by apartmentcooker
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4 pieces
bacon, diced
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1/2 cup
onion, diced
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1 teaspoon
garlic, minced
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2 cups
sweet potatoes, thinly sliced (1/8" thick)
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2 tablespoons
butter
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2 tablespoons
flour
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1 cup
whole milk
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3 tablespoons
creme fraiche
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1/2 teaspoon
nutmeg
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1 tablespoon
brown sugar
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salt and black pepper, to taste
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parmesan cheese, grated, to taste
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Lightly grease 2 individual baking dishes (I used a bowl that holds roughly 1 1/2 cups). Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Ask the hotline about this step!In a small saute pan, cook the bacon over medium heat until crisp. Remove from heat, and toss with onion and garlic.
Ask the hotline about this step!In a small pot, melt the butter over medium heat. Stir in the flour, and cook until the mixture is well combined but still pale. Stir in the milk and the creme fraiche.
Ask the hotline about this step!Reduce the heat to low and bring the bechamel to a simmer. Stir in nutmeg, brown sugar, salt, and pepper.
Ask the hotline about this step!Layer 4-6 slices of potato at the base of each of the prepared baking dishes. Top with a few tablespoons of bechamel, and a few spoonfuls of the bacon mixture. Repeat with another layer of potatoes, another layer of bechamel, and more bacon. Top with one last layer of potatoes, and spoon remaining bechamel over the top. Finish with a sprinkling of grated parmesan cheese.
Ask the hotline about this step!Bake the gratins until they are bubbly around the edges and cooked through, about 15-20 minutes. Let cool slightly before serving.
Ask the hotline about this step!I love this recipe. We just finished off one batch and I am starting another one for Thanksgiving. I doubled the recipe and taking a few types from other readers left out the sugar and added some dry mustard. It baked up beautifully in 30 minutes (2.5 quart dish). Thank you for sharing!
I am not an American, but am living here and loving it, I have been tasked with the sweet potato dish for my neighbours Thanksgiving, so have been hitting the web looking for inspiration. This is the recipe I am going for. Can't imagine liking a vegetable with a marshmallow topping, sounds appalling. Do people really like that? I like desserts but not to eat a dessert with meat.
I am not an American, but am living here and loving it, I have been tasked with the sweet potato dish for my neighbours Thanksgiving, so have been hitting the web looking for inspiration. This is the recipe I am going for. Can't imagine liking a vegetable with a marshmallow topping, sounds appalling. Do people really like that? I like desserts but not to eat a dessert with meat.
I am not an American, but am living here and loving it, I have been tasked with the sweet potato dish for my neighbours Thanksgiving, so have been hitting the web looking for inspiration. This is the recipe I am going for. Can't imagine liking a vegetable with a marshmallow topping, sounds appalling. Do people really like that? I like desserts but not to eat a dessert with meat.
I am not an American, but am living here and loving it, I have been tasked with the sweet potato dish for my neighbours Thansgiving, so have been hitting the web looking for inspiration. This is the recipe I am going for. Can't imagine liking a vegetable with a marshmallow topping, sounds appalling. Do people really like that? I like desserts but not to eat a dessert with meat.
I am not an American, but am living here and lovibg it, I have been tasked with the sweet potato dish for my neighbours Thansgiving, so have been hitting the web looking for inspiration. This is the recipe I am going for. Can't imagine liking a vegetable with a marshmallow topping, sounds appalling. Do people really like that? I like desserts but not to eat a dessert with meat.
When you call for sweet potatoes, are these yams or really sweet potatoes? Some use them interchangeably, and I would like to make this for Thanksgiving (I don't like the traditional sweet stuff)
I made it with garnet yams with great results.
What are your recommendations for size of dishes and baking times if I use a regular casserole dish?
Can I substitute Idaho potatoes?
Can I assemble this a day ahead and then cook the next?
Yea, that shouldn't be a problem!
I assembled this the day before Thanksgiving and ended up with liquid at the bottom of the casserole dish (tripled current recipe and did it in a 9x13). I have to say that we did double the bechamel just because it was so damn good; although we halved the sugar. This was a huge hit and the marshmallow-topped yams became leftovers while the dish on this one was scraped clean! :)
I doubled the recipe and left it in the fridge to bake the next day -- my bechamel separated some, leaving greasy butter throughout the dish. But it still tasted fabulous. Took over an hour to cook though. At least an hour and 15 minutes, possibly longer, I lost track. I was also worried about the onions given the recommended cooking time, so I softened them with the bacon. Perhaps a quick steam on the yams would help too?
RaquelG, how long did you cook your triple batch?
We feasted on this last weekend, and it is truly a knockout dish. We'll be bringing more to our friends' Thanksgiving potluck.
Made a variation of these for dinner last night, and my husband and I (both previously lukewarm on the issue of sweet potatoes) LOVED them. My minor changes were to omit the brown sugar in favor of a bit of dry mustard in the bechamel, and to add a little bit of shredded raclette cheese on top. Delicious! Thanks for giving us a sweet potato dish we will happily dig into time and again.
I made this for Thanksgiving and it was great. Everyone loved it and asked for the recipe. I doubled the recipe and used two standard size gratin dishes. Next time, I might try sauteeing the onions before adding them to the gratin.
I've made this 5 times already and now, I have friends calling me for the recipe. It is one of my favorites on Food52
Wow - thank you! So glad you like it!
It took me a few minutes to get over the fact that someone could (voluntarily) be a carb hater, but thankful my DH and kids love carbs! Looking forward to trying this.
I can't wait to make this! Did anyone have any issues with making it in the larger dish - how did you adjust the cooking times?
why wouldn't you saute the onions and garlic with the bacon instead of putting them into the dish raw?
You definitely could. I just sauteed the bacon first to make sure it got nice and crispy, while the time in the oven is more than enough to soften the onions and garlic.
Love the flavours with this one! Any modifications if you were making this in a larger baking dish?
I know Amanda and Merrill changed the cooking time...but you could easily double this recipe and do it in a regular casserole dish!
This looks wonderful and it reminds me of a gratin I used to serve when I worked in SF but I used sliced pumpkin, poblano chiles, cream, goat cheese and pipians (pumpkins seeds).
YUM! That sounds sooooo good!
I love savory uses of sweet potatoes!
This looks delicious and sounds like a great Thanksgiving idea!
Rick Field is the founder of the pickle company Rick's Picks.
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Amanda has a great mini-rasp grater perfect for nutmeg, but any Microplane will do!
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The beginnings of a roux on the right, and the bacon just starting to render on the left. The roux will become the bechamel, and the bacon will be mixed with onion for a filling.
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It was just about time to add the milk to the bechamel -- the roux had thickened, but hadn't yet browned, and the raw flour taste had been cooked out.
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After adding the milk, the bechamel thickens. To this, we added creme fraiche, nutmeg, and brown sugar, making an incredibly delicious sauce.
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A Japanese-style mandoline is very helpful in achieving 1/8" slices, but be hyper aware of your fingers! A sharp knife would also do it, but since most of Amanda's knives resemble canoe paddles...
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We didn't have individual gratin dishes, so we made gratin for two!
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After layering the sweet potatoes and the bechamel, we added some of the onion/bacon mixture, and repeated.
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We finished with a thin layer of parmesan cheese, and into the oven.
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To get those gorgeous brown bits, we ran it under the broiler for a minute or so.
I made thus yesterday for the neighbours, followed the recipe, I did however double all quantities and placed in a big casserole. Cooked for about 40 minutes, and it looked FAB, very lovely browning YUMMIE. That was until we ate it, the sweet potato hadn't cooked :( I was really sad and embarrassed. Warning everyone if you make this in a larger quantity you need to test with a fork that it is cooked. Of course you Americans are all so polite, everyone said it was delicious, not true, I do plan on popping what's left into the oven again today.