A Simple Sweet Potato and Raisin Bake
Sweet potato and raisin bake was first served to us at a friends Thanksgiving dinner. We were simply impressed with dish. Not too sweet and why serve it only once a year? You can prepare this dish anytime the sweet potatoes are in season.
A sweet potato is not a yam. Despite what supermarkets’ confusing labels might say, a yam is a tuber with white, pale yellow, or even purple flesh with a rough skin originating in Africa, and is often also grown in Asia and the Caribbean. It is actually not very sweet.
Sweet potatoes, on the other hand, have orange or yellow flesh, with smooth and easy-to-peel skin. Just to make you crazy, some of the best “Thanksgiving” sweet potatoes are called garnet yams or a jewel yams.
When shopping for sweet potatoes, look for tubers that have reddish-brown smooth skins and deep orange flesh, no matter what the label says. These are what you want for this sweet potato casserole.
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 cup onions, finely chopped
- 1/4 cup light brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon ground ginger
- 2 – 2 1/2 lb sweet potatoes
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1 cup dried cranberries
Preparation
- Preheat the oven at 400F/200C.
- Saute onions in the butter and extra virgin olive oil.
- Add the cranberries, sugar and ginger.
- Line a 9″ cake pan with foil and coat with oil.
- Peel the sweet potatoes and slice them as thinly as possible.
- Begin layering starting with the cranberry mix on the bottom of the dish. Follow this with a layer of potato slices and continue with the final layer being potato.
- Cover with foil but first coat the underside with some olive oil.
- Bake for 40 minutes, uncover and continue to cook for a further 20 minutes to brown.
