Spicy Serrano Maple Scalloped Sweet Potatoes

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Have I mentioned that I love sweet potatoes?  I ate this whole dish by myself. Not in one sitting, it was over 3 days, but I ate it all.  And I'd do it again.

Layered with spinach and a fantastic tomatillo serrano pepper sauce, this was incredible. 

This was supposed to be inverted on a plate after cooling. I skipped that step as I wanted to dig into it fast.  Plus, in the past, I haven't had much luck with inverting things.  I put this in an 8 x 8 in. pan because I don't have a deep dish pie plate and I was afraid mine was going to be too small. I used a lot of potatoes though.  I think this would have inverted nicely though and made a great presentation.  Maybe next time.

Spicy Serrano Maple Scalloped Sweet Potatoes
Adapted from Cooking on the Weekends

1 cup roughly chopped tomatillos
2 tbsp. chopped serrano, seeds removed
3/4 cup half and half
2 cups pepper jack cheese (I used a bit less)
2 tsp. garlic, minced
4 tbsp. maple syrup, divided
3/4 tsp. salt
Pepper
About 2 lbs. sweet potatoes, peeled
1 tbsp. butter, melted
2 cups packed, fresh spinach leaves

Combine the tomatillos, serrano pepper and half and half into a blender or food processor and puree until smooth.  Add the cheese, garlic, 3 tbsp. of the syrup, salt and pepper.  Set aside.

Slice the sweet potatoes with a slicer fairly thin.  Set aside.

Add the melted butter to an 8 x 8 in. pan or an 8 in. pie plate.  Add the other tablespoon of maple syrup and swirl around. 

Neatly add two layers of sliced sweet potatoes directly over the butter syrup mixture.  They should be overlapping and layered.  Add the remaining sweet potatoes to the cream mixture and use your hands to be sure that each slice is well coated with it. 

Layer about a third of the coated sweet potatoes on top of the first two layers already in the pan.  Then add half of the spinach. Repeat with 1/3 more coated potatoes, then the rest of the spinach.  Then layer the last of the sweet potatoes on top.  Pour any remaining cream mixture on top and move around so it seeps into the dish.  Bake in oven at 425 for 20 minutes.  Then, turn the temp down to 375 and cover with foil and bake for another 30 - 35 minutes. 

Remove the pan from the oven and let it sit at room temperature for about an hour. Place on a plate or a platter that is a couple of inches larger than the cake pan, upside down on top.  Flip over gently to invert potatoes.   (I skipped this part and we just dug in but I'll bet it would have been gorgeous inverted on a platter.)


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