I was over at a friend’s house for dinner last night, and she was kind enough to let me raid her kitchen and iron-chef us a quick and simple dinner.  And, really, who am I to turn down sweet potato?  Oh, and just to note – there are NO measurements or amounts in this recipe because you can and should scale it to how many people you’re feeding, how much you want, and any other considerations you might have.  It’s a simple recipe, really, folks, so do please play with it.

The goods:

– sweet potato, peeled and diced into 1/2-inch ish cubes.

– corn (i really prefer fresh, if you can get it – it’s not hard to cut the kernels off the cob.  in a pinch, frozen will do.  avoid canned.)

– garlic, minced

– onion, peeled and julienned

– herbs: i like sage, dill, and rosemary, but feel free to also play with thyme, and oregano.  dried or fresh, up to you.

– salt and pepper to taste

– maple syrup (optional)

– good olive oil

– eggs (optional)

The method:

– before you do ANYTHING else, process your sweet potato and cook it.  You can either boil it or roast it.  I really love the flavor that develops when you roast it (toss with a little oil first and for god’s sake, grease your baking sheet) but if you don’t want to heat up your kitchen that much, boiling is fine.  Either way, cook it until a knife goes in and out easily from any ol’ piece.

– Caramelize your onion with a smidge of your olive oil in the biggest dang cooking vessel you have.  Wok, giant skillet, electric griddle, whatever.  You want a LOT of surface area.

– Add your corn and garlic once your onions are nice and brown and sweet.  Keep everything moving.

– Add the sweet potatoes once they’re cooked.  Add salt, pepper, herbs to taste.

– If you want to punch the sweetness, splash in some maple syrup.  The real stuff, please.

– Once all the ingredients are incorporated, let it sit.  Seriously.  You want to develop a little bit of a crust on the bottom of the food.  Or at least, I like it that way.

– Serve with fried or poached egg (My preference is to keep the yolks runny so you can create a glorious oozy hodgepodge on your plate)

Enjoy!