Photo by Eddie Pierce/iStock
Serves 4
2 medium sweet potatoes
4 medium red bell peppers
¾ cup orange juice
Zest of 1 orange
2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons salted butter
4 fresh sage leaves (optional)
Salt and pepper to taste
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Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Pierce sweet potatoes with fork, then roast for 45–55 minutes or until done. Allow sweet potatoes to cool slightly, then remove skins. Cut away any excess fibers or bruised spots.
Reduce oven temperature to 350. Cut off the top of each red pepper and set aside. Use a spoon to scrape out seeds from inside the red pepper bottoms and tops. Place peppers together in a loaf pan to keep them upright while roasting. Cut each sweet potato in half and insert each half inside a pepper, mashing down with the back of a fork. In a small saucepan, combine orange juice, orange zest, honey and butter. Bring to a boil, then lower heat and simmer, stirring frequently, for 2–3 minutes. Divide the orange sauce among the peppers, spooning it on top of the mashed sweet potatoes, making small grooves so the sauce seeps down inside. Place a sage leaf inside each pepper; replace the tops. Bake for 45 minutes or until red peppers are roasted. Salt and pepper to taste.
MARTHA BRADEN, HILTON HEAD ISLAND