Roasted Garlic Mashed Sweet Potatoes

Prep Time: 20minutes minutes
Cook Time: 55minutes minutes
Total Time: 1hour hour 15minutes minutes
Servings: 4 servings

Ingredients
4 medium sweet potatoes
1 full head of garlic
2 large garlic cloves minced
½ cup extra virgin olive oil
¼ teaspoon nutmeg freshly grated
Salt and pepper to taste
Marcona almonds optional to garnish

Instructions
Preheat oven to 400°F. In a medium mixing bowl, add ¼ cup olive oil, nutmeg, and 2 minced garlic cloves. Set aside.
Cut the pointy top off the head of garlic (not the root end…the other end) so that each garlic clove is exposed. Set aside.
Layer 3-4 pieces of foil on top of each other. Place a water glass in the center of the foil sheets, and push the foil up and around the water glass to form a foil “bowl.”
Remove the water glass. Add the garlic head to the foil bowl, root-side (flat-side) down. Tighten the bowl so that it is hugging the sides of the garlic head. Add ¼ cup olive oil to the “bowl,” so that the head is submerged. Seal the top of the foil bowl shut and place on a large baking sheet.
Poke the sweet potatoes a few times with a fork, and add them to the baking sheet.
Place the baking sheet in the oven for 40 minutes. Remove the garlic from the oven, and roast the potatoes for 15-20 more minutes until fork tender.
While the potatoes finish roasting, remove head of garlic from the foil bowl and use a fork to place all of the roasted garlic cloves in the mixing bowl.
Once the potatoes are done roasting, use a fork and knife to slice open the potatoes and scoop out the sweet potato into your mixing bowl.
Mash potatoes and roasted garlic with a potato masher until desired consistency. Season with salt and pepper, stir, and serve with crushed marcona almonds.

Notes
You can use pre-ground nutmeg, but whole nutmeg that’s grated with a microplane or the fine setting of a cheese grater is more fragrant and potent!
I don’t like the taste of the olive oil that is used to roast the garlic. It has a fried oil taste, so I prefer to mix fresh olive oil into my sweet potatoes!
Don’t have time for slow roasted garlic and sweet potatoes? Try this speedy Roasted Garlic trick. You can also microwave your sweet potatoes for 5-10 minutes until fork tender!
To crush marcona almonds, place a ½ cup or so in a plastic Ziploc bag. Seal the bag shut and use the bottom of a water glass to whack the nuts against the kitchen counter until they’re coarsely chopped!
Yes, you can make a double or half batch!
Try serving sweet potatoes as a spread or dip crusty bread like Garlic Bread!