Recipe: Scalloped Sweet Potato

Let me introduce this dish by saying it was an experiment.... and it turned out to be a bit of a failed experiment. I don't recommend it. "So why are you posting it?" You ask. Well in starting this blog experimentation was an accepted tenant of the mission. And, as any good scientist will tell you, experiments don't always succeed. So I post this if only to demonstrate that not all cooking is successful, that trying something new will either result in a new recipe or an area you know to stay away from next time!

Its not that this dish was inedible. We ate it at dinner as a side to chicken and greens. We ate leftovers. But it just wasn't exciting. Further, there was just something off about it. I am now a firm believer that scalloped potatoes should always remain true to their original classic form. But hey, I invite you to by your own judge!

Ingredients
3 sweet potatoes
1 medium onion, sliced and separated into rings
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp cinnamon
2 1/2 cups milk

Directions  

1. Attach the slicer/shredder attachment to your stand mixer, using the thick slicer blade. 
2. Rinse the sweet potatoes. Turn on the stand mixer to Speed 6 and feed the sweet potatoes through the slicer. Catching pieces into a medium sized bowl.
3. Oil a large, rectangular casserole dish. Arrange sweet potato slices to cover the bottom of the casserole dish. Top with onion. Repeat layers. Arrange remaining potatoes over top. 
4. On a saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Add flour and spices, stirring together to form a paste. Gradually whisk in milk stirring constantly for 5-8 minutes or until boiling and thickened. 
5. Pour the sauce over top of the sweet potato and onion layers. 
6. Cover and bake in an oven set to 350 degrees for 45 minutes to 1 hour or until sweet potatoes appear soft at the prick of a fork. WIthin the last 20 minutes of baking, uncover the casserole in order to brown potatoes. Let stand 5 minutes before serving. 

Recipe in Photos: 

Sweet Potatoes

Slicing the Sweet Potato 

Layers of sweet potato and onion in a casserole dish

Making the sauce 

Pour the sauce over the casserole 

The finished product

What I Learned:

• While it can be a fruitful endeavour to experiment with new combinations and ideas sometimes the original classic is a classic for a reason 
• There are better ways to eat sweet potatoes. I suggest homemade sweet potato fries tossed in olive oil and sprinkled with Cajan seasoning. mmmmm, much better. 
• I dont even recommend this recipe if you were to simply substitute out the sweet potatoes for white potatoes such as Yukon Gold. My grandmother has a infinitely better scalloped potato recipe that would blow this recipe out of the water. We will try that on another day. 

A stand mixer is not required for scalloped (sweet) potatoes. I imagine other routes would take just as much effort as what was required here.