Sweet Potatoes With Bacon, Spinach, and Romesco
FOR THE SWEET POTATOES
Jewel or Garnet sweet potatoes: 4 lbs
Brown sugar: 1/3 cup
Sherry: 1 cup (reduced to 1/2 cup)
Unsalted butter: 8 oz. (2 stickes)
Sage leaves: 1 tbsp (sliced)
Thyme leaves: 2 tsp
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper: to taste
FOR THE BACON AND GREENS
Slab bacon: 3/4 lb
Young spinach: 1/2 lb (cleaned)
TO FINISH
Romesco: 1/2 cup
Suzanne Goin’s sweet potatoes with bacon, spinach, and romesco is a deeply flavorful side dish built on caramelization, contrast, and bold Mediterranean-inspired seasoning.
(Excerpted from Sunday Suppers at Lucques by Suzanne Goin. Copyright © 2005 by Suzanne Goin. Excerpted by permission of Knopf, a division of Random House LLC. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.)
Sometimes you come up with a certain way of preparing a vegetable that is so good there is really no reason ever to try to cook it any other way. This sweet-potato recipe is one those dishes. As if roasting them with brown butter, brown sugar, sherry, and sage until crispy and caramelized on the outside and tender on the inside isn’t enough, the potatoes are finally tossed with bacon lardons and spinach (greens!), and drizzled with spicy chile-based romesco. I think if I stopped bringing this to my mom’s for thanksgiving dinner I might not be invited back!
- Preheat the oven to 400°F.
- Peel the sweet potatoes, and cut them into 1 1⁄2-inch cubes.
- Place them in a large bowl, and toss with the sugar and reduced sherry.
- In a medium sauté pan, cook the butter over medium heat for 6 to 8 minutes, until it’s brown and smells nutty.
- Remove from the heat, and let cool a few minutes.
- Add the sage and thyme to the butter, and pour it over the sweet potatoes, scraping the pan with a rubber spatula to get all the brown bits.
- Toss with a large spoon, being careful of the hot butter.
- Season with 1 tablespoon salt and 1⁄4 teaspoon pepper.
- Transfer the sweet potatoes to a large roasting pan, and bake in the oven for 50 minutes to 1 hour, until they are caramelized and tender.
- Stir with a metal spatula every so often, to coat the potatoes evenly with the butter and sugar.
- While the potatoes are cooking, slice the bacon lengthwise into 3⁄8-inch-thick slices.
- Stack them in two piles, then cut the strips crosswise into 3⁄8-inch-thick even-sided rectangles, or lardons.
- Heat a large sauté pan over medium heat for 1 minute.
- Add the bacon, and cook for about 5 minutes, until it’s tender and lightly crisped.
- Using a slotted spoon, transfer it to a plate.
- When the sweet potatoes are done, remove the pan from the oven and toss in the bacon and spinach.
- Taste for seasoning, and arrange in a shallow bowl or large platter.
- Spoon the romesco over and around the sweet potatoes.
