Twice Baked Sweet Potatoes with Sage and Shallots

With Thanksgiving only 3 short days away I wanted to give all of you procrastinators one last idea for a great  holiday side dish. If you've been searching food blogs and Pinterest for a new sweet potato recipe to serve on Thanksgiving, look no further! These twice baked sweet potatoes are light and healthier than the traditional casseroles filled with brown sugar and marshmallows yet still taste decant and delicious enough to serve at a holiday. The ricotta cheese makes them creamy and lets their natural sweetness shine with just a hint of earthy flavors from the caramelized shallots and sage. These probably will work better for those of you having smaller meals although the recipe can easily be doubled and the bonus is they can be made ahead of time and kept over night in the fridge.

Ingredients:

3 Medium Sized Sweet Potatoes (Any color orange, red or white)

1 Tsp Olive Oil

1 Shallot - Diced Small

1/2 Cup Part Skim Ricotta Cheese

1/4 Cup Grated Parmesan Cheese + extra for garnish

1 Tbsp Brown Sugar

1/4 Tsp Ground Ginger

2 1/2 Tbsp Fresh Sage - Minced + extra for garnish

1/4 Tsp Salt

1/4 Tsp Pepper

Adapted from: Shape Magazine 2008 Quick & Healthy Recipes

I used a combination of white, red and orange sweet potatoes because we have a variety from our Alan's Orchard fresh box but most people will only have access to the normal orange colored sweet potatoes which is perfectly fine. Preheat your oven to 400 F. Wash your potatoes well since most people will be eating the skins and pierce them with a fork a few times on each side. Line them up on a baking tray and roast until they are soft about 1 hour flipping them over about half way through. Remove the tray from the oven and allow them to cool for about 20 minutes until they are able to be handled. 

Slice each potato in half and scoop out the flesh using a spoon or melon baller. Leave about a quarter of an inch of the flesh in the skin for stability. Put all of the flesh into a food processor and puree for about 30 seconds until its smooth. 

Next add the salt, pepper, ground ginger and brown sugar to the potatoes and blend again until combined. Heat up the olive oil in a small saucepan over medium, add the minced shallots. Cook the shallots until soft and browned about 5 minutes stirring occasionally. Set aside.

Now add the ricotta cheese and blend the potato mixture one last time until it has completely combined together and you see no white or orange streaks. Using a spatula, scrape out all of the potato puree and transfer it into a medium sized bowl.

Add the grated Parmesan cheese, caramelized shallots and minced sage to the bowl. Mix everything together and transfer the entire bowl into a sandwich sized zip lock bag. Gently squeeze all of the air out and seal the bag. Using a pair of scissors snip off one of the two bottom corners of the bag. Pushing the potato puree down towards the opening, pipe all of the potato puree back into the potato skins.

Sprinkle each potato skin with extra Parmesan cheese and minced sage. Bake for about 30 minutes at 350 F. If you are serving them the next day store the twice baked potatoes in an airtight container in the fridge. Bring them to room temperature before heating them up in the oven for about 40 minutes. 

Enjoy!! - Nicole

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