BY CHERYL ORR
It’s sweet potato season here in the South. There is an abundance of these orange-fleshed spuds at Edenton Farmers Market, local farm stands, and grocery stores, but I was very fortunate that my friend Linda Perez, or Boo as she’s fondly known to me, brought me a beautiful bushel right from the field.
The sweet potato is really a puzzling vegetable. It is not a potato at all, but a tuberous root
vegetable. And to make this vegetable even more confusing is the fact that many farmers began calling these orange-fleshed tubers yams. Yams often command a higher price at the grocery store, and this can be very disheartening as a consumer unless you know your tubers. Real yams are more like a white potato or even a yucca, and have a tough brown skin and are often difficult to find. The sweet potato is the common orange, red, yellow, and even purple-fleshed tuber you will most likely find in a local grocery store or at the Farmer’s Market.
Some sweet potato varieties are so sweet that no sugar needs to be added hence the common name, while others are more savory. Worldwide there are roughly 6,000 varieties. The most popular in the U.S. are the Garnet Jewel, Beauregard, and Covington. The sweet potato is North Carolina’s official state vegetable, and our state is the top producer in the U.S. More than 40 percent of the national supply of sweet potatoes comes from North Carolina. According to the USDA, North Carolina harvested nearly 95,000 acres of sweet potatoes last year and more than three times as California, Louisiana and Mississippi combined.
With such a plentiful array of readily available local sweet potatoes I hope you try a few new
ways to prepare this tuber. An old standby recipe that I’ve made for years is an Autumn Gratin and its perfect as an addition to a Thanksgiving buffet. I have shared the recipe in the past, but have had a few requests as the holidays approach. This dish is a creamy baked blend of russet and sweet potatoes, along with slivered shallots and the surprise of a little apple. A crisp browned crust of grated parmesan and herbs completes the dish.
This week I have included my Autumn Gratin recipe.
Enjoy!
If you have a cooking question, contact me at cher.orr@gmail.com and I’d be happy to assist!
Autumn Gratin
Serves 8
INGREDIENTS
- 2 large sweet potatoes
- 4 large russet potatoes
- 1 large granny smith apple
- 8-10 shallots, thinly sliced
- 1 quart heavy whipping cream
- Salt to taste
- 2 tablespoons garlic pepper
- ¾-1 cup grated parmesan
- ¼ cup dried parsley and herbs
PREPARATION
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Prepare a long, shallow, heavy casserole dish with nonstick spray and set
on a sheet pan. - Thinly peel and slice potatoes and apple. Place a single layer of sliced russet potatoes in bottom of dish. Scatter a third of apples, shallots, and sweet potatoes on top. Sprinkle with salt and garlic pepper. Pour enough cream to sparingly cover the layer. Repeat 2 more times. More or less cream may be needed depending on the size of your baking dish, but don’t add too much. Sprinkle parmesan and dried herbs on the top layer.
- Place baking dish in oven and bake an hour, until bubbling and golden brown on top. Cover with foil if too brown. Check potatoes for doneness and bake until tender.
- Remove from oven and set aside for 15 minutes before serving.
Cheryl Orr is offering weekly Canapé Club at the Patisserie at Edenton Bay, as well as Supper Club that all can attend. She is currently completing her cookbook, and offering private cooking classes, small catering, and private chef dinners.