sweet potato recipes?

[ratcreature]

I've never had sweet potatoes (they're somewhat exotic here), but today my supermarket had some on offer so I got a couple.

Do you have any favorite recipes highlighting their taste that would be good to try them?

Comments

[kerithwyn]

Sweet potatoes are fantastic. You can do them like a regular potato, baked in the oven, then eat with butter and sour cream. Or make mashed sweet potatoes, yum.

Favorite use, though: sweet potato fries. Cut into strips, sprinkle with cinnamon, bake in oven. Devour.
(Like this, seasoning to taste: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/jamie-deen/oven-roasted-cinnamon-sweet-potato-fries-recipe.html)

[tazlet]

I think they're wonderful simply baked and served with butter and lemon-pepper. I also like to steam, peal and mash them with chopped, lightly steamed walnuts (seasoned to taste with butter, lemon-pepper and parsley). The 'All American Classic' from the 50s is to mash them with butter, brown sugar, a shake of salt, and orange juice - press the potatoes into a baking dish, dot them neatly with marshmallows that you've torn in half - pop them into a hot oven until the marshmallows are toasted golden brown. You can also make sweet-potato pie.

[ratcreature]

The marshmallow thing is right out, I don't think I've seen any without gelatine here. (Actually I can't remember ever eating marshmallow either, there is a similar kind of sweet here, called Mäusespeck, i.e. "micebacon" but I always found that gross as a kid, and then I became vegetarian as teenager.)

[ratcreature]

Thanks! The fries look tasty.

[kerithwyn]

No reason to peel 'em, btw, unless you really don't like potato skin. Wash and dry them well and they're fine.

[healingmirth]

If you go the baking route rather than steaming/frying, I like to leave them in past the point where I'd take a regular potato out, and the sugars will caramelize a bit under the skin. I usually go with sweet rather than savory, so I go with butter and a bit of cinnamon.

[mara]

I second the sweet potato fries. We eat them at least once or twice a week in our house and they're fabulous. Personally, I like them sprinkled with salt and pepper rather than cinnamon, but either will be good.

You can also put in just a tiny bit of oil, some maple syrup, and some cumin and turmeric, if you like things a little exotic :)

[tazlet]

The marshmallows are really only done for holidays, if that's the way your grandmother fixed them. Sugar is pretty much overkill on sweet potatoes.

[ratcreature]

I tried them with a curry spice mix rather than cinnamon, and it was quite tasty, though a few got a little too brown, because I turned them too late.

[ratcreature]

I tried oven fries today (quite tasty, if a bit odd to have sweet fries), but will try just baking the remaining sweet potato.

[princessofgeeks]

I love them in a recipe I found at Real Simple….

Peel them and cut them into thumb sized chunks. Microwave them with some water in a covered dish for five or six minutes until they are a bit tender.

Then add them to a saute'd red onion (saute the onion in butter or vegetable oil).

Then once they and the onion are all heated through, add small torn up pieces of fresh kale and saute it all together until you have a pan full of kale, sweet potato chunks and onions, all hot.

Spoon some of this on to a plate and top with basil pesto.

This is the most amazing thing ever.

If you need the pesto recipe I can give you that too. I seem to never get tired of this.

[ratcreature]

Sounds tasty, though kale is not in season here fresh yet, so I'll have to try that at a later time. Also I don't have a microwave, so I'd have to work around that and pre-cook them the old-fashioned way.

[princessofgeeks]

I actually like to boil or roast them, myself, but when I put the recipe up at the omnomnom community, most people seemed to like the microwave idea.

I think you could probably use any greens, not only kale.

[framlingem.livejournal.com]

Friend-of-a-friend here!

I love sweet potatoes, and my favourite way to eat them, honestly, is the easiest. It's best to get a nice fat sweet potato rather than one of the long thin ones.

Set oven to 350 degrees F (though anything on either side will do), bake on an old pan (otherwise any "juice" will drip to the bottom of your oven where it will be IMPOSSIBLE to clean; can sometimes mark pans so if you have only shiny new ones, maybe line with tinfoil) for around 40 minutes depending on size of potato. Potato will be cooked when the skin is papery and a knife slides all the way through easily - it'll be softer than a regular potato will.

Peel the skin off, deposit potato in bowl, add a bit of salted butter (margarine also works fine), eat with spoon. Or fork. Any sort of scooping utensil, really.

Be aware that sweet potato "juice" is very sticky, so if you can swing it, it's a good idea to wash the

[ratcreature]

Thanks, that's good to know about the stickiness.

[mirabile-dictu.livejournal.com]

Framlingem is right, roasted sweet potatoes are yummy. I also liked them mashed, so after roasting, scoop them out of their skins (don't burn yourself! The juice is a bit sugary and like hot sugar will stick to you and burn), then mash with butter and a tiny bit of maple syrup. Not sure what would be the equivalent over there, but I reckon honey would work. Sprinkle with cinnamon, mmmm. Now I'm hungry.

I also make sweet potato and black bean chile a lot; great for leftovers.

[ratcreature]

Doesn't it taste odd to have sweet bits in chili?

[mirabile-dictu.livejournal.com]

Well, we certainly don't think so! It's not super sweet, but it kind of rounds out the spice of all the various chile powders I use in it.

In case you want to try it, here's the recipe (http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/sweet-potato-bean-chili-50400000132222/). I add a can of pinto beans, but other than that, I pretty much follow the recipe. YUM. In fact, you inspired me and there is now a pot of it on my stove.