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Recipe Ingredient
- Mashed Sweet Potatoes with Hazelnut Brown Butter:
- 1/2 cup (125 ml) hazelnuts
- 2 pounds (1 kg) whole jewel or garnet sweet potatoes
- 1/2 cup (125 ml) heavy cream, brought to a boil
- 10 tablespoons (155 g) unsalted butter, cut into small chunks
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
- Salt
- Freshly ground white pepper
- 1 teaspoon fresh thyme or marjoram leaves
- Mashed Yukon Gold Potatoes:
- 2 pounds (1 kg) Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and cut into uniform chunks
- 6 cups (1.5 l) cold water
- Salt
- 6 tablespoons (90 g) unsalted butter, cut into small chunks
- 1/2 cup (125 ml) heavy cream, brought to a boil
- Freshly ground white pepper
- Freshly ground nutmeg
- 1 tablespoon minced parsley leaves or chives
Instructions
- For the Mashed Sweet Potatoes, preheat the oven to 350 F (180 C). Spread the hazelnuts on a baking sheet and bake until golden brown, 10 to 12 minutes. Immediately empty the nuts into a folded kitchen towel; fold the towel over them and rub the hazelnuts inside to remove their skins. Pick out the nuts and set aside to cool. Empty the skins into the sink or trash. When the nuts have cooled, coarsely chop with a sharp knife or in a food processor fitted with the metal blade. Set aside.
- Raise the oven temperature to 400 F (200 C). Put the sweet potatoes on a baking sheet and bake until very soft when pierced with a thin skewer or knife tip, 45 minutes to 1 hour.
- While the sweet potatoes are baking, start preparing the Mashed Yukon Gold Potatoes: In a medium pot, combine the potatoes and water. Add enough salt to make the water taste like seawater. Bring to a boil; reduce the heat to maintain a gentle simmer and cook just until fork tender, about 30 minutes. Drain well.
- Assemble a food mill with its fine disc and set it above a large heatproof mixing bowl. Pass the Yukon Gold potatoes through the mill into the bowl. With a whisk, stir in the butter and hot cream until thoroughly combined. Season to taste with salt, pepper and nutmeg. Cover the bowl and set the potatoes over a pan of simmering water to keep them warm while you finish the sweet potatoes. Rinse out and dry the food mill and set it over another heatproof mixing bowl.
- Steady each cooked sweet potato with a folded kitchen towel and cut in half lengthwise, taking care to keep your hands clear of steam. Holding each half in the folded towel, scoop the pulp out of the skin into the food mill. Discard the skin. Pass the sweet potato pulp through the mill into the bowl. With a whisk, stir in the hot cream, 4 tablespoons (60 g) of the butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger until thoroughly combined. Season to taste with salt and white pepper. Cover the bowl and keep the sweet potatoes warm over another pan of simmering water.
- Just before serving, put the remaining 6 tablespoons butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Melt the butter and then swirl the pan continuously over the heat until the butter turns nut-brown and fragrant. Remove from the heat and stir in the hazelnuts and thyme.
- Immediately transfer the sweet potatoes to a serving dish and drizzle the hazelnut butter over them. Transfer the mashed Yukon Gold potatoes to another serving dish and garnish with parsley or chives. Serve immediately. - Tribune Media Services.
- Perfect mashed potatoes are one of my favorite things to eat, so I make a lot of them. Any leftovers are great the next day spread in a shallow, buttered baking dish, sprinkled with breadcrumbs and grated cheese, dotted with butter, and baked in a 400 F (200 C) oven until golden brown, 10 to 15 minutes. (You could also serve this as a holiday side dish if you want to make the purees further ahead.)
