Recipe Thursday: Sweet Potatoes on the stove

Have you ever ordered "home fries" or breakfast potatoes at a restaurant? Even though these terms can cover a whole slew of things, every time, they have been delicious. So much so that I've cubed, seasoned and cooked potatoes on the stove (in my giant frying pan) several times. (Even mixed potatoes and turnips to sneak in said turnips.)

I was thinking about those the other day when trying to figure out something to eat for dinner. It was one of those nights where we were fending for ourselves. And we still don't have a working oven. And we still haven't restocked the kitchen since the move. And the kitchen is still in disarray. I can only blame the move for so long, at some point I'm either busy or lazy. Wager it is a combination of both.

The thought of venturing out into the tornado warning weather to spend money on fast food was disheartening, both to me and my stomach. The idea of polishing off a bag of Ritz chips was slightly more appealing until I thought about it. A sandwich sounded like a good idea, but I held off on that, just in case we needed that bread later on.

Then it struck me. I still had those farmer's market sweet potatoes (from a while ago) that had never been cooked! Fleetingly, I dared dream about sweet potato fries before I remembered that the oven doesn't work. Slight let down. But, wait! I saw my big frying pan sitting on the stove, and thought, "Why not just do the potato-turnip thing with just sweet potatoes?" So, I did.

The recipe goes a little something like this:]

wash and prepare your sweet potatoes

slice thinly or cube, trying to keep the pieces uniform

heat a bit of oil or butter in a skillet over medium high heat

add potatoes

stir

let it sit

stir

add more oil/butter if needed

stir...

(turn off stove to leave the house to get necessities. Turn it back on...)

stir...

cook until potatoes are soft, or desired tenderness.

I like to at least start on a medium-high heat to get a few crispy edges, but often end up fiddling with the heat, and letting everything sit on the stove over a medium heat for a while.

The cooking time is somewhat longer than you would think (or at least longer than I always expect). I would say you should figure on at least a half hour of time on stove.

I realize that you can do this with pretty much any root vegetable, and any combination of said veggies. I was just rather pleased with myself that night. Especially since I didn't have to eat yet another sandwich.