SWEET POTATOES, SAVORY OR SWEET

 

Sweet potato flans, savory (top) and sweet.

My dear friend, Charlotte (gone from us almost a year now), had a special dish for holidays—sweet potato soufflé. Although it was served as a side with the main course (usually stuffed turkey), it had sugar and sweet spices. I never liked her sweet potato soufflé—it was too much like dessert!

So, why not turn it into dessert? And make a savory version with herbs, cheese, and some hot spices to go with the main course? Here’s the scoop.

Char called the dish “soufflé,” but, although the sweet potatoes puff up during baking, they quickly deflate when resting. Both the sweet and savory versions are more like a flan, or a timbale, sometimes called a pudding. With that in mind, I decided to bake off some of them in flan cups. For easy unmolding, silicone muffin cups are best. Otherwise, generously oil the cups and dust them with flour. The flan can also be baked in an oven casserole.

Oh, incidentally, I am not serving the savory and the sweet flans at the same meal! That would be a little excessive. The savory version makes a good side with roast pork or ham, turkey, salmon. 

Savory sweet potato flans have cheese and a pinch of hot pimentón. A touch of vinegar balances the natural sweetness of the potatoes. A topping of crisp bacon contrasts with the smooth flan.

Same basic ingredients, but with sweet spices and cream cheese instead of  aged Manchego. Top the flans with crunchy walnuts and a drizzle of caramel sauce.

Mashed Sweet Potatoes

Puré de Batatas

Sweet potatoes in Spanish are batatas or boniatos. 

You will need cooked, mashed sweet potatoes for the flan. They can be roasted or boiled. I was making a double batch—one sweet, one savory—using two pounds of sweet potatoes. I chose to peel them, cut them up and boil them. One pound of sweet potatoes makes approximately 1 ½ cups mashed.

1 pound sweet potatoes (to make 1 ½ cups mashed)

Salt

Lemon zest

Peel the sweet potatoes, cut them in chunks and cover with water. Add salt and lemon zest. Bring to a boil and cook until they are fork tender, 15 to 18 minutes. Drain thoroughly. Mash the sweet potatoes with a fork or potato masher.

Mashed sweet potatoes with ingredients for the flans--savory on the left and sweet on the right.

Savory Sweet Potato Flan with Cheese

Flan de Batatas con Queso

The flan can be baked in individual molds and unmolded to serve, pictured, or in a casserole to be served direct to the table.

I used a cured Manchego (sheeps’ milk) cheese for this flan. Any firm, melting cheese could be substituted.

The smooth flan needs something crispy or crunchy to go with it. Chopped pistachios, crisp bacon bits, frizzled onions—take your pick.

 

Serves 8-10.

1 ½ cups cooked and mashed sweet potatoes

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 shallots, finely chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

1 tablespoon dry Sherry

¼ teaspoon pimentón picante de la Vera (smoked hot paprika) or cayenne

1 tablespoon flour

½ cup whole milk

½ teaspoon salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Pinch of thyme

1 tablespoon Sherry vinegar

½ cup grated Manchego

3 eggs, separated

2 drops of lemon juice

Fried bacon bits to garnish (optional)

Chopped pistachios to garnish (optional)

Greek yogurt, to serve (optional)

Heat the oil in a skillet on medium and sauté the shallot and garlic until softened, 4 minutes. Add the Sherry and cook off the alcohol. Add the pimentón and the flour and stir to mix with the oil. Add the milk and whisk the sauce until it thickens. Season with salt, pepper and thyme.

Preheat oven to 375ºF. Oil 8 to 10 muffin cups or an oven-safe casserole. 

Add the sweet potatoes to the skillet and mix well with the sauce. Stir in the vinegar and the grated cheese. Remove the pan from the heat. 

Beat egg whites stiff.

Stir the yolks together. Spoon some of the sweet potatoes into the yolks and mix. Add the yolks-potatoes to the pan and combine thoroughly.

Beat the egg whites until almost stiff. Beat in a pinch of salt and 2 drops of lemon juice. Beat until whites hold stiff peaks. Stir a quarter of the whites into the sweet potato mixture. Gently fold the remaining egg whites into the sweet potatoes. Spoon the mixture into 10 muffin cups or a casserole. Bake until the tops are golden and the flan has puffed up, 15 to 20 minutes for the muffin cups, 25 to 30 minutes for the casserole.

Unmold the cups onto an oiled serving platter. The casserole can go straight to the table. Serve the flans hot, warm or room temperature. Garnish, as desired with bacon bits, pistachios, yogurt, etc.

Flans puff up in baking, deflate as they cool.

Sweet Potato Flan

Flan de Batatas

You could caramelize the flan molds, if desired. I chose not to bother, but served the flans with a (store-bought) caramel sauce to drizzle over the tops once the flans were unmolded. Another possibility would be to use molasses instead of caramel—very reminiscent of a traditional Málaga dish of baked sweet potatoes with miel de caña, molasses.

1 pound sweet potatoes, cooked and mashed (1 ½ cups)

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon ground ginger

1/8 teaspoon ground cardamom

Grating of fresh nutmeg

½ teaspoon grated lemon zest

2 tablespoon olive oil

1 tablespoon flour

1 tablespoon PX (sweet) wine

½ cup whole milk

¼ cup brown sugar

½ cup cream cheese, softened

1 tablespoon + 2 drops lemon juice

3 eggs, separated

Pinch of salt

Walnuts, to garnish

Molasses or caramel sauce, to serve (optional)

Whipped cream, optional

Mix sweet potatoes and cheese.

Mash the cooked sweet potatoes with the cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, nutmeg and lemon zest. 

Heat the oil in a saucepan and stir in the flour. Cook the flour 1 minute. Add the wine and cook 1 minute, stirring. Whisk in the milk and cook until the sauce thickens. Add the brown sugar and stir well. Stir in the sweet potatoes. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the cream cheese and lemon juice.

Preheat oven to 375ºF. Oil 8 to 10 muffin cups or an oven-safe casserole.

Stir the egg yolks together in a bowl. Add a big spoonful of the sweet potatoes and mix well. Stir the yolk-sweet potato mixture into the pan and combine well. 

Beat the egg whites until almost stiff. Add salt and 2 drops of lemon juice and beat until the whites hold stiff peaks. Stir a quarter of the whites into the sweet potatoes to lighten them. Fold the remaining whites into the sweet potatoes.

Add caramel sauce, walnuts.

Spoon the flan mixture into the muffin cups or casserole. Bake until tops are golden and puffed, 15-20 minutes for the individual cups; 30 minutes for the casserole.

Unmold cups onto a serving platter. Use an offset spatula to transfer them to dessert plates. Garnish, as desired, with walnuts, a dribble of molasses or caramel, whipped cream. Serve warm or chilled.

More recipes with sweet potatoes:

Sweet Potato Fries.

Salad of Sweet Potatoes, Fennel and Clementines.

Sweet Potato Buns.

Turnovers with Sweet Potato Jam (Empanadillas)

Sweet Potato-Molasses Parfait.

Sweet Potato Compote.

A representation of a market in Bethlehem, from the Belén, or nativity scene, at the parochial church in my pueblo. Depicted are crates of sweet potatoes and potatoes, which certainly did not exist in that part of the world in Jesus's time! The figures in the dioramas are about half life-size. 

Happy Christmas! Feliz Navidad!