Sweet Sweet Back's Badasssss Potato

I feel as if the sweet potato might have been short-changed a bit when it became dubbed as such—"potato"—, particularly because it's far more closely related to a morning glory than a potato (or even a yam, as they are sometimes referred to in grocery stores). But ! it IS an edible root, specifically one that can even be made into delicious fries, and thus I must make the concession that it has found a deserved niche in the American psyche's many imaginings of "potato".

That said, a sweet potato is lucky enough to be blessed with such a singularly sweet (yes, i know), delicate flavor that it can be whipped into a dish treading dangerously close on dessert and still be passable dinner fare next to the green beans and turkey. For example, Sweet Potato Orange Baskets:




Sounds hard, but so easy! Imagine you need one or two decently sized sweet potatos to fill every orange basket and buy both according to how many mouths you're looking to feed. Preheat the oven to 350° while prepping the oranges, Cut a good inch off the top of each, and thoroughly spoon/scrape out the pulp. Then peel and boil the sweet potatoes. Once the sweets are ready, mash them up with butter, nutmeg, and cinnamon to taste. A dash of salt or two can't hurt, either. Then spoon the mixture into the empty orange shells and cook them for 35-40 minutes, until the tops are golden brown.

It's a nice afterthought to save the orange pulp to make fresh orange juice. Or, if you want to really overload yourself: use the juicy remains to candy any left over sweet potato with thinly sliced lemons.

Ta da! Delicoius.