A Yearning for Yams

Sweet potatoes are wondrous things. They're fantastic boiled and mashed with a good dose of black pepper and some half-and-half. They're delicious baked, seasoned, and smothered in butter. They're heavenly baked, scooped, doctored like mashed potatoes, and piped back into the shell for a second round in the oven. But the all-time best way to eat sweet potatoes is roasting. For awhile I thought the best way to treat a roasted sweet potato was with a little olive oil and plenty of Italian seasonings. Lately, though, I've come to the conclusion that they're even better roasted in fajita seasonings.(Thinly slice the sweet potatoes. Cut the slices in half if they are large. Place in a bowl, drizzle with olive oil, and add a packet of your favorite fajita seasoning. Toss to coat. Bake on a foil-lined cookie sheet in a single layer at 400 degrees for about 30 minutes.)
The starchy sweetness mixed with the kick of spice just makes my mouth water.

Tonight we had sweet potato tacos, which consists of roasting the fajita-seasoned sweet potatoes and scooping their soft, warm goodness into oven-crisped taco shells before topping with sharp cheddar cheese and sour cream. Scrumptious. In addition to the yummy taste, these tacos look exciting thanks to the potato's orange color which turns from a bright, sunny hue to a deep, golden amber upon roasting. This dinner is a no-brainer and a family favorite. The fleshiness of the potatoes coupled with the lightness of the taco shells creates a satisfying mixture of smooth and crunchy. Add to this the coolness of the sour cream, and how could it be bad?

We finished dinner with a quickie version of bananas foster. (Melt a tablespoon of butter in a small skillet over medium heat. As the butter begins to bubble add two bananas cut into coins. Cook for a couple of minutes until the bananas start to get soft and lightly browned. Meanwhile, warm some store-bought caramel sauce in the microwave. When the bananas are done, divide them over two or three dishes of vanilla ice cream and add the caramel sauce.) This is deluxe and takes five minutes or less to make. I am a little picky about my vanilla ice cream, though. I prefer the kind that has flecks of actual vanilla bean in it, since it has a far richer flavor than most ordinary, vanilla flavored ice creams.

Tonight's dinner made me glad to eat home. It was fast and easy to prepare, imminently satisfying, and not something we could have picked up anywhere else. With food like this, who needs to eat out?