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.

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.

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.

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

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