Sweet potatoes don’t need to be loaded down with butter and sugar to taste good. In fact I much prefer making the most of their natural sweetness by caramelizing them in the oven. I simply roast them on high heat with a couple complementary vegetables, such as leeks and turnips, and lots of garlic until fragrant and brown. Serve with greens and a simple protein, such as a fried egg (as pictured here). No need to overthink the rest of the meal, these roasted vegetables are plenty flavorful on their own!

INGREDIENTS

• 2 large sweet potatoes
• 1 turnip
• 2 large leeks
• 6 to 8 cloves of garlic
• Olive oil
• Salt
• Pepper

INSTRUCTIONS
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Peel the sweet potatoes and garlic and chop into half-inch pieces. Chop the leeks into half-inch rounds. Put the veggies in a large mixing bowl and douse with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Mix with a wooden spoon, adding more olive oil as needed to ensure that all veggies are lightly coated. Distribute the veggies between two large baking sheets.

Peel the garlic and place on a large piece of tinfoil. Fold up the edges of the tinfoil to create a little packet in which to roast the garlic. Just before cinching the packet, add a few tablespoons of olive oil. Seal the tinfoil packet and place in the corner of one of the baking sheets.

Roast the veggies for 20 minutes, then remove from the oven and stir thoroughly. Return to the oven for another 10 minutes (I usually reverse the positioning of the pans at this point). Remove the veggies from the oven and return them to the mixing bowl. Open the garlic packet and mash or chop the roasted garlic cloves. Add the garlic to the mixing bowl and combine. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

SERVES
4 to 6 people