Valentine's Dinner For Two: Individual Scalloped Sweet Potatoes
Valentine's Day is a day to make cute food, right? Individual hand pies? So cute. Heart shaped cookies. Adorable. Food served in ramekins? Beyond cute.
Unfortunately my husband wouldn't blink an eye at any of those things. He doesn't seem to share my affinity for "cute" food. Although, he was a big fan of the pumpkin pie pots I made. So I've learned that I must make the "cute" food in question something he can't help but devour, which means it has to come from one of his five favorite food groups. Those being: pizza, meat, bacon, pumpkin pie, and potatoes. Luckily for me in the past year his "potatoes" food group has expanded to include sweet potatoes.
So, for my side dish to my Brown Butter Pork Chops in my Valentine's Dinner For Two series I set out to make something that Adam and I would both love, but that is also cute!
And one thing is for sure, if you put anything in a ramekin and serve it as an individual portion it is automatically deemed cute. Add some cheese and heavy cream and not only is it cute, but it's freaking delicious.
And then you may be wishing you made more than just individual portions, which is why this recipe makes 4 ramekins but is still considered "dinner for two". Trust me, you'll want that second serving.
Individual Scalloped Sweet Potatoes
Makes 4 - 6 oz sized ramekins, serves 2
adapted from Bev Cooks
1 large sweet potato, peeled and thinly sliced with a mandoline
1 to 1 1/4 cups gruyere cheese
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 clove garlic, grated
a few grates of freshly grated nutmeg, about 1/4 a teaspoon
1 to 2 springs thyme, leaves removed
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
fresh ground pepper to taste
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Slice sweet potato using a mandoline to ensure even thickness slices.
In a small saucepan mix the heavy cream, garlic, nutmeg, thyme, salt, and fresh ground pepper. Bring to a boil and then simmer for 3 to 5 minutes, stirring often.
Spray ramekins with cooking spray. Place a layer of sweet potatoes in bottom of ramekins. Overlap using different sized slices if needed. That's what I did. Sprinkle some cheese over sweet potatoes. Continue to layer sweet potatoes and cheese until you reach the top of your ramekin. Finish with cheese on top.
Drizzle 2 tablespoons cream mixture into each ramekin. Finish with a tiny sprinkle of sea salt or kosher salt if you like.
Place ramekins in a baking dish and cover with foil. Bake for 30 minutes with foil on. Remove foil and bake for another 10 minutes.
Here's a little tip! If you are making these with the Brown Butter Pork Chops (and you should!) you can raise the oven temperature to 425 (the temperature in the recipe for the pork chops) right before it is time to put the them in, then just watch your sweet potatoes and take them out a bit early if need be!
Love, Luck, and Happiness!