Roasted Rosemary Sweet Potatoes
I love sweet potatoes! I didn't know this until last week. Until now, I have confused sweet potatoes with yams. I didn't realize that there was a difference until I went to a grocery store that had both and were clearly marked! Yams are the dark orange ones that usually end up in Thanksgiving day casseroles with a concoction of brown sugar, orange juice, and topped marshmallows. (Yikes, no wonder we have this only once a year). While doing a little reading, specifically in Dr. Mark Hyman's book Ultra-Metabolism, I have discovered that sweet potatoes are really good for you. I recall reading that in the South Beach Diet as well. Here is my slightly adapted version of a recipe that I found in Ultra-Metabolism for roasted sweet potatoes.
Roasted Rosemary Sweet Potatoes
Roasted Rosemary Sweet Potatoes
2 small sweet potatoes or 1 large
1 small to medium yellow onion
2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon fresh minced rosemary
salt
pepper
1) Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. (I love using my toaster oven for recipes like this so I don't heat up the whole house, yet still enjoy roasted veggies). Place a sheet of parchment paper in a shallow baking pan.
2) Mince 1/2 teaspoon of rosemary and set aside. Wash, peel, and slice sweet potatoes into 3/4" cubes. Quarter and skin the onion, and cut the quarters in half so onion pieces are similar in size to the potatoes.
3) Place potatoes and onions in a zip lock bag with the oil, rosemary, salt, and pepper. Shake to coat. Spread evenly onto the pan lined with parchment and bake 15 to 25 minutes or until desired doneness.
Michelle, I, too, love sweet potatoes and can't wait to try out your recipe. Yum!
ReplyDeleteThere are a number of different varieties of sweet potatoes out there varying in color from white to a very dark orange. The dark orange are often referred to as yams, at least here in the US. However they are not a true yam. Yams are actually very starchy, not sweet at all, and grown primarily in Africa. The name Yam was attributed to our dark orange sweet potato variety by Africans that were brought here as slaves and recognized the shape and skin of this new root vegetable as similar to what they knew to be a yam.
A few years ago we cooked a yam while studying Africa. I was amazed to discover first of all how huge they are and secondly how differently they cooked and tasted. I had to add a ton of liquid to mash my cooked yam and I was quite shocked at how starchy a consistency it had.