Recipe: Sweet Potatoes with Orange Bitters

Photo by Jonathan Lovekin © 2014

Thanksgiving is around the corner, and if you’re sick of the same old side dishes, this recipe for sweet potatoes from Yotam Ottolenghi’s new book Plenty Morewill be a great addition to your Thanksgiving table.

Give it a try, and let us know it comes out!

Sweet Potatoes with Orange Bitters

Serves 4

1.5 cups/350ml freshly squeezed orange juice (the juice of 4 to5 oranges)

1/3 cup/80 g brown sugar

1/4 cup/60ml red wine vinegar

1/4 cup/60ml Angostura bitters

1.5 tbsp olive oil

4 to 5 sweet potatoes, unpeeled, halved crosswise, each half cut into1-inch-/2.5-cm-wide wedges (31/3 lb/1.5kg)

2 red chiles, slit open along the center

3 sage sprigs (1/2oz/15g)

10 thyme sprigs (1/3 oz/10g)

2 heads garlic, unpeeled and halved horizontally

3oz/90gchèvre (goat cheese)log, broken into pieces

salt

Preheat the oven to 425ºF/220ºC.

Place the orange juice in a saucepan with the sugar and vinegar. Bring to a boil over high heat, then turn down the heat to medium-high and simmer fairly rapidly for about 20 minutes, until the liquid has thickened and reduced to scant 1 cup/200 ml (about the amount in a large glass of wine). Add the bitters, olive oil, and 1½ teaspoons salt.

Place the potatoes in a large bowl, add the chiles, sage, thyme, and garlic, and then pour in the reduced sauce. Toss well so that everything is coated and then spread the mixture out in a single layer on a baking sheet on which it fits snugly, about 12 by 16 inches/30 by 40 cm.

Place in the oven and roast for 50 to 60 minutes, turning and basting the potatoes every 15 minutes or so. They need to remain coated in the liquid in order to caramelize, so add more orange juice if the pan is drying out.

At the end, the potatoes should be dark and sticky. Remove from the oven and leave to cool slightly before arranging on a platter and dotting with the goat cheese. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Reprinted with permission from Plenty More: Vibrant Vegetable Cooking from London’s Ottolenghi by Yotam Ottolenghi, copyright © 2014. Published by Ten Speed Press, an imprint of Random House LLC.