When I stumbled upon this recipe on Better Homes and Gardens I knew I wanted it to grace my table on Thanksgiving. I love sweet potatoes. And I love fontina cheese. And I love the idea of a more savory flavored sweet potato because I tend to gravitate toward recipes that mitigate the natural sweetness – when it comes to dinner sweet potatoes anyway. So I was super excited to try this dish for all the reasons previously mentioned. I firmly believe sweet potatoes must have a presence on your Thanksgiving table and I try a variety of sweet potato dishes every year.
Sadly I would have to say that this was about my least favorite dish this Thanksgiving. Don’t get me wrong. It was good. It just wasn’t as fantastic as I thought it would be.
It could have been user error, too. I was trying to juggle baking this dish, the dressing and the turkey all at the same time. Because the turkey was cooking at a lower temperature, I had to cook this dish longer. By the time I pulled it out, the alfredo-like sauce I had created at the beginning had separated and I could see the butter risen to the top of the dish, which totally annoyed me.
So the flavor of the dish – that was good. But I didn’t like the that sauce separated. It wasn’t aesthetically pleasing to me. At any rate, it may have turned out better if I were creating it on its own and I could pay full, special attention to it. Or maybe not.
ingredients.
- Nonstick cooking spray
- 2 lbs sweet potatoes (about 3 medium), peeled
- 2 T. butter
- 2 T. flour
- 1 ½ c. half-and-half, light cream, or milk
- 1 c. shredded Fontina cheese (4 ounces)
- 1 T. fresh thyme leaves or 1 tsp. dried thyme, crushed
- 1 tsp. salt
- ¼ tsp. ground black pepper
directions.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a 2 to 2-½-quart baking dish with butter; set aside.
- Using a sharp knife or a mandoline, cut sweet potatoes horizontally into ¼-inch-thick slices. Set aside.
- In a medium saucepan melt butter over medium heat. Stir in flour; cook and stir for 1 minute. Stir in half-and-half. Cook and stir over medium heat until thickened and bubbly. Cook and stir for 1 minute more. Reduce heat to low. Add 3/4 cup of the cheese, stirring until cheese is melted. Stir in thyme, salt, and pepper.
- Place potato slices in the prepared baking dish. Pour sauce over potatoes; sprinkle with the remaining 1/4 cup cheese.
- Bake, covered, about 50 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Bake, uncovered, about 20 minutes more or until edges are brown. Let stand for 15 minutes before serving.
Recipe rating: 1/2
Food Snob 