Recipe: Savory Sweet Potatoes

3 medium sweet potatoes

1 Tbsp. salt

8 oz. sour cream

2 tsp. garlic salt

½ tsp. freshly ground black pepper

¼ tsp. freshly ground nutmeg

1Tbsp. Szechuan seasoning (alternative: 1 Tbsp. roasted ground cumin)

1 cup finely chopped cilantro

¾ cup freshly grated parmigiano reggiano

For the topping:

1/3 cup freshly grated parmigiano reggiano

1 tsp. sea salt

½ cup Japanese-style bread crumbs (such as Panko)

Instructions:

Peel the sweet potatoes and cut them into 1 x 2 inch disks.  Bring to boil a pot of water with the tablespoon of salt in it.  When the water is boiling, add the potatoes and boil them until tender, 15-18 minutes. Drain them and allow them to cool until they can be handled.  Mill them with a potato ricer or (much harder) mash them with a fork, in a large mixing bowl.  [A note on mashing root vegetables, in case you didn’t already know this: they need to be mashed or milled and not processed in a machine, which breaks the cell walls and releases their starches, resulting in runny vegetables instead of the nice fluffy potatoes we are looking for.  A potato ricer is a handy gadget and not at all expensive; it’s a great investment or gift.]

Add the sour cream, the spices, the cilantro and the parmesan, and combine well.  In a small mixing bowl, combine the ingredients for the topping (which, by the way, is a great staple you can use on many dishes, for example baked pasta dishes like tetrazinnis).  Spoon the potatoes into a deep baking dish, sprinkle the topping over them, then bake at 300 degrees for one hour before serving.

David Jensen writes the popular American blog “The Garden Interior,” which chronicles his garden in southern New Jersey. Please visit at www.TheGardenInterior.com. You can follow David Jensen on Twitter at @GardenInterior.