Citrus Butter Sweet Potatoes

Sunshine has been all I crave lately. After a very snowy Thanksgiving week and a few weeks of fighting a cold, I feel like I’ve barely spent anytime outside over the last month. It’s getting to me. Staying home to cook all day is one of my favorite activities—but only if I’ve gotten enough fresh air, too. Otherwise, I just feel stir crazy. Next week, my office closed for the whole week (!!), so I am hoping to flip-flop my outside time issue. Miraculously, it’s suppose to be a sunny week… so sunshine, here I come!

Here is a holiday/winter side dish with a little sunshine built in, in the form of bright citrus juice: Citrus Butter Sweet Potatoes. They are slow roasted with a bit of butter, maple syrup (just a touch!) and orange juice. Each bite is a mix of sweet, salty, starchy and acidic.

Happy holidays!

P.S., If I know anything about you all, it’s that you love sweet potatoes. This roasted sweet potato salad is the most popular recipe on Foraged Dish! (Or is it the goat cheese?)

Citrus Butter Sweet Potatoes

Published December 19, 2019 by Caitlin Sherwood

Serves: 4-6   |    Active Time: 70 minutes

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Ingredients:

3 medium-sized sweet potatoes

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons maple syrup

Zest and juice of 1/2 an orange

1-2 generous pinches of salt

Freshly ground pepper, to taste

1-2 tablespoons minced Italian parsley

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400°F. While the oven preheats, place a baking dish (about 9x9 inches) in the oven with the 2 tablespoons of butter in it—this will melt the butter. When butter is melted (just a few minutes) remove from oven and set aside.
2. Wash the sweet potatoes, and then optionally, peel them. I like to roughly peel them, leaving a bit of skin on. Chop sweet potatoes into about 1-inch thick by 2-inch long pieces.
3. Add maple syrup, orange zest, orange juice, and salt to the baking mix and stir everything together. Add sweet potatoes, and use a rubber spatula to mix them in the maple-butter mixture until coated.
4. Cover top of pan with foil, and place in oven. Bake for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, remove foil from pan and continue to bake for another 30 minutes. Sweet potatoes should be browning on the edges, and extremely soft when done. Remove from oven and allow to cool 5-10 minutes before serving.
5. Season with black pepper to your preferences, and garnish with minced parsley.

Maple-Orange Sriracha Roasted Cashews

“Snack break,” in this house, is the moment we are mid TV show and pause for everyone to go refill their plates (if we’re eating dinner), get something to drink, or get a—yes, you guessed it - snack.

One of our snack break regulars is roasted nuts. We almost always have nuts in the pantry: Usually one those big tubs of roasted mixed nuts from Costco or Thai Chili Cashews from Trader Joe’s — we LOVE LOVE LOVE those. I once told a cashier there that I mostly go to Trader Joe’s just for those cashews. It’s a passion. 🤣

What’s EVEN BETTER is home-roasted cashews. If you haven’t made my roasted maple chai-spiced cashews, put it on your list, now,  right after “Maple-Orange Sriracha Roasted Cashews.” Go on, write it down.

They are crunchy. They are a little bit spicy (but not too spicy, just Sriracha-spicy). They are sweet, and with a little bit of orange zest, they are fresh. And complex. And just the best.

I originally discovered them when I made this Asian Slaw in 2014 (oh how the blog …and my photography skills… have changed since then). The rest is history. Now, when I find myself at home with a bottle of sriracha, an orange, maple syrup and some cashews, this is what I do. I know that sounds like a rare aligning of the stars, but actually, it happens all the time. (In fact, I could make a fresh batch right now!)

It’s about time I shared this snack with you, too!

Maple-Orange Sriracha Roasted Cashews

Published January 31, 2019 by Caitlin Sherwood

Serves: 4   |    Active Time: 30 minutes

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Ingredients:

Zest of 1 orange

2 tablespoons Sriracha

2 tablespoons maple syrup

2 tablespoons avocado oil

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 cups whole raw cashews

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Prep a sheet pan with parchment paper.
2. Whisk together the maple syrup, sriracha, orange zest, avocado oil, and salt in the bottom of a medium sized bowl. Place the cashews in the bowl, and toss until completely covered. Spread the coated cashews out on a baking sheet in a single layer. 
3. Bake for 15-20 minutes, turning them with a spatula halfway through (10 minute mark). Allow cashews to cool.
4. Great as a snack! Can also be served on this Slaw.

Grain-Free Sweet Potato Pancakes

I have never tasted sweet potato pie 😧 but if sweet potato pie was put into a pancake, I imagine this is what it would taste like. 

The batter for these pancakes is made of primarily mashed cooked sweet potato and egg. If you've ever made grain-free banana pancakes, you know what I'm talking about! The batter needs to be thinned out a little to make pancakes, so a bit of melted coconut oil and milk (whatever type you like) get stirred in. But then, ginger, cloves, cinnamon and a dash of salt are added -- this is where that pie flavor comes to life! These pancakes are grain-free, so expect the finish pancakes to be denser than traditional pancakes made with flour. 

Cook the pancakes on a well-greased non-stick griddle, and serve them warm. We topped them with butter, maple syrup and a dollop of whipped cream. (Yes, whipped cream is allowed at breakfast, and it really completes the sweet potato pie effect!) 😋

Perfect for the holiday season! 

Grain-Free Sweet Potato Pancakes

Published December 13, 2018 by Caitlin Sherwood

Yield: 6 four-inch pancakes   |    Active Time: 20 minutes

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Ingredients:

1 cup cooked and mashed sweet potato

2 eggs

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon melted coconut oil, plus more for cooking

1-2 teaspoon milk of choice

Optional: pinch of ground cloves

To serve: whipped cream, maple syrup, butter or coconut oil

Directions:

1. In a medium sized mixing bowl, combine mashed sweet potato, eggs, nutmeg, cinnamon, salt, melted oil, milk, and cloves if using. Stir with a spatula or electric mixer until smooth.
2. Heat a non-stick skillet over medium heat with 1-2 teaspoons of coconut oil. When the oil glistens, spoon batter into the pan by the 1/4 cup. This batter is thicker than traditional pancake batter, so use a spatula to spread it out to be about 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Cook for about 3-5 minutes, and then flip pancake and cook for 3-5 more minutes on the other side.
3. Move cooked pancake to a plate and repeat step two until all of the batter is used.
4. Serve warm topped with a pat of butter, dollop of whipped cream, and drizzle of maple syrup.