Pan Cooked Sweet Potatoes

So, TH & I were making dinner the other night and were trying to find something interesting to go with the Guinness Beer Brats we bought at Sam's Club.  Yes, I know, Beer Brats are not part of the diet, but Guinness is one of my favorite drinks of all time, so I had to try them.  And I only had one, not 2 or 3 or four.

Anyways, we had also bought sweet potatoes, so I wanted to do something with those.  Here's what I came up with.

Pan-Cooked Sweet Potatoes

2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled, & diced into 1/4" to 1/2" pieces

8 oz whole baby bella mushrooms, cut into quarters (for larger mushrooms, cut into 6 pieces)

1 medium sweet onion, or 1/2 of a large sweet onion, diced

1 - 2 tsp. Thyme (I used dried)

2 tsp Minced Garlic

2 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil 

Morton Coarse Kosher Salt

Fresh Ground Black Pepper

1. Heat up a sauce pan on the stove.  When hot, add the olive oil, onions and sweet potatoes.  Mix together.
2. Cover pan and let cook over medium heat for about 5-6 minutes.
3. Add the mushrooms, garlic, thyme, salt* & pepper*.  Stir to combine.
4. Cover and let cook until sweet potatoes are tender, about 10-15 minutes depending on the thickness of your potatoes.
5. Makes 2 large servings.  This could very easily be split into 4 small servings, or hey, 3 medium servings. 

*The salt I added was approximately 1/2 a teaspoon, if that.  I also used Flower Pepper (from Trader Joe's) and, since it's a grinder, it was about three 'grinds' worth of pepper. 

Now, I used Thyme because I knew from past experience it would work awesome with the Flower Pepper.  Also, if you've never tried Flower Pepper, you should.  I use it on everything from salads to sandwiches to chicken and steak.  It has dried rose, calendula, lavender, and cornflower petals mixed with the black peppercorns.  You don't need to use a lot of it, just a hint will do the trick.  It adds a really nice floral (haha - floral - flower - I guess I'm the only one who finds myself funny) note to your food.

If you have regular fresh ground black pepper, try using basil or marjoram.  They both would be excellent choices.  The point is to have just one green herb.  You don't want to over power the baby bellas, but enhance their natural subtleties.

This dish was amazing in taste, texture and aroma.  By adding the mushrooms at a later stage, the retain a touch of their natural crispness.  The onions were perfectly translucent and the sweet potatoes just melted in your mouth.  It ended up making more than I thought it would, however, TH & I split it.

Overall, I give it an A+.  :)

Now, for those of you who want the nutritional info, I wasn't going to look it up.  Since I didn't record that day in My Fitness Pal (yeah yeah, I'm slacking), I went back especially for you and figured it all out.

Nutritional Information Per Serving

**I am not a nutritionist!  I do not guarantee these numbers are correct or accurate!**

• Calories - 402
• Total Fat - 14g (Saturated - 2g, Poly - 2g, Mono - 10g)
• Sodium - 1084mg
• Potassium - 1785mg
• Total Carbs - 76g (Dietary Fiber - 4g, Sugars - 36g)
• Protein - 11g
  

You can cut that Sodium way down by using 1/4 teaspoon of kosher salt instead of 1/2 teaspoon.  But please, for the love of all that's good and tasty, DO NOT CUT IT OUT COMPLETELY!  Salt is a spice for a reason.  It brings out the natural flavors of your food, and in the right applications, actually create texture.  When used sparingly to create your dishes, you will notice a HUGE difference in taste between meals prepared with as little as a 1/4 teaspoon of salt versus those which are prepared with no salt at all.  Because of it's large surface area, kosher salt will take longer to dissolve than regular salt, giving your dishes more texture and depth. 

For more information about Morton Coarse Kosher Salt, click this link to be taken to the Product Review on Morton's website.

I used to be a huge "I'm not putting salt in my dishes!  It's bad for you!" person too.  Thankfully, I opened my eyes and realized that every time I cooked food, it would cry because it was missing this very vital step in the cooking process.  I will say, it does take some time to get used to the proper amount to add, as it varies because of the size of the dish and how long it needs to cook.  But, just try it out.  You won't be disappointed.

I hope to be adding more recipes as TH & I create them.  If you have any yummy, and mostly healthy, ones, share them!