You can treat sweet potatoes just like ordinary ones - bake 'em, mash 'em, cut 'em into wedges and roast 'em. You just need a touch of spice to offset the sweetness. They go really well with sausages (ordinary or veggie ones)

Serves 6
Time: About 10 minutes preparation time, 45 minutes cooking time
Cost: about 75p a head

6 medium sized sweet potatoes, about 250g each
A little olive oil or other cooking oil
For the chilli, lime and garlic butter
110g (slightly less than half a pack) unsalted or slightly salted butter at room temperature (i.e. not straight from the fridge)
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
1-2 red chillies, de-seeded and very finely chopped
1 rounded tsp lime zest (the rind of about half a lime)
1/4 tsp of sweet pimenton or paprika
1 tbsp freshly squeezed lime juice
1 heaped tbsp finely chopped coriander leaves (optional)
Salt

Tip the butter into a bowl and add the crushed garlic, chopped chillies, lime rind, pimenton and salt. Beat until smooth then add the lime juice and coriander and beat again. Scrape the butter out of the bowl onto a piece of aluminium foil, shape it into an oblong and wrap the rest of the foil round it. Put in the fridge until ready to use. (Pop it in the freezing compartment if you plan to use it straight away)

Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/Gas 6. Scrub the potatoes clean, dry with kitchen towel and prick them with a fork in two or three places. Pour a little oil into a baking dish, pop in the potatoes and rub them with oil. Put the potatoes on to bake for about 40-45 minutes or until soft (slightly less if you use a baking spike). When the potatoes are cooked, split them lengthways, put a couple of slices of spiced butter inside each and sprinkle over a little more salt.

TOP TIP: Sweet potatoes tend to be quite expensive in supermarkets so look out for them in street markets or Afro-Caribbean stores

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