A girl, a grill, and sweet potatoes — Another MFG guest post

Written by geek on 01 August 2011

Another blogger and new friend Hanna jumped at the opportunity to guest post for MFG. Hanna is almost local and lives just a few hours outside of San Diego, in Las Vegas. In her first response to me about writing a guest post, Hanna proclaimed she had a, “love affair with food, and I loved writing about it!” Her first post is almost a guerrilla side dish that she whipped up on the road…

Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Yogurt Dipping Sauce

Three friends and I left Las Vegas early to go to an archaeological dig in New Mexico. We stopped by Chaco Canyon to camp and see the ancient ruins. We grilled hamburgers for dinner but we also wanted french fries. It’s really tough to make fries on a portable grill in the middle of nowhere, you know. So the idea of roasted sweet potatoes was born. The dipping sauce came later.

Ingredients:
2 medium sweet potatoes, sliced thinly in rounds
2 tbsp. chopped rosemary
1/3 C. olive oil
1 clove of garlic, finely minced
Pepper + salt to taste

Sauce:
1/4 C. plain greek yogurt
4 basil leaves, sliced thinly
1 small clove of garlic, super finely minced
Splash of red wine vinegar or lemon juice + zest
Pinch of cayenne pepper (optional)
Pepper + salt to taste

Directions:

A few words before starting:

Choose a potato that is uniform along the length. I prefer one that is approximately 2 inches in diameter. It’s just easier to slice them this way.

I like to use garlic infused olive oil. I add the minced garlic into the oil and leave them overnight. This makes it more fragrant and more garlicky, I think.
I prefer to use Voskos Greek Yogurt. This one is creamy and does not have a chalky taste compared to other Greek yogurts I’ve tried.

Preheat oven now to 350 if you’re a fast potato slicer, otherwise, wait till you have 10 -15 minutes left of slicing to preheat. Slice the sweet potatoes in thin rounds. Mince the 2 cloves of garlic; save half for the yogurt sauce. Chop the rosemary.

To a bowl, add olive oil, garlic, rosemary, pepper, and salt. Add the sweet potatoes and toss to coat. Add a little bit more olive oil if the slices look a little dry. Spread them onto a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil in one layer. Roast in the oven for about 20 – 25 minutes, or until the sweet potatoes are golden brown and crispy around the edges.

For the sauce:

Slice the basil leaves. In a bowl, mix together the yogurt, garlic, basil, and cayenne.