Single Guy Cooking: Roasted Yams with Cinnamon and Honey + Supersized Steak in a Pan

I was a hungry guy last Sunday - breakfast was two fried eggs, a pork chop, and toast. Lunch was a sandwich, and dinner, after a few hours of photography downtown and a hard workout, was a 14 oz. steak with roasted yams. I bought the yams on the spot at the grocery store. I had never cooked 'em before. I didn't have a recipe. But I figured it couldn't be tough - try to bring out the natural sweetness by slow roasting in an oven with a touch of olive oil, cinnamon, and honey. The idea tasted great in my brain, the next step was to recreate it on a plate.

Ingredients for Roasted Yams:

I purchased two large yams - but only used one. Since I was eating alone. Other necessary ingredients were olive oil (or melted butter is probably better for flavor), salt, honey, pepper, and cinnamon. There is also garlic powder in the picture to the left but I didn't use it. Not sure why it's there. oops.

The amounts of each ingredients to use are at your own discretion. I'd say about two tbsp of olive oil to lightly coat each side of each yam slice. Don't go crazy with the cinnamon - just a few sprinkles on each. Not too much pepper - you can actually skip pepper as well or substitute in a chili pepper if you want a spicy/sweet.

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Or 335. or 375. I don't think it matters too much. I prefer 350 because its a good round number. Just make sure to keep an eye on your yams. I'm sure there is a sweet spot (temp) for roasting them - I just don't know what it is.

2. Slice yams into rings - varying size. The beauty of the varying sizes is that each slice will cook differently according to width. The thinnest will be crispier, while the thicker cut yams will be more moist and soft. I prefer the crispy - so if you want crispy - like soft yam chips - this is a great recipe!

3. Next arrange the yams on a baking tray - like so then coat lightly with olive oil and then drizzle honey over them. Use a knife to drizzle the honey over each yam slice - you don't want too much, just a few drops to add flavor. I used about two knife dips of honey for all the yams. Sprinkle on the cinammon and a couple pinches of salt. This would be also the optional step to add pepper or a chili powder/chili pepper.

4. Place yams in oven. Turn timer on for about 30 minutes so you can come check and adjust if necessary.

5. After 30 minutes or so, the yams should start to look like this - roasting but not quite done. Leave them longer if you want the thinnest slices to get crispy.

6. And then, after a bit longer, they are done. It is all a matter of how you want them done. As I said, I prefer crispier. One good option can be to turn on a broiler (overhead intense heat) in the oven for a couple minutes. This will crisp them well, and if you aren't careful like me, burn them too! These ones are pretty crispy.