Thursday, December 3, 2009

Maple-Glazed Sweet Potatoes, Apples & Bacon

We had a pretty traditional Thanksgiving dinner this year. Matt brined a turkey & then rubbed it with an herb butter before roasting, He made gravy, adding the reserved bacon fat from this dish to it for extra flavor. My sister made mashed potatoes & the basic onion & celery bread stuffing (my family will never have any other stuffing). My mom made creamed onions, broccoli & cranberry/cherry relish. The whole thing was followed up by pumpkin pie of course.
Getting the spread out
My one contribution was this sweet potato and apple bake. Matt found the basic recipe from the local restaurant Fire Lake on Heavy Table. I decided a little bacon would only make it taste better.
Maple-glazed sweet potatoes & apples with bacon
We weren't sure how this would go over since sweet potatoes are usually part of my family's Thanksgiving dinner but it was a hugh success! Every single bite was eaten. I have to say my favorite part of it was the apples, they got such a wonderful texture from the baking & their flavor was the perfect compliment to the sweet potatoes & bacon. We won't wait until next Thanksgiving to make this again. Next time though we might add a little heat like some cayenne.

We used an apple called Frostbite, a variety developed at the University of MN, & maybe my new favorite. The Frostbite is a very sweet apple (some people compare eating it to eating sugarcane) that is crisp & good for baking. Look for an apple with similar qualities when making this dish. (The original recipe calls for a tart apple but we liked the sweet.)

Maple-Glazed Sweet Potatoes, Apples & Bacon

2 slices bacon, chopped & cooked crisp (use good bacon!)
3 sweet potatoes
2 apples
3 T real maple syrup
2 T brown sugar
3 T unsalted butter
salt & pepper

Cook the bacon until crisp. Drain on a paper towel & set aside.

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Peel your sweet potatoes & apples. Core the apples. Slice the apples in half top to bottom & the sweet potatoes lengthwise. Cut both into about 1/2-inch slices. Arrange the slices in a baking dish (our dish was a little smaller than a 9" x 13"). Drizzle the maple syrup over the top. Sprinkle with brown sugar. Season with salt & pepper. Scatter the bacon over the top. Cut the butter into slices & place around the top.
Sweet potatoes & apples ready for the oven
Cover with foil & bake for 1 hour. (We baked ours earlier in the day & then reheated it while the turkey was resting.)

Serves 6 - 8

If you are not reading this post in a feed reader or at http://agoodappetite.blogspot.com OR at http://agoodappetite.com then the site you are reading is illegally publishing copyrighted material. Contact me at katbaro AT yahoo DOT COM. All recipes, text and photographs in this post are the original creations & property of the author unless otherwise noted.
© 2007-2009 Kathy Lewinski

10 comments:

Lo said...

Mmm. Maybe it's the proximity to lunch time, but that sweet potato bake is totally making me drool. Bacon definitely makes everything a little better -- and I think it's wonderful when the salty is paired with sweet.

Love the sound of those frost-bite apples!... maybe I can talk my in-laws into bringing some home for me for Christmas :) (they live in Belle Plaine)

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

Those sweet potatoes sound amazing!

grace said...

sounds like a nice spread, with your taters here being particularly appealing. those apples sound uniquely delicious and i sure wish i had a few to munch on myself.

vanillasugarblog said...

love this girl! keep on making them sweet potatoes--I will never tire.

Deborah said...

This sounds like such a great flavor combination.

eric : Gardenfork.tv said...

nice. i saw your photo on FoodiePhoto and came to your site. Going to make a version of this for Gardenfork.tv .

Have not seen Frostbite apples on the east coast here. wondering if Mutsu would work?

kat said...

Eric - look for a good baking apple, something that is sweet, firm & juicy to get results like ours

Alicia Foodycat said...

Oh that looks good! I could have a bit of cheese with that and call it a meal! I like your idea for adding cayenne, but what about some chipotle in some form? I can just see the smoke adding good things!

kat said...

Foodycat - Matt thought chipotle might be good as well.

Maris said...

Sounds like a great dinner - how nice that everyone made a little contribution! We can't even get my brother to help set the table :)

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