We here at Our Southern Odyssey love sweet potatoes. Because they can be eaten by themselves or used as an ingredient with more vegetables, like in a soup. For a delicious soup recipe that uses sweet potatoes try our Apple Chicken Stew. Sweet potatoes are also great to use in more complicated recipes that require multiple steps for their completion. It’s good to know how to bake a sweet potato because quiet a few recipes, especially desserts, call for a baked sweet potato. For example, Sweet Potato Pie or Sweet Potato Cobbler are both desserts that call for a sweet potato to be baked prior to constructing the pie or cobbler. Therefore, having a basics in the correct way to bake a sweet potato is essential for preparing complex recipes that call for baked sweet potatoes as a step in a long line of steps. It is also noteworthy that these desserts that call for a bake sweet potato can be made in stages, the sweet potato can be baked the day before, reducing the time to complete a recipe.
For me there is nothing that beats a basic baked sweet potato topped off with ghee and a bowl of freshly prepared collard greens in the fall of the year. I (Valancie) get hungry just thinking about it. Sweet potatoes come in many different varieties including white, purple and the classic orange sweet potato. It is important to note that all sweet potatoes can be baked the same way. However the taste between the white, purple and orange sweet potato does differ. The orange sweet potato is the sweetest of the sweet potatoes. Thus it goes well in recipes that require a little sweetness. The purple sweet potato has more of a heavier taste and lacks the sweetness of the other sweet potatoes. We do not really like to eat the purple sweet potatoes by themselves. However, they go well in recipes where you want the look of meat without the actual meat itself. We have used them in a meatless casserole before and they were actually quiet tasty. Everyone thought there was meat in the casserole. The white sweet potato is the most versatile. Any recipe that calls for Russet potatoes can be substituted with white sweet potatoes. White sweet potatoes are not as sweet as the orange sweet potatoes. Which is why they make such a great substitutes for Idaho Russet Potatoes.
Sweet potatoes are members of the morning glory family (Convolvulaceae). Where as Irish Potatoes are from the nightshade family (Solanum tuberosum). Sweet potatoes are tuberous root vegetables that require warm soil to grow. Another wonderful quality is that they do not have to have rich soil to grow. They are loaded in nutrients like beta-carotene. Sweet potatoes are, also, sweet as the name suggest as well as starchy. The great thing about cooking with sweet potatoes are that, like regular Irish Russet Potatoes, they are available year round in the grocery store.
Instructions:
When baking a sweet potato try to find sweet potatoes that are similar in size. That way each potato will cook the same and get done at the same time as well. You will need a baking tray, parchment paper, a small bowl for olive oil and a fork. Start by washing the sweet potatoes under filtered water. Now dry the sweet potatoes. You will then need to pierce the sweet potato with a fork across the side that is facing upwards. Next rub each sweet potato with olive oil, coating the entire sweet potato. Place the potatoes on the unbleached parchment paper on the baking tray so that they do not touch each other. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. After the oven has come to temperature place the tray, with the sweet potatoes, in the oven and cook for one hour or until the sweet potatoes are soft. A good way to know if a sweet potato is fully cooked is to take and remove the sweet potatoes from the oven after one hour and take a thick clean dish towel and squeeze the sweet potato lightly. If the sweet potato gives it is cook thoroughly; however, if the potato is still firm it will need additional time in the oven. After the sweet potatoes are done remove them from the oven. If the sweet potatoes are to be eaten as is go ahead and serve them hot. However, if the sweet potatoes are to be used in another recipe allow them to cool. It is really simple to bake a sweet potato.
It is our hope that this guide has been useful. We would love to know how you bake a sweet potato. Let us know in the comment section below.
You can find other basic recipes on our site under the header Cooking 101.
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