Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Bacon

One of my pet peeves about sweet potatoes is people wanting to put more sweet stuff on them.  Far too many recipes for sweet potatoes call for maple syrup and/or brown sugar all the while forgetting that they are called "sweet" for a reason.  I won't even comment on adding marshmallows to them.  In the long ago, my good wife would cut slices, put butter on them, then a little brown sugar and bake them.  Those were good since they weren't overly sweetened but as our tastes have changed over the years, I think those might be a bit too sweet.


Since this will be the first time in 10+ years that our son will be having Thanksgiving dinner with us the good wife promised him the classics from his childhood.  So in proper fashion, I'll be frying a turkey and making dressing and gravy.  The dressing and gravy I learned how to make from my maternal grandmother.  The good wife will be making green bean casserole, homemade rolls, pumpkin pie, and apple pie.  The only thing left is the sweet potatoes.

The base ingredients

The good wife had seen a sweet potato dish posted by a family member that had bacon and pecans that piqued our interest.  Unfortunately, there was no recipe.  She found several that seemed similar though.  The problem is that I don't like nuts in stuff.  I like eating nuts by themselves but not in other food.  So, I came up with my own thing.

Ready for the oven

The dish that resulted from my playing around in the kitchen was a tasty combination of sweet and savory and a contrast in textures.  The hardest part is cubing the sweet potatoes.  This recipe made two hefty servings for the good wife and me.  It would probably serve 4 with another side.


Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Bacon


2 sweet potatoes
4 slices bacon
4 cloves of garlic
Fresh Rosemary, about 1.5 Tbs minced
salt
pepper
roasted ground cumin


Cut the sweet potatoes in 1/2 - 1 inch cubes and put in a mixing bowl.  Mince the garlic and Rosemary and add to the sweet potatoes.  Cut the bacon into 1/2 inch lardons.  Cook the bacon in a skillet until just starting to crisp.  Remove bacon from skillet and pour about 2 Tbs of the bacon grease over the sweet potatoes.  Toss to coat everything.  Add a bit more bacon grease if necessary.  Add salt and pepper to taste, I used pinches that would come to about 2 tsp each, tossing to mix as each is added.  Put sweet potatoes on baking sheet in a single layer.  Sprinkle a bit of roast ground cumin over them.  Bake in 385 F oven for 25 minutes.  Remove from oven and turn the sweet potatoes over.  Return to the oven for another 10 minutes.  Transfer sweet potatoes back to a bowl and add the bacon and toss.  Serve and enjoy.

Fresh from the oven

Thanksgiving's Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Bacon

These made a great accompaniment to strip steaks cooked in a cast iron skillet with butter.  The remaining drippings were used to make a flavorful pan sauce to top the steak.  Since sweet potatoes are good for you this is a dish that can take them out of the holiday season. 

Butter fried steak with roasted sweet potatoes

Give them a try and I think you'll become a fan.  As always, you can change the seasonings around to suit your palate.






Uncle T