Sweet potatoes.

Time for another recipe, I think. I hereby present the Squander Two method of preparing sweet potatoes. (When I was a kid, they were generally known as "yams", but "sweet potato" seems to have taken over. I wonder why.)

Peel and chop the sweet potatoes and put them in a pan of boiling water. They'll take about 15 minutes or so to cook.

Meanwhile, dice a red onion and start to fry it in olive oil. As it's frying, grind on plenty of black pepper and sprinkle on some decent chicken stock powder. Ideally, of course, you want Telma chicken soup mix for this, as there is no better chicken stock in the world. Knorr do some pretty good stuff, though, too, which I use because I haven't yet found anywhere in Belfast that sells Telma. Oh, and you can get really good Klare Suppe mix from Germany, which is handy if members of your family go to Germany frequently, or if you live there, but useless otherwise. Anyway, you sprinkle plenty of it, whatever it is, on to the red onion and turn the heat down low and fry it for as long as you can without it all burning. Start the frying before you even start to peel the sweet potatoes, if you like. If the pan starts to dry up and things look like they might burn, add a very small splash of water. Sometimes I add teriyaki sauce, too.

You can tell when the sweet potatoes are ready by sticking a knife into them. They shouldn't offer much resistance: you don't want any crunchiness left in them. When they're ready, drain them, mash them, add the chicken-flavour fried onions and a small amount of grated cheddar, mix well, and serve. Good with sausages or burgers.

Always make sure you make more than you need, by the way, 'cause the leftovers are a bit useful. You mix in a beaten egg, shape it into little cakes, and fry them.

Enjoy.