Old Bay roasted sweet potatoes

This month my subscription to Everyday Food (the food magazine of the Martha Stewart empire) began... yes!  And then I saw the title -- "The Light Issue."  What garbage.  I mean, I love to eat fruits and vegetables, but the idea of light cooking never seems to satisfy me and just makes me want to gag... and then go eat a cookie.  So I was pretty skeptical before I even flipped open the issue.

I should explain that I usually go through magazines in cycles.  The first is a quick flip-through to see if anything totally stands out and warrants a dog-eared corner.  Next is the more conscious half reading during commercials.  And finally, the in-depth reading for which I bust out the Post-Its for anything half-appealing to me.  In this case, I was pretty frustrated with the heavy emphasis on dark leafy greens in the first flip-through.  Sure, they are delicious but I want more than kale and carrots for my dinner, thankyouverymuch.

And just as I was about to put the issue down, I spotted it.  A light bulb recipe -- "it's so easy, how have I never thought of that before?"  Old Bay roasted sweet potatoes.  Sweet potatoes!  I had to admit that until I tried these, the only other form of sweet potatoes I (and probably half of the sweet potato-eating population) had involved them being mashed with marshmallows on top.  This I had to try -- super fast, delicious, and yet unique enough that I wouldn't hesitate to serve them at a dinner party.  Oh yeah, and they're nutritional champs: "In 1992, the Center for Science in the Public Interest compared the nutritional value of sweet potatoes to other vegetables. Considering fiber content, complex carbohydrates, protein, vitamins A and C, iron, and calcium, the sweet potato ranked highest in nutritional value."  And they taste great!  Okay okay, infomercial over.

Old Bay Roasted Sweet Potatoes
(from Everyday Food magazine, January/February 2010)

Sweet potatoes (can be 1 for a single serving, or 5, your pick)
Extra-virgin olive oil
Old Bay seasoning

Preheat oven to 450F.  Line a baking sheet with foil (for easy clean-up later).  Scrub potatoes clean, rinse, dry with kitchen towel.  Cut potatoes into 1" pieces and put on baking sheet.

Drizzle olive oil (not too much, just enough to coat the potatoes... you can always add more later) over potatoes, toss with your hands.  Sprinkle Old Bay seasoning over oiled potato pieces (start with a teaspoon and go from there if you like more spice).

Bake in oven until potatoes are deep golden brown on all sides (about 30 minutes), and flipping/shuffling pieces with a large spatula about halfway through (15 minutes).

Don't you just love that color?  I'm not kidding when I say I would give up regular white potatoes forever in favor of these gems.  I've paired these with a nice piece of lemon grilled salmon and a salad.  I've also gobbled these up by themselves because waiting 15 minutes for the salmon to be finished was just much too long.  Woops.