Pistachio-Crusted Purple Sweet Potato Patties with Blood Orange Marmalade

Have you ever tried purple sweet potatoes?  I never had even heard of them until I visited the Vista, Ca. Farmers Market and saw several varieties of purple potatoes.

I was trying to think of something fun to make with the Blood Orange Marmalade (with whisky!) that The Golden Door sent me to try for a recipe contest they are sponsoring at Eat Write Retreat food bloggers conference.  This marmalade is tart and sweet at the same time with a hint of the whisky flavor.  I wanted to just eat it on hot biscuits, but that wouldn’t really count for a recipe contest, would it?

I peeled the purple sweet potatoes, boiled them, and mashed them with butter, salt and pepper.  They tasted good… like a really mild orange sweet potato.  I even mixed a little of the marmalade into a few bites of sweet potato, and that tasted really good too…but the marmalade was hidden.   Then I had the idea to make little sweet potato patties and use the marmalade on top, but the patties needed something crunchy on the outside. Then I remembered some beautiful shelled pistachios that I happened to have in my pantry.   I toasted the pistachios and crushed them into pieces (not too small).  I formed  small sweet potato patties with my hands and pressed both sides of the patties into the pistachio pieces.  Then I sautéed both sides of the patties in a little butter, and served them with a little marmalade on top.

Those crunchy pistachios are perfect for these purple sweet potato patties…and they look pretty too!

That tart/sweet marmalade reminds me of the orange juice in our favorite sweet potato casserole at Thanksgiving time.  A fun and colorful appetizer or side dish for pork chops, chicken or fish.

Pistachio-Crusted Purple Sweet Potato Patties with Blood Orange Marmalade   Author: Mimi Holtz Recipe type: appetizer Cuisine: American Prep time:  30 mins Cook time:  5 mins Total time:  35 mins Save Print Purple Sweet Potato Patties crusted with crushed pistachios and topped with a tart/sweet Blood Orange Marmalade! Ingredients

• 5 purple sweet potatoes, peeled, boiled, and mashed
• 4 tablespoons butter
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon pepper
• ½ cup shelled pistachios
• ¼ cup Golden Door Blood Orange Marmalade

Instructions

1. Add 2 tablespoons of the butter to the hot mashed purple sweet potatoes and let it melt.
2. Stir in the salt and pepper until the sweet potatoes are smooth.
3. Let the mashed sweet potatoes cool.
4. With your hands, form the sweet potato into small patties.
5. Toast the pistachios in the oven at 350 degrees for 5 minutes, then crush into smaller pieces.
6. Press the sweet potato patties into the crushed pistachios on each side.
7. Melt the remaining butter and sauté the pistachio crusted sweet potato patties until golden brown on each side. (about 2 minutes on each side)
8. Top each pattie with a little blood orange marmalade. Serve warm.

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