Bye-Bye Bounty, week 22: A new way to do sweet potatoes

Posted by Sarah Henning

September 25, 2012 at 9:52 a.m.

Sweet and Spicy Tropical Sweet Potato Slices. by Sarah Henning

This week we decided to update one of our favorite recipes for 2012. For the past couple of years, I've mentioned that I really love making sweet potato medallions.

We make them every fall and winter and eat them as pretty much a "main course" with some salad or beans, or cooked veggies on the side. And, we probably do this once a week.

Yes, that's a lot of sweet potatoes. And it's a lot of time to get a bit worn out on them. So, I updated our recipe for this year.

Honestly, I think this is my own little passive-aggressive way of dealing with my status as a "rut-loving eater." Because, after some experimentation, I now have a recipe that is very similar to one I love, but completely different. In fact, it takes the best parts of that recipe (the quick cooking time and the light seasoning) and makes it even better but including good fats and low-glycemic sweetener.

More on all that in a minute. First, last week we received white sweet potatoes, grapes, pears, mixed peppers, mixed greens and basil.

Now, you'll notice the sweet potatoes in the picture aren't white. That's because we made a batch that included both white sweet potatoes and regular sweet potatoes and totally spaced on taking a picture of the white ones. Whoops. They were totally delicious, FYI. They aren't as sweet as regular sweet potatoes, but still fantastic.

So, anyway, despite the picture being all wrong, here's the "new" recipe in all it's scrumptious glory.

Sweet and Spicy Tropical Sweet Potato Slices

2 medium sweet potatoes, skins removed and sliced into quarter-inch circles

Coconut oil (to taste)

2 tablespoons coconut palm sugar

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Meanwhile, place parchment paper on a rimmed baking sheet and put sweet potato slices on top.

With clean fingers, rub the tops of each sweet potato slice with a bit of coconut oil, just enough to make the top shiny.

Wash and dry your hands and mix together the coconut palm sugar, sea salt and black pepper in a small bowl. Sprinkle the mixture on top of the oiled sweet potatoes.

Place the sweet potatoes in the oven for 15 minutes. When the timer goes off, flip them with tongs or a metal spatula. Return them to the oven for 10 to 15 more minutes. Serve warm.

Serves 2.

What'd we get this week? More sweet potatoes, salad turnips, greens, salad mix, butternut squash and tomatoes.

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verity 10 years, 6 months ago

I've always wondered why the oven needs to be preheated for something like this---can somebody tell me? I can understand for something that rises, like bread or cake, but why for this or casseroles? Seems like a waste of energy. I've quit and had no adverse effects.

Actually, I've quit doing it for bread also and it turns out just fine.

Heisenberg 10 years, 6 months ago

Some dishes, such as casseroles, won't be affected much by not preheating. You may just need to cook them longer as they cook at a lower temperature. As far as breads go, you are cooking them at a lower temperature at the start, so they will be baked through before they have properly browned. Some foods won't rise, especially those that are steam-leavened. Not preheating can also cause uneven heat in some ovens. Foods with fats in them, particularly baked goods, will react poorly to the lack of preheated as the fats will melt out of the product, as opposed to being baked properly in them.

On top of this, some ovens actually start by using a much higher heat than the oven is set to as a way to jump start the heating, and you will be exposing the food to a much higher temperature and risk damaging its consistency and flavor.

There is a lot more that could be said for preheating, and to the lesser trained tongue/eyes some things will not be noticed if you choose to forgo the preheating, but it is generally best to do it the proper way for perfect results. More on this (and other very interesting subjects of cooking) can be found in a book called The Kitchen as a Laboratory.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Kitchen-Laboratory-Reflections-Perspectives/dp/0231153449

George_Braziller 10 years, 6 months ago

I've tried sweet potatoes in every form possible. Baked, fried, boiled, mashed, chipped, in soup -- you name it and I've tried it. Don't know why but I just can't choke them down. To me they are the tuber version of liver.