Sweet Potatoes w/ Pine Nuts

By: Daniel Lucas

Dish: Vegetable
Season: Fall
Source: Original
Servings: 4
Need help? Read the guide

Ingredients

  • ​2 lbs copper sweet potatoes, ~1” cubes
  • 1/2 lb fusilli
  • sage, chiffonade
  • 1/3 cup pine nuts
  • garlic, crushed
  • 3 oz (6 tbsp) butter
  • Parmigiano Reggiano, grated

Somewhere along the way we really messed up our classification of yams and sweet potatoes. This recipe calls for the variety of sweet potatoes that have a copper skin and a soft orange flesh which are absolutely not yams, even though they are consistently labeled as such. If you buy a firm, white-fleshed sweet potato, it’s not going to work as a substitute—your potatoes will be hard and the dish will lack color, so make sure you read up on your sweet potato classification before heading to the grocery store or farmer’s market.

Method

  1. Preheat oven to 425 ˚F.
  2. Coat the sweet potatoes with just enough olive oil to prevent them from sticking. Bake in the oven for ~30-35 minutes, or until the largest pieces are tender.
  3. Bring a separate medium-large pot of water to a boil, add 2 tbsp of salt and cook the fusilli, then drain the cooking liquid (don’t rinse!)
  4. Melt the butter in a medium saucepan. Then add the sage and garlic. Cook over medium-low heat for ~5-8 minutes. If it’s bubbling rapidly then the heat is too high. Neither the butter nor the garlic should become brown—if they do, throw it out and start again.
  5. In a small skillet, toast the pine nuts over medium-low heat. They can burn quickly if you’re not paying attention, and they’re too expensive to throw away so keep a close eye on them.
  6. Once everything is cooked, mix the sweet potatoes with the fusilli and thoroughly toss in the sage butter sauce.
  7. Serve with toasted pine nuts, grated Parmesan, and an optional sage leaf for garnish.

Sweet Potatoes w/ Pine Nuts

By: Daniel Lucas

Somewhere along the way we really messed up our classification of yams and sweet potatoes. This recipe calls for the variety of sweet potatoes that have a copper skin and a soft orange flesh which are absolutely not yams, even though they are consistently labeled as such. If you buy a firm, white-fleshed sweet potato, it’s not going to work as a substitute—your potatoes will be hard and the dish will lack color, so make sure you read up on your sweet potato classification before heading to the grocery store or farmer’s market.

Method

  1. Preheat oven to 425 ˚F.
  2. Coat the sweet potatoes with just enough olive oil to prevent them from sticking. Bake in the oven for ~30-35 minutes, or until the largest pieces are tender.
  3. Bring a separate medium-large pot of water to a boil, add 2 tbsp of salt and cook the fusilli, then drain the cooking liquid (don’t rinse!)
  4. Melt the butter in a medium saucepan. Then add the sage and garlic. Cook over medium-low heat for ~5-8 minutes. If it’s bubbling rapidly then the heat is too high. Neither the butter nor the garlic should become brown—if they do, throw it out and start again.
  5. In a small skillet, toast the pine nuts over medium-low heat. They can burn quickly if you’re not paying attention, and they’re too expensive to throw away so keep a close eye on them.
  6. Once everything is cooked, mix the sweet potatoes with the fusilli and thoroughly toss in the sage butter sauce.
  7. Serve with toasted pine nuts, grated Parmesan, and an optional sage leaf for garnish.

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