SS&GF: Simply Sugar and Gluten Free

Sweet potatoes made savory for the holidays – without marshmallows, brown sugar, or pecans. Instead, a simple brush with olive oil, butter, seasoned lightly with salt and pepper, then slow baked with shallots and thyme.

I wish I was clever enough to think of this all on my own, but the truth the fine people at Everyday Food made it first with regular white potatoes. I thought that it just might work with sweet potatoes, and though they probably don’t get as crispy as regular white potatoes, they’re slightly crispy on top and still have a deliciously firm bite.

Joe isn’t crazy about sweet potatoes, but I caught him grabbing little slices out of the baking dish and eating them like potato chips.  He actually likes them.  A lot.

To get the potatoes thin and uniform, I used my mandoline slicer on the second to last setting, about 1/16 inch.  If you’ve never used one before, it’s great for slicing and julienning fruits and veggies.

If you’ve been hanging around here for a while, you know I love sweet potatoes.  If you love them, too, you might like my:

• Sweet Morning Potatoes
• Parmesan Crusted Sweet Potato Fries with Light Garlic Aioli
• Sweet Potato Quinoa Cookies
• Gingered Sweet Potatoes (a guest post at The Nourishing Gourmet)

Reminder:

Go Ahead Honey, It’s Gluten-Free has a new host this month – Stephanie of Gluten Free by Nature.  The fitting theme is Holiday Cookies.  If you want to be included in this round up, send your link and to Stephanie via the contact tab on her blog by December 27th.

This post is linked toFiner Things Friday.

Printer-friendly recipe

Crispy Sweet Potatoes
serves 4

2 – 3 medium sweet potatoes, about 2 pounds
1 tablespoon good quality extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
1 shallot, peeled and sliced thickly
kosher salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
3 -4 sprigs of fresh thyme

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Peel potatoes and slice them into uniform, thin slices with a very sharp chef’s knife or a mandoline slicer.  Keep the potatoes together as you slice them so it’s easier to arrange them in a dish.  (Make sure you have enough sliced potatoes to fill your chosen baking dish.  A shallow, smaller dish about the height of your potatoes works best.  My baking dish was about 1 quart, maybe a little smaller.)

Combine melted butter and olive oil. Use a pastry brush to coat the inside of a 1 quart baking dish with the mixture.  Reserve remaining olive oil and butter for topping potatoes.  Put shallot slices into the open spaces in the potatos.  Brush with remaining butter and olive oil.  Sprinkle with kosher salt and fresh ground pepper.  Bake for 1 1/4 hours.  Add thyme and bake for another hour or until the tops of the potatoes are browned and crispy and the potatoes are baked through.