Twice-Baked Savory Sweet Potatoes

Savory Sweet potatoes? Isn't that an oxymoron?

Nope! These sweet potatoes aren't your ordinary, marshmallow-infested Thanksgiving fare. These are sweet spuds with a little kick, ready to take their place at the grown-ups' table and laughing at the brown sugar monstrosities that so many people think of when they think sweet potatoes. They take a little time, but they're really very easy. Most of the time is just baking in the oven, and what could be easier than that?

I came up for the idea with these as I do most of my culinary creations: staring vacantly into my pantry and wondering what I was thinking when I bought sweet potatoes on impulse. I practically never eat sweet potatoes, but these were so plump and earthy and tempting that they practically leapt into my grocery basket. So here I was, wondering what the proper treatment might be for sweet potatoes if I wasn't in the mood for something sugary. By coincidence, they were sitting beside my little jar of curry paste in the pantry, and so this inspired combination was born. The curry sets off the sweetness of the potatoes by providing a slight tang, nothing too ostentatious, just enough to make your tastebuds sit up and take notice. It also pulls out the sweetness in the caramelized onions and the buttermilk, which I added because I adore ordinary mashed potatoes with buttermilk. Anyway, this combination is one that I'll be making again, and soon. The next time I get tempted by sweet potatoes that look too good to resist, I'll know exactly how to do them justice.

Twice-Baked Savory Sweet Potatoes

2 large sweet potatoes (orange or yellow works, I've even made it with one of each)
1/4 large yellow onion, finely diced (or 1/2 medium onion, the onions are very large where I live)
1 tsp olive oil
1/4 cup buttermilk
2 tbsp unsalted butter, divided into small cubes
1/4 tsp red curry paste (I use Thai curry, but whatever your favorite is should be fine)
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, shredded, plus additional cheese to garnish
Salt
Pepper

Preheat the oven to 400F. Wrap the sweet potatoes in tin foil, twisting the ends like candy to make handling easy. When the oven is ready, pop in the sweet potatoes, and leave them there to bake for 1 hr - 1 hr 10 min. Test a potato with a fork to see if they're done: the fork should penetrate to the center of the potato with little or no resistance. Yellow sweet potatoes take longer to get done than orange ones, and will seem more resistant to the fork even when they are done. This is normal.

Towards the end of the potatoes' cooking time, add the olive oil to a skillet over medium heat. Drop in the onion, and caramelize until just barely amber-colored. This is a stage somewhere after 'translucent', and before 'french onion soup brown'. This should take about 10 min. Remove the onions from the heat.

Remove the potatoes from the oven, and unwrap them. Lower the oven temperature to 350F, but keep it going, you'll need it later. Using a very sharp knife, carefully cut the potatoes in half. I say 'carefully', because the goal is to get the potatoes in half while leaving the delicate skins intact. Once the potatoes are halved, scoop out the center of the potatoes into a large mixing bowl, leaving 1/4 in of potato attached to the skins. This should form little potato 'bowls' out of the skins, into which we will eventually be returning the gussied-up innards. Set aside the skins, you'll return to them later.

Add the small cubes of butter to the hot potato guts, and pour in the buttermilk. Stir vigorously, until the potatoes' heat has melted the butter and the mixture is fairly smooth. Add the onion, a dash of salt to taste, and a dash of pepper to taste. Mix these in, then taste the mixture. Adjust seasoning.

Add in the curry paste, and stir until mixed thoroughly. Taste the mixture, and add more curry if desired (truthfully, I probably end up using more like 3/8 or 1/2 tsp here. It's completely a personal preference thing, though). Make sure the curry is mixed evenly; if you're using the paste it can take some hard stirring to get it to mix right. Add in the cheese, and stir until that's mixed completely. The potato should still be hot enough to melt the cheese, but don't worry if it's not. It doesn't matter.

Line a square baking tin with foil. I use one with high sides, because it tends to support the potatoes better. Place the four skins in this baking pan, and scoop the curry mixture back into the skins. You should be able to get it all in, don't be afraid to mound it up a little if needed. On top of the refilled potato halves, sprinkle some more Parmesan and maybe a dash of nutmeg if you're feeling artistic. Place the baking tin in the oven at 350F, and bake for 15-20 min. The Parmesan on top of the potatoes should be melted, and the potatoes should be warm all the way through. Serve!

Servings: 4 as a side dish, perhaps only 2 as a main dish