digress.

The article said that sweet potatoes get sweeter if they stay in the oven at a lower temperature for longer, but that they require higher temperatures to finish cooking (something to do with the developing starches, i.e. sugars).  And folks, this is where things get awesome for the busy, forgetful, or lazy cook (like me!): these potatoes go into a cold oven!!!  How awesome.  No preheating needed.  I kid you not, they come out tasting as if they had sugar on them and you spent forever heating up the oven to bake them – but that is a deception!  Awesome.

You can pretty much spice these any which way you like – if you’re a purist, toss them with a bit of olive oil, salt, and pepper and you’re good to go.  If you like a hint of the holidays, throw on some cinnamon and cloves (not too much!) or even some cayenne (go easy, this isn’t a dish designed to blow your taste buds out of the water, at least not with Thanksgiving).  Have fun with it, and know that pretty much anything you do, as long as you follow the mantra of putting those spuds in a cold oven, will produce a deliciously sweet and savory side!

Roasted Sweet Potatoes
serves about 6 as a side dish

4 medium sweet potatoes, diced into 1/4-inch pieces
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp kosher salt (or 3/4 tsp table salt)
additional salt and pepper (to taste – potatoes may take a lot of salt)
Optional flavor combinations:
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp cloves
pinch of cayenne (may want to mix this in with the oil so it doesn’t clump all on one chunk of potato)

1. Dice the potatoes and in a large bowl, toss them with the oil and spices.

2. Put the potatoes in an oiled 9×17 casserole dish (they do not have to be in one layer, in fact they’ll be a couple chunks deep).  Place in a cold oven and turn the oven on to 400F.

3. Bake for 45-50 minutes or until the sweet potatoes are soft with a slightly browned exterior.  Stir them once after about 20 minutes to allow potatoes to cook evenly and browned on all sides.