White-flesh sweet potatoes are truly an excellent substitute for English potatoes when it comes to making certain dishes. We are already familiar with this alternative in sweet potato salad, mashed sweet potatoes and roasted sweet potatoes. Well here is another way in which sweet potatoes check all the boxes when it comes to the taste and texture highly desired in scalloped potatoes. Scalloped sweet potatoes!
This dish was so well received that some taste testers thought that English potatoes were layered between the slices of sweet potatoes. So, if you are looking for something different to make this holiday, this is it. If you are monitoring your white-English-potatoes intake, this is for you. If you are tired of candied sweet potatoes, make this dish. If you are Bajan and savoury sweet potato pie is a holiday favourite, switch it up with this dish or make this scalloped version and sweet potato pie. Either way, you have a winner on your hands. If you have people coming over that have to watch their blood sugar levels, you can make this version of scalloped potatoes for them.
White-flesh sweet potatoes are starchy and a complex carbohydrate. When cooked, they are drier than the orange or yellow-flesh versions; they’re less sweet too. It is for these reasons that they work so well in this preparation.
Let’s get to the recipe.
Scalloped Sweet Potatoes
Yield: 1 (8 x 8-inch baking dish)
SPECIAL EQUIPMENT
● Slicer or mandoline (optional)
● Aluminium foil
INGREDIENTS
● 3 pounds white-flesh sweet potatoes
● 1½ tablespoons salted or unsalted butter
● 1½ tablespoons flour
● 2 tablespoons minced sweet or flavour peppers
● 2 heaped teaspoons minced fresh thyme
● Minced hot peppers to taste
● 2½ cups whole milk
● Salt to taste
● 2 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese, divided in half
● Minced parsley to garnish (optional)
DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Brush baking dish with oil or rub with softened butter.
3. Peel sweet potatoes and slice into ⅛-inch thin slices (thinner than ¼-inch thickness). If you do not have a slicer, use a sharp knife to make the slices. Arrange the slices in baking dish at an angle, overlapping, making them scalloped.
4. Add butter, thyme and peppers to saucepan and place over medium heat; when the butter melts and begins to froth, add the flour and stir well to mix. Reduce heat to low and cook for 2 to 3 minutes until the rawness of the flour is cooked out.
5. Raise heat to medium and pour milk into pot with roux (butter and flour mixture); use a whisk to mix well. Season with salt to taste and bring the mixture to simmer then reduce heat to low and stir intermittently until the sauce thickens. To check doneness of sauce – dip a tablespoon into the sauce and run a finger down the back the of spoon, if the separated sauce does not rejoin, the sauce is done. Turn off the heat and immediately stir in 1 cup of cheese until melted.
6. Pour the sauce all over the sweet potatoes; using a spatula or a knife, gently move the sweet potatoes so that the sauce can run down to the sides, bottom and in between.
7. Sprinkle remaining cheese over the sweet potatoes.
8. Cover the dish with foil and bake for 40 – 45 minutes or until a knife inserts with little or no resistance. Remove the foil and cook for 15 minutes or until golden and bubbly.
9. Remove from oven, sprinkle with parsley if using, and let rest for at least 30 minutes before serving.
NOTES
● To make a larger dish, simply double the amount of
ingredients.
● If you want the dish to be cheesier, add more to suit your
taste.
● I reserved some of the minced thyme and flavour peppers to
sprinkle on top before putting the dish in the oven.
● The dish stays hot long so you can cook early.
There is enough time before the holidays to do a test run; don’t wait.
Cynthia
cynthia@tasteslikehome.org
