I love October . . . it is in October that my taste palate turns to the color orange and I just want to eat my fill of winter squash and pumpkins, carrots and sweet potatoes. I don't crave these things in July and August, or even September . . . but once the calendar page flips over to October, I can't seem to get enough of them and I start incorporating them into whatever I can.
I know that Americans mostly like their sweet potatoes mashed and coated with marshmallows, brown sugar and nuts . . . and they are rather good that way . . . but I am more in love with the savoury approach when it comes to sweet potatoes.
Sweet potatoes lend themselves beautifully to savoury dishes. I often bake them and just mash them with some garlic and parmesan cheese. They are gorgeous done that way. Sometimes I do sweet potato wedges . . . just like regular potato wedges, except with sweet potatoes I toss them with some olive oil, herbs, garlic and seasoning and roast them in a hot oven until they are nicely crisped and caramelized. So good.
They really shine in dishes like this lovely two potato gratin which I have prepared here today . . . layers of tender white potato, chopped onion, sweet potatoes and several kinds of cheese. There is no butter . . . you don't need butter with the cheese.
There is no cream . . . once again the cheese adds a richness that cream often adds . . . it is thickened merely with a bit of flour between the layers . . . it's only seasoning is a bit of salt and pepper . . . and the moisture comes from ordinary milk.
Altogether everything melds into a beautiful dish that is simple and easy to make . . . and goes so very well with most flavours. We had it with some pork chops . . . but it would be equally at home with chicken, or fish . . . lamb, or even on it's own. In all truth I could sit down to just a plate of this quite, quite happily.
*Two Potato Gratin*
Serves 4 to 6Printable Recipe
A delicious side dish made by layering both sweet and white potatoes in a caserold with along with some onion, cheese, seasoning, flour and milk.
2 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/8 inch slices1 sweet potato, peeled and cut into 1/4 inch slices1 medium onion, peeled and chopped3 TBS floursalt and black pepper to taste45g of finely grated Parmesan Cheese (1/4 cup)90g of grated strong cheddar cheese (3/4 cup)120ml of milk (1/2 cup)
Preheat the oven to 200*C/400*F/ gas mark 6. Butter a gratin dish.
Layer half of the white potatoes in the gratin dish. Sprinkle with 1 TBS of flour, half of the onion and one third of the cheese. Season lightly. Top with all of the sweet potatoes. Top with 1 TBS of the flour, the remaining onions, and one third of the cheese. Season lightly. Top with the remaining white potatoes, the remainder of the flour and some seasoning. Pour the milk over. Cover tightly with foil and bake in the heated oven for 50 minutes. Uncover and top with the remaining cheese. Continue to bake, uncovered, for a further 15 minutes until the top is golden brown. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving.
