I love yams. But not the kind served at Thanksgiving with marshmallows and butter and brown sugar. I just like them straight-up.

I don’t consider myself a gourmet chef. I’m all about simplicity. Although I love the experience of eating (and sometimes cooking) an exquisitely complex dish, there’s something beautifully authentic and rewarding about preparing and eating simple foods. For me, every day cooking is about using natural ingredients, and preparing them in ways that coax out their unique characteristics. Simple is delicious.

You say sweet potato, I say yam

I’m often asked what the difference is between a yam and sweet potato. Technically, the yams we buy here in the US are actually sweet potatoes. Yep, even my beloved garnet yam is a sweet potato. True yams are actually an entirely different botanical species. If you’re really interested in learning more about the real yam, wikipedia has some good background information and interesting photos. I’m not exactly sure why we call sweet potatoes yams, and to be honest, I really don’t care what we call them as long as I can find them at my local grocery. You may find you have a couple of varieties of yams and sweet potatoes to choose from. Although I prefer the garnet yam, any variety will work nicely in this dish. If you experiment, you’ll discover there are subtle differences in taste, sweetness and starchiness. I say try them all and pick your favorite. There’s no wrong answer.

From a nutrition point-of-view, yams (sweet potatoes) have a lot to offer. Notably, they are a great source of calcium. They also offer a good supply of vitamin A and C and are soothing for the digestive system. Oh, and let’s not forget the fiber. We need as much fiber as we can get in our diets and lucky for us, the yam delivers.

Here’s an easy method to put a nourishing, delicious dish on the table with little fuss. It takes about 5 minutes to prepare the veggies before throwing them in the oven to roast. Add on a couple minutes to steam some brown rice and broccoli. The hardest part of of this dish is just waiting 30 to 40 minutes for the yams and onions to cook.

Roasted yams and onion, with steamed broccoli and brown rice

Serves 2

Ingredients:

• One large garnet yam (washed, cut into 3/4″ cubes)
• One yellow onion (sliced into 1/2″ wide slivers)
• 2 cloves fresh garlic (minced)
• Olive oil
• Dried herb or spice of choice*
• Sea salt
• Broccoli
• Cooked brown rice

*I have a favorite spice blend that I always reach for when I’m going for quick and easy. (I’ll write more about that in a post later this week.) Don’t be afraid to experiment with some different dried herbs— basil, cumin and red chile, or any salt-free mix that you have on hand. This recipe has pepper, red chile flakes, garlic, and dried parsley. If you really want to be a minimalist, just stick with salt and pepper and I promise you won’t be disappointed.

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 425° F
2. Pour small amount (1-2 teaspoons, for those of you who insist on measuring) of olive oil in to large mixing bowl
3. Add a generous pinch of sea salt (1 teaspoon) to the oil
4. Add a about 1 tablespoon of your favorite dried spice
5. Give your oil mixture a quick stir to mix the salt and spices. Add in your diced yams, onion and garlic and stir so that all the veggies are coated with a small amount of oil. If it looks like you haven’t put in enough oil, keep stirring— you really don’t need a lot of oil. You just want to make sure everything has a slight oily sheen to it (see picture above)
6. Transfer veggies to an uncoated baking sheet and place in oven
7. Roast, uncovered, for 30-40 minutes, stirring once or twice. The veggies will be done when the yam is tender enough to cut with a fork and slightly caramelized on the edges

While the yams are roasting:

1. Cook some whole grains— in this recipe I used brown rice, but any other whole grain would be just as wonderful.
2. About 10 minutes before the yams are done, steam broccoli until tender but crisp.

Putting it all together:

Stir the roasted veggies with some warm rice and freshly steamed broccoli. Voila!