Sweet Savory Spuds

A new-to-me twist on roast potatoes, thanks to Katie over at Thyme for Cooking. She suggested using sweet potatoes rather than regular potatoes and tossing them in a mixture of Herbes de Provence, salt and oil before baking.

So, off I went to my local market to find sweet potatoes, only to also find that what I thought were sweet potatoes were, in fact, yams. You Southern cooks out there are probably shaking your heads at my ignorance right now. When the kind man in the produce department pointed out the real thing, I chose a hefty specimen and brought it home.

Cut into chunks it looked a lot like regular potatoes - firm and white. I did the requisite chunking, dressing and baking in a 400 degree oven for about half an hour and was really quite pleased with the result. The flesh was soft, the outsides were crispy and browned, and it turns out sweet potatoes are well named - the taste was subtly sweet but also made savory by the herbs and the roasting. I might be more slapdash with the herbs next time, sprinkling them with a more liberal hand, but I was happy to tumble them on to the plate alongside our barbecued chicken and a nice big artichoke.

Thanks to Katie for a happy new twist on spuds.