Meatless Monday: Crispy Sweet Potato Roast

So, I'm a jealous person. It's one of my many flaws. But I'm in Spain right now, so I'll deal with my flaws when I get back. But back to me being jealous. You see, I'm jealous of the creative genius that is Smitten Kitchen. She's just so darn perfect, it makes me sick. Or green with envy. And definitely, if not perpetually hungry. But her perfection also makes me strive to be better. Or so I'll tell that to myself, as I share my largely imperfect rendition of her take on Martha Stewart's Crispy Potato Roast .

In my defense, my dish would've looked closer to the original if I had a mandolin in my pantry. But as it stands, I can barely close my one utensil drawer, so where on earth I would store a mandolin is far beyond my ability to answer, and as such is yet another point of contention in my life.

But enough of my wallowing already. Because in spite of me currently being without a mandolin, or the patience and/or ability to perfectly arrange my potato slices like like Martha's or Deb's, this dish was still quite delicious, and 100% good for you. Unlike the original, I used sweet potatoes because they're like 1000% better for you than white potatoes, and if I'm going shell out the extra cash for organic potatoes, I want my money's and health's worth. I also nixed the butter [shock.!gasp! awe!] and used olive oil entirely. And yes, it was incredibly delicious.


Crispy Sweet Potato Roast (Adapted from Martha Stewart via Smitten Kitchen)
Print this Recipe!

6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 large organic sweet potatoes, peeled
1 small onion, thickly sliced lengthwise
Sea Salt
Fresh Ground Black Pepper
1 Tsp red-pepper flakes
3 Sprigs Fresh Rosemary

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Brush bottom of a round baking dish with 2 Tbsp olive oil. With a sharp knife or mandolin, slice potatoes very thinly crosswise.

Arrange potato slices vertically in dish. Wedge onion and rosemary throughout. Sprinkle with salt, black and red-pepper flakes (if using); drizzle with remaining olive mixture. Bake 1 1/4 hour, until potatoes are cooked through with a crisp top*. Serve immediately and go to town!

*As I was writing this post and looking t the orginal receip this recipe, I realized I was supposed to cook the potatoes an additional 35 minutes, I assume to make them entirely crispy, as my version was tasty but only crisp on top. But I'm sure that because of the sugar content in the sweet potatoes, they would've burned entirely had I attempted to cook them longer, especially at that high temperature. So next time, I'll adjust my oven settings, and see what happens.