Right Now: Whole Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Ricotta and Hot Honey

A simple knockout for festive times and weeknight dinners

The best way to roast a sweet potato is uncovered on a baking sheet in the oven. Sugars bubble up and caramelize, the skin gets crisp and delicious, and the sweet potato gets pillowy soft and perfectly sweet.

Once you have an excellent sweet potato, dress it up any way you'd like. I played with flavors here and came up with something good enough for a showy side or just an excellent Tuesday night meal. These sweet potatoes are layered with butter, salt, hot honey, ricotta, lemon zest, and fresh thyme. In each bite, you get a bit of buttery sweet potato, heat, tang, and herby-ness. Not quite a full dinner on their own, but just right for serving alongside beans, a seared pork chop, or a roasted chicken thigh. If you're really doing it up, add a salad of chicories or bitter greens to punch up the flavors. 

For best flavor, layer each element a couple of times. Add zest and thyme above and below the ricotta, along with many drizzles of honey and pinches of salt. 

There's no need to stop there. Add whatever combination of spicy heat/herbs/cheese/citrus you have on hand. Here are a few ideas:

• Jalapeño, cotija, pinto beans, salsa, cilantro

• Apples, fresh ginger, hot honey, thyme, chèvre

• Orange segments, dried cranberry, ricotta, red onion, rosemary

Whole Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Ricotta and Hot Honey