Southern Sweet Potato Smash With Whole Roasted Garlic Cloves

2 lbs sweet potatoes, scrubbed
1 small to medium size whole garlic bulb
1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 large lemon, juiced
kosher salt and black pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Scrub the sweet potatoes, cut a slit through the skin on top, set on a baking sheet covered with tin foil.
Bake in preheated oven for about 1 to 1 1/2 hours, depending on how big the sweet potatoes are.  They are done when you can squeeze them and they give way easily. (You'll be baking the garlic at the same time as the sweet potatoes, instructions follow.)

Meanwhile, cut the top off the garlic bulb just enough to expose the garlic cloves inside.  Set the bulb on a sheet of heavy duty tin foil and form a packet. Drizzle the olive oil over the exposed garlic cloves, seal up tin foil packet.  Put in with sweet potatoes and bake for 30 minutes; remove and set aside.

When sweet potatoes are done baking, remove and cool just enough to handle.
Cut the sweet potatoes in half and take a spoon to scoop out the insides into a serving bowl, add the lemon juice, salt, and black pepper, and smash with potato masher.
Take the garlic bulb and squeeze it upside-down over the sweet potatoes, scattering the cloves over the sweet potatoes as they pop out, along with the olive oil the garlic cooked in.
Serve warm.
Serves 4 to 6.