Sweet & Spicy Roasted Sweet Potatoes
A Thanksgiving side dish from Heather Forsyth.
Thanksgiving isn't complete without sweet potatoes (or yams, depending on what part of the country you're from), and I've been looking for a new way to prepare them. Most people grew up with sweet potatoes coming to the table hidden under a layer of gooey marshmallow and hey, if you've gotta have them that way to preserve your childhood memories, I'm not going to get in your way. But, if you want something different, read on.
In our house we always have mashed white potatoes, so I didn't want another vegetable that was mashed. I also didn't want it to be citrus-y and compete with the cranberry sauce. Taking a cue from the popularity of roasting pumpkins and squashes, I decided to cube my sweet potatoes into about a 1” cube and roast them. Then, I combined them with something sweet, something salty, something spicy and something green. This is it!
Sweet and Spicy Roasted Sweet Potatoes
- 1 to 1 1/2 pounds of sweet potatoes (2-4 depending on size)
- 1-2 tsp. olive oil
- 2 T. finely chopped fresh rosemary
- 1/2 t. cayenne pepper
- 2 t. light brown sugar
- 2 t. sea salt (better if it's not too fine)
- 1 T. butter, melted
Skin them if you want to, but I think it's better with skins on, and cut the sweet potatoes into 1” cubes. Put them in an 8x8 baking dish and toss with just enough oil to coat. Roast at 475 for 25-30 minutes. You want them tender, but not mushy. Meanwhile, put remaining ingredients into bottom of a bowl. When potatoes are ready, put them in the bowl on top of the seasonings, then gently but thoroughly toss until the potatoes are evenly coated. Easy!
This makes enough for about 4 servings. If you want to make more, use a larger baking dish so the potato cubes aren't too crowded while they're trying to roast, and multiply other ingredients accordingly.
The other big advantage of this sweet potato dish is that if you have any leftovers you can toss them into a tortilla with some blackbeans, salsa and cheese and have a practically instant yummy burrito. Not something you can do with its marshmallow cousin.
Heather Forsyth
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