Honey Roasted Mashed Opelousas
Sweet Potatoes
- 6 sweet potatoes, about one pound
- 1/2 cup butter, diced
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg
- 1 cup honey
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Preheat oven to 350ºF.
- Peel and quarter potatoes. Place neatly
in a roasting pan. Place butter evenly on top of potatoes. Sprinkle
cinnamon and nutmeg on top. Drizzle with honey and season with
salt and pepper. Gently pour 2 cups water into pan without washing
mixture off potatoes. Cover and bake for 1 1/2 hours or until
very tender.
- Remove cover and stir. Continue to cook
for 1/2 hour. Potatoes should have a nice dark brown color on
top and be very tender.
- Remove potatoes with slotted spoon and
add to mixing bowl and whip until all lumps are gone. Drizzle
in liquid from pan as desired. Turn off mixer and scrape bowl.
Continue to mix, I usually use all my liquid because it’s
needed and has a lot of flavor. When desired consistency is there,
adjust seasoning. Place in a large casserole dish and serve.
Makes 8 servings.
Chef’s Notes:
I like the dark orange sweet potatoes; not the thin skinned pale
ones. The darker skin potato is sweeter and has deep orange flesh,
while the pale is starchy. Buy the medium to large size, about
1 pound, they seem to be best. The sweetest ones seem to be in
mid fall to late winter. Keep in dry, dark, cool area. If wanted,
you can add more butter and honey. This dish can be made up to
3 days in advance, but keep covered in refrigerator.
Roasting sweet potatoes
(or yams) makes their flavor more intense, whereas boiling (as
is so often done) extracts much of the earthy sweet flavor into
the water. Opelousas Sweet Potatoes are our favorite and they
are too good to be boiled. We make sweet potato pie, sweet potato
hay, and sweet potato succotash – but my personal favorite
is this one roasted with honey and butter and whipped.
Recipe provided courtesy of Lousiana Sweet Potato Commission and
Commander’s Palace
in New Orleans.
