
I wasn’t going to cook for Thanksgiving…
…and the best way to avoid that is to volunteer at a community dinner where everyone cooks and everyone enjoys. This is in the spirit of Thanksgiving anyway, — no? Remember it was a community gathering on the first Thanksgiving.
Four days before the event I asked what they needed. "Nobody has volunteered to bring sweet potatoes", was the reply.
Ok, I have to admit, I am not a fan of sweet potatoes. To me they are a bit boring. I am sure I have not been properly sweet potato trained. I seem to associate them with melted, browned marshmallows, — and I am trying to avoid corn syrup.
Of course, the internet is full of recipes these days, and it was no challenge to find lots — until we had a power outage, and… still I was able to gather some great insights to the sweet potato from my trusty dusty set of cooking books.
Finding the recipe tip I needed…
However the best advice was from my local librarian, who must also be somewhat of a gourmet cook. She said that they add canned peppers to their sweet potatoes. Savory sweet potatoes instead of the sweetened sweet potatoes sounded like a hit. My only problem was, — the closest can of peppers for sale was 22 miles distant. Too bad it was already late on Wednesday afternoon.
I guess those cook books get dusty because I would really rather innovate than follow directions. Does this sound like a recipe for success to you? Me neither ;) but I was pleasantly surprised!
Spicy Sweet Potatoes Recipe
- 2 or 3 medium sweet potatoes (not yams in this case) cook, peeled and mashed
- 2 or 3 jalapeno peppers, sliced, including seeds
- 1/2 yellow onion sliced
- 2 or 3 sections of garlic pressed
- olive oil to cover bottom of fry pan
- pint of sour cream or to taste
- salt, if needed, to taste
Sautee fresh peppers, sliced (seeds included) with yellow onion and pressed garlic in olive oil. So far so good. Add mixture to cooked, mashed sweet potatoes along with a good amount of sour cream. Mix well and serve warm!
Observe…
I noted that anyone at the dinner who liked a bit of spice to their palate loved these sweet potatoes. Now I plan to make them for all our holiday dinners!