Danielle's Sweet Potato Gratin

I like sweet potato; before when  I lived in China, when autumn came the street vendors would bake the sweet potatoes, and the aroma filled the street. I could never resist buying one and just eating it on the street.

But we never baked them with herbs and cream, so this dish is really interesting.

I was surprised that sage goes well with sweet potato, but the recipe said not to peel the sweet potatoes.   I kind of hesitated to follow that, because I have a slight hangup-I can not eat any skin, like tomato, potato, apple etc.   But I still keep the skin make the dish look good. Also for this recipe I reduced the whipping cream, but it is still really tasty and filling.  

Danielle's Sweet Potato Gratin

Adapted from Ottolenghi :the cookbook

Serves: 6 

Ingredients:

6 medium sweet potatoes (about 1.5kg in total)
5 tablespoons sage leaves, roughly chopped (plus some extra to garnish)
6 garlic cloves, crushed
2 teaspoons coarse sea salt
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
200 ml whipping cream

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 200C./Gas Mark 6, Wash the sweet potatoes. (do not peel them) and cut them into discs 5mm thick. A mandolin is best for this job but you could use a sharp knife. 

In a bowl, mix together the sweet potatoes, sage, garlic, salt and pepper. Arrange the slices of sweet potato in a deep, medium-sized ovenproof dish by taking tight packs of them and standing them up next to each other. They should fit together quite tightly so you get parallel lines of sweet potato slices (skins showing) along the length or width of the dish. Throw any remaining bits of garlic or sage from the bowl over the potatoes. Cover the dish with foil, place in the oven and roast for 45 minutes. Remove the foil and pour the cream evenly over the potatoes, Roast, uncovered, for a further 25 minutes. The cream should have thickened by now. Stick a sharp knife in different places in the dish to make sure the potatoes are cooked. They should be totally soft. 

Serve immediately, garnished with sage, or leave to cool down.