I love this healthy way to cook sweet potatoes and asparagus. It makes a great combination and it’s easy to make for just yourself or for the two of you — or for your whole family. I pan roast these on the stove, and prefer it over the popular oven-roasted vegetables (somehow, I forget them in the oven and end up burning them.) When I cook them in a pan on the stove, it’s faster and I they taste better to me. Really, it only takes about ten minutes to roast them and steam them on the stove. So super fast.

roasted sweet potatoes

When you go to buy sweet potatoes, look for the ones with the copper colored skin — more reddish. In the U.S. we sometimes call them yams — jewel yams or garnet yams. We get confused about yams and sweet potatoes because the USDA lets us label “sweet potatoes” yams when they are the sweet, moist, orange flesh variety. So pick the copper colored ones labeled jewel or garnet yams for this dish. (Even though they are really sweet potatoes, by proper definition.)

 

fresh asparagus with sweet potatoes

Sometimes I add some sliced chicken sausage. If you decide to add it — I slice it and brown the slices in a separate pan. I don’t add any oil, only a little Pam spray on a non-stick pan will brown them up.

I like to make this for lunch, because then I feel better about that chocolate bar I had for breakfast. 🙂

 

Roasted Sweet Potatoes and Asparagus

 Ingredients

  • Sweet Potatoes
  • Fresh Asparagus
  • 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
  • Pam spray for the pan

Instructions

  1. Prepare the sweet potatoes:
  2. Cut the sweet potatoes into thick slices.
  3. Cut off the skin.
  4. Cut the thick slices into chunks
  5. Prepare the asparagus:
  6. Cut off the tough ends of the asparagus
  7. Slice them into about 1 inch long pieces
  8. Spray the pan with Pam, and then heat about 1 Tablespoon of olive oil in a large saute pan. Add the sweet potatoes and brown them lightly. Add about 2 T. of water and cover the pan with a lid. Steam the sweet potatoes on low until almost fork tender.
  9. Add the asparagus and stir fry then cover to steam until they are fork tender and the sweets should become softer. Keep an eye on them, stirring as needed, checking for fork tender.  They should be dry, and slightly browned.
  10. Check them for the correct done-ness that you prefer.
  11. Salt and pepper to taste.