Rosemary Mashed Sweet Potatoes and Caramelized Shallots

I love sweet potatoes,  but I hate it when people over sweeten them with sugar and coconut and put marshmallows over them.  For the love of all that is culinary, there is so much more you can do with these versatile tubers than just cover them up with sugar.  They're naturally sweet themselves, and are a nutritional powerhouse.  They have tons of vitamins and minerals, and much less carbohydrates than a regular potato.  If you happen to belong to a co-op, you're also about to start getting a ton of these because the winter is ending.  This recipe is a nice alternative to what people are used to and still manages to hold some familiar flavors.  This recipe servers 4.

How 'bout that for a side of sweets, eh?

2 large sweet potatoes (about 2 lbs)
2 large shallots, sliced thin
2 tbsp honey
2 tbsp butter, room temperature
Salt and Pepper to taste
2 tbsp sour cream or heavy cream
1 tbsp. rosemary, chopped
Olive oil for cooking
1 tbsp. sherry vinegar
1/4 sherry wine.



1.  First step, Heat that oven up to 350, and throw your sweet potatoes in until they're done.  How long???? Well, I can't answer that, because I don't know how big your sweet potatoes are.  Some take 40 minutes, some take a couple hours.  You want them to be soft is the key.  You can also do these a day ahead and just let them cool over night.  You can just give them a quick nuke when you want to heat th em up, make the puree (I'm getting' to it) then heat it up in a saute pan.

2.  When the sweet potatoes are done and cooled enough to handle, just peel the skin off.  This should be pretty easy.  At this point you can either choose to use a masher or a food processor.  If you want this super smooth (and you're showing off) use the food processor.

3.  Once you have everything smooth, or fully mashed add your butter, herbs, 1 tbsp. of the honey,  sour cream and salt and pepper.

NOW...we can leave this as is and serve it, or, we can take this to the next flavor level,  Guess what I'm doing?  Yes, we are doing caramelized shallots to level this up...so...

1.  Start a pan on medium low heat, add some oil, and add your shallots when you see the is hot.

2.  Season with some salt to pullout some moisture and stir or toss these every other minute or so until they look like this"

Caramelized shallots, before the honey, wine, and vinegar

You can add more oil if the pan gets too dry and they start to burn, they should have a slight sheen on them.

3.  At this point, add your honey and stir it through thoroughly.  Cook this for about a minute.

4.  Add your wine and vinegar and let them reduce all the way.  Your shallots are ready when they look like this.

So this might look a bit complicated to do all at once, but trust me it's not.  If you're  a little shy, you can do these at different times and just heat as needed.  You can also prepare these separately.  These go great with (of course) pork, roasted chicken, steaks, or a nice hearty, oily fish like Salmon or Tuna.  If you want any more serving recommendations, just ask.  Don't forgot to subscribe

Happy Eating,

-The Doctor