Sweet Potato Secrets

For years I turned my nose up at all things sweet potato. And I can't quite tell you when my tune changed, just that nowadays I loves 'em. Especially this version, which is fresh and home cooked.

Well, except for the marshmallows. Some junk food is sacred.

Anyway here's what you'll need if you want to try this recipe:

• 2-4 medium/large sweet potatoes
• 1/2 c brown sugar
• 1 tbsp butter (need I say, not margarine)
• 1/2 bag mini marshmallows

So this is ridiculously simple, considering the deliciousness that results. Peel your sweet taters and cut them down, roughly into 2 inch cubes. Try to get the chunks as similarly sized as possible, but don't fret about it. Add them to a pot of lightly salted water, like so.

I really oughta fix these more often.

Stick a lid on there and set it over medium-high heat. Once it's boiling, let it go for maybe 15, 20 minutes. You'll know it's done when the chunks start to crack, and you can push a fork into them easily.

When you have about 5 minutes to go, start melting the brown sugar and butter in a small saucepan over low heat. Once it's made kind of like a grainy paste (and yeah, that pretty much looks just as gross as it sounds), add a little water from your tater-boiling pot. You want just enough to finish dissolving the sugar, which makes a glaze. I generally put in about 2-3 spoonfuls from my big Teflon stirring spoon.

Like this one, but without the holes. Obviously.

Cut me some slack, y'all. That was the only spoon picture I could find. And it sure is making me crave those chicken wings. I digress...

So yeah, you'll want to bring the butter, sugar, and tater water to a boil, stirring frequently. You'll know this is ready when you can take out the spoon, draw a line on the back with your finger, and the line holds. There's a proper word for this which I can't think of at the moment, but that's not important. What is important is that you be CAREFUL drawing that line, because melted sugar is freaking hot.

By now, your taters should be fork tender, so go on and drain off the rest of the water and put the chunks into a casserole. Next pour in the glaze and smash it all together with a fork.

Finish with a half a bag of mini marshmallows, and pop it into the oven until the 'mallows get brown.

Brown, and also crispy. Ye-um, ye-um!

Depending on how hot your oven is, this will take anywhere from 3 to 10 minutes. My best advice is to follow your nose. When you get a whiff of toasty marshmallow, you're good to go!

Like I said, too ridiculously simple for once a year. I think I'm going to make some more of these next weekend. With some chicken wings.

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