whipped sweet potatoes, 2 ways
/I am currently excited about so many things.
All having to do with food.
Not surprising.
#1 The two sweet tater recipes I have for you below. One sweet. One savory. Both delicious.
#2 Dinner tonight. I can’t get over it. It will be made again, and fully blogged, very soon. It’s kind of like beef stroganoff, but you know, without the beef. Instead of beef, I made herb crusted tempeh. I used curly quinoa pasta noodles [love these noodles] and made a ridiculously large batch of vegan gravy. Extremely comforting and such a nice change of pace from using the typical marinara sauce.
#3 The half eaten pumpkin pie that is currently in my fridge. I can’t wait to share this recipe with you, as it features a gluten free crust that is buttery, slightly sweet, holds together, and has a nice chew. Unfortunately, that won’t be up until Thursday. Sort of a day late, but it’s not like you can’t make pumpkin pie after Thanksgiving, right??
Let’s move on to thing #1.
The sweet potato! People seem to either love or hate this fabulous orange spud. Obviously, I love it, but it wasn’t always that way.
We never ate sweet potatoes growing up. I remember my mom making my grandma a sweet potato every Thanksgiving, but it wasn’t a staple at our table. I was all about the creamy red or white mashed potatoes.
Now? I absolutely love sweet potatoes.
I go back and forth whenever I make them, on what to top them with. It’s probably a 50/50 split on making them sweet or savory. And by sweet I mean, topping them with a drizzle or honey, butter + salt, or coconut butter + salt. When eaten savory style, that’s usually just butter, salt + pepper. Nothing crazy!
But for Thanksgiving, I thought I would spruce things up a bit. You know, actually make a recipe.
My recently rekindled relationship with sage, made for an obvious addition to the recipe.
And don’t you feel like you’re seeing brown butter being used, everywhere? In cookies, cupcakes, stuffing, potatoes, you name it.
Definitely not a bad thing. Definitely a delicious thing.
These savory potatoes are simply seasoned with sage, garlic, salt + pepper.
Then, they are topped with a drizzle of brown butter + pan fried sage.
Then, they are completely demolished, before you even knew what hit you.
Sage + Garlic Whipped Sweet Potatoes [yields 4 cups mashed, serves 4+] edited: 11/25/14
- 8c cubed sweet potatoes [about 2lbs]
- 3/4-1 cup unsweetened almond milk
- 5-8 tablespoons butter
- 1 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped sage
- handful of fresh sage leaves, for garnish
- salt and pepper, to taste
- Wash, peel + cube your sweet potatoes, into about 3/4-inch cubes.
- Steam your sweet potatoes until fork tender, about 10-15min.
- While cooking, add 1/2 tablespoon butter to a small pan over medium heat.
- Once hot, add your minced garlic and chopped sage to the pan, stirring for about 1-2min until the garlic is light brown. Quickly remove to a paper towel lined plate. Watch closely to avoid burning.
- Add another 2-3 tablespoons of butter. Once melted and sizzling, add the whole sage leaves and cook for about 1 minute per side, until light golden brown. Remove and place on a paper towel lined plate. Let butter cool and reserve.
- In a small saucepan, melt 3-4 tablespoons of butter over medium heat, whisking frequently. The butter will foam a bit, then you’ll see brown bits forming in the bottom of pan, then the butter will start to turn golden brown and smell nutty. Remove from heat immediately, to prevent the butter from burning. (If your butter blackens, discard and try again, or just use melted butter.)
- Preheat your oven to broil.
- Mash the potatoes any way you like. I prefer a large food processor for extra creamy potatoes.
- Slowly add the milk and sage butter (optional), until the consistency you’re looking for has been met.
- Stir in the browned garlic and chopped sage, salt + pepper (to taste), reserving the sage leaves and brown butter as the topping.
- Taste and add more salt/pepper if needed.
- Place in an oven safe baking dish, and broil until golden brown on top. Broiling time will vary, but it took me about 8min. Check often to prevent burning.
- Top with fried sage leaves + brown butter.
tips/substitutions: Feel free to leave the skins on. For this recipe, I wanted them perfectly smooth and creamy. If you prefer to boil your potatoes, chop into large pieces and boil until fork tender. Or, you can also bake your sweet potatoes until tender. Use any type of unsweetened/unflavored milk you like.
Detailed browned butter instructions:
How to make Brown Butter: Heat a light colored saucepan (so you can see the brown bits) over medium/medium-low heat with 1 stick of butter (or less for this recipe) cut into tablespoon sized pieces. Let melt then start whisking constantly. While you whisk the butter will start to foam, then simmer, then turn clear, and then foam a bit more and eventually little brown bits will start to show up after a few minutes. When brown bits start to form remove the pan from the heat and continue to whisk for another 20 seconds. Pour into a jar, let cool to room temperature, and then refrigerate or use in its liquid form. You’ll definitely be able to see and smell (very rich and nutty) when the butter starts to brown. If you’re using higher temperature or leave it on the burner for too long it will burn. You want golden brown liquid, not at all blackened.
And next up?
Something a little sweet.
But not so sweet it makes your teeth hurt.
Slightly sweet, with the warm scent of vanilla in the background, and the rich taste of honey + butter.
Vanilla Bean Honey Butter Sweet Potatoes (yields 4 cups mashed, serves 4+)
- 8c cubed sweet potato (~3/4-inch cubes)
- 3/4 – 1 cup unsweetened almond milk
- 1/3 cup chopped walnuts
- 1 vanilla bean pod
- 1-2 teaspoons sucanat
- 1 1/2 tablespoons butter, melted
- 1/4t salt
- honey to top (~1 tablespoon)
- Wash, peel + cube your sweet potatoes, into about 3/4” cubes.
- Steam your sweet potatoes until fork tender, about 10-15min.
- While cooking, slice your vanilla bean pod down the center and scrape all of the beans out.
- Mash the potatoes any way you like.
- Slowly add the milk, until the consistency you’re looking for has been met.
- Whip in the vanilla beans + salt, until combined..
- Place in an oven safe baking dish, dust the top with sucanat, and broil until golden brown. Broiling time will vary, but it took me about 8min. Check often to prevent burning.
- Top with melted butter, chopped walnuts, and an all over drizzle of honey.
tips/substitutions: Feel free to leave the skins on and boil or bake your sweet potatoes. Use any type of milk you like. The vanilla milks [almond/hemp/rice/etc] might be a great addition in this, but remember that will add a bit of sweetness. Coconut oil is a great sub for butter here to make vegan. Feel free to top with maple syrup instead of honey if desired. Sub any type of sugar if you don’t have sucanat. Sub 2 teaspoons vanilla extract, instead of the vanilla bean if desired.
I’m still undecided as to which version is my favorite.
And I still can’t figure out which to bring to dinner on Thursday.
Help! Which would please the masses more? At first I thought savory.
But now that I’m looking at the vanilla honey butter version again, I may have changed my mind!
Happy almost Thanksgiving. I’m getting excited!!!
Ashley
If you won’t be making your pumpkin pie until Thursday, and you’re waiting for a GF crust recipe, here are the ingredients you’ll need!
crust: 1/4c butter [Earth Balance or coconut oil], 3/4c walnuts, 2T honey/maple syrup/brown rice syrup, 3T sucanat [or other sugar], 1/2c GF oat flour [ground from oats], 1.5c GF rolled oats, 1/4t cinnamon, 1/4t salt
pie: 2c pumpkin puree, 1.5T arrowroot starch [or cornstarch], 3 eggs, 1/2c full fat coconut milk, 1/2c unsweetened almond milk, 1/4c honey [or maple], 1/4c sucanat [or other sugar], 1/4t salt, 1 vanilla bean [or 2t vanilla extract], 1.5t cinnamon, 3/4t ginger, 1/4t all spice, 1/8t nutmeg, pinch of clove.
