One of the Only Ways I Like Sweet Potatoes

If there is one thing my family can agree on, it is that no sweet food is allowed for dinner. Only dessert. Does that make sense? As in...we don't eat foods with sweet marinades, no pumpkin dinner rolls with maple sugar butter, no carrots with brown sugar, no sweet potatoes with marshmallows on them. I can't even remember ever even having marshmallows in the house growing up, for that matter.

Because of the "No sweets for dinner!" rule, I never had sweet potatoes until I met Alan. I thought I hated them, only because I didn't know of other ways to cook them. Alan told me there were other ways. I was hesitant.

I found this recipe and have adapted it along the way, and it is one of my favorites. Any time we have sweet potatoes on hand, I will usually make these. They're my favorite.

PS, although I said I don't like sweet things, this recipe does have a bit of brown sugar in it. Alan also taught me that a tiny bit of sugar in recipes will help bring out other flavors and also give a good crispness to certain things when baked...like these!

Hot Crash Sweet Potatoes

Ingredients:
2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and sliced about 1 inch thick
1 tablespoons light brown sugar
1 tablespoon New Mexico chili powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon granulated garlic
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
Using a saucepan, use enough water to cover your potatoes, salt the water and bring to a boil. Add potatoes and set the timer for 10 minutes – time from when you put the potatoes in, not from when the water starts to boil.As the potatoes boil, mix your spices together in a small bowl.

These ended up taking about 12 minutes, though you may need to pull some out as they feel "done". You want them to be somewhat soft but not cooked through. Stick a fork in 'em...you'll know if they're done or not. Let them cool off for 10 minutes or so – they will hold together a little better for the next step.

After they cool, squish em! I use a fork and make little criss-crosses in them, like you do with peanut butter cookies. As you do it a little bit at a time, the potatoes will start squishing down more and more for you. Try not to squish 'em too much though, you want them to hold together into disks.

Drizzle each of them with a tiny bit of olive oil and then sprinkle each one with the spice mixture, pressing it lightly on the surface. Carefully turn them over and coat the other side with the oil and the spices. Roast them in the oven, set at 375º for about 15 minutes, turn them over and roasted them another 10 minutes, till they had a nice crust on both sides from the caramelization of the sugar and spices.Aren't they so pretty? Every time I make them I add/subtract other spices. The other night I made 'em with more garlic than chili powder...I recommend sticking with the original recipe. It's tried and true!

PS: Try not to make them with those crazy huge sweet potatoes that show up in the megastores around the holidays. I get mine from the local health food center, which makes a lot of difference. The ones that are more than 2 inches in diameter are hard to squish and don't caramelize as much.