This Thanksgiving, someone is bound to prepare my least favorite casserole–standard, baked sweet potatoes with marshmallow topping. Ick! I just don’t like sugary sweet side dishes, period. Furthermore, sweet potatoes with marshmallow topping is not my idea of dessert, either.
So often, sweet potatoes or yams, not true yams, are an after -thought. They really should be one of the stars of the Thanksgiving feast. Anyhow, sweet potatoes are a true American food. They have been cultivated as long ago as 8000 BCE in Peru. Now, that’s a true tradition.
I’ll share a couple of my favorite, super simple sweet potato techniques with you today.
Get a baking dish and a large plastic food storage bag, like a Zip-Lock bag to use and preheat your oven to 400 F. Wash, peel, and cube three or four sweet potatoes (depending on size). Set the cubes aside in the plastic bag. Chop two or three fresh rosemary branches with two cloves of garlic and place that into the bag. Next, pour about three tablespoons full of extra virgin olive oil, sprinkle in half a teaspoon of salt (sea salt if you have it), plus a quarter teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper.
Close and seal the plastic bag and give it a good tumble and gentle shaking. Spread the mixture evenly in the baking dish and place it in the oven for about 30-minutes. Temporarily remove the dish from the oven and gently toss or stir the sweet potato mixture and place in the oven for another 20 minutes. Serve right away as a side dish or a healthy snack.
Another easy recipe is to preheat the oven to 350 F. Then julienne slice some washed and peeled sweet potatoes, put them in a storage bag, add olive oil and seasonings you prefer (I like cayenne pepper). Shake everything together then spread the pieces on a baking sheet.
Place the baking sheet into the hot oven for about 15-minutes, then remove the sheet and stir the slices, then return the sheet to the oven and bake for about another 15-minutes or just until they are crisp. Serve right away with a favorite sauce or condiment for dipping.
Now you have a couple of ideas that can enhance your Thanksgiving Day eating.
Ciao
The Blue Jay of Happiness quotes singer Lenny Kravitz. “My dream is to become a farmer. Just a Bohemian guy pulling up his own sweet potatoes for dinner.”
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