Baked Rosemary Sweet Potato Halves

Preparation

1. Step 1

   Preheat the oven to 375°F.

   Step 2

   Drizzle 2 tablespoons olive oil and 1 tablespoon melted unsalted butter onto a rimmed baking sheet. Sprinkle with 1 tablespoon fresh rosemary and sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste. Cut 4 sweet potatoes in half lengthwise. Rub the cut side of each potato half in the butter, olive oil, and seasonings and arrange, cut side down, on the baking sheet.

   Step 3

   Bake until the potatoes are soft to the touch and the cut sides are golden brown, 30 to 35 minutes. Remove from the oven and serve warm with sea salt and lime wedges to squeeze over the potatoes.

2. Sara’s Swaps

   Step 4

   Try using different sweet potato varieties, like rosy Covingtons and Beauregards, sweet orange Vardamans (named after the Mississippi town touted as the “sweet potato capital of the world”), pale O’Henrys, and purple sweet potatoes, to see which ones you like best. You also can make this dish with similar results using peeled slices of winter squash, like butternut, acorn, or delicata. For a more savory interpretation, try using Yukon Gold, Russian Banana Fingerling, or White Rose potatoes.

3. On the Side

   Step 5

   Because they couldn’t be easier to throw together, I make these rosemary-inflected sweet potatoes all the time when they are in season, and I serve them with anything from Pat’s Skillet-Seared Steak with Herb Butter (page 185) or Crispy Pork Chops (page 162) to Pickled Jalapeño Meatloaf (page 191) or Granny Foster’s Sunday Fried Chicken (page 127).