Hello, Sweet Potato Apple Skillet with sage and bacon and brown butter and Thanksgiving happiness.

Transcription

1 Hello, Sweet Potato Apple Skillet with sage and bacon and brown butter and Thanksgiving happiness.

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3 In my family, we always have potluck style Thanksgiving lunches where everyone brings a few things, which is more fun and less stressful for everyone. But a few years ago when I was learning to cook and really falling in love with food, I decided I wanted to cook Thanksgiving completely by myself one time. So we invited our sweet friends over (we miss them since we moved away!) for a Thanksgiving dinner a few weeks early. It s still one of my favorite food memories and a highlight of our time in Durham. I had the best time planning and cooking and hosting. Y all, I don t remember what all I made but the AMOUNT of food I made is hard to forget. I have always operated under the impression that if all the food I made has been eaten at a dinner I host then I didn t make enough and someone may have walked away hungry. This offends my Southern heart to the core. So I approached our little friendsgiving gathering of a total of FOUR people with the same zeal as if I was cooking for 20.

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5 I ed my aunt to get my grandmother s dressing recipe and I had the good sense to cut it in half because again only four people. Unfortunately (fortunately?) I needed to cut it by about eight, maybe ten. I had no idea my grandmother now my aunt -made so much of this delicious dressing at Thanksgiving! We were still finding frozen dressing and gravy in the freezer when we moved out this past spring. There was also a moment right at the end of dinner when I looked over and realized we had completely forgotten about the macaroni and cheese in the crockpot on the counter. And we were all full! We also had a lot of mac and cheese in the freezer after that. True to my nature it was way too much food, but it was so much fun. It s always worth it to gather your favorite people and put a little effort into a nice meal even if your classic family recipes yield enough to feed all the people in your town.

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7 I wish I had created this Sweet Potato Apple Skillet when I was cooking that Thanksgiving meal a few years ago because it is definitely a more appropriate serving size for a small Thanksgiving gathering. It s also really simple to make with only 5 ingredients (6 if you count water, but let s don t) and the added benefit of not needing any of your valuable oven space. Bacon. Butter. Sage. Sweet Potatoes. Apple. The bacon gives us a salty, smoky backdrop of flavor. Sage leaves are crisped in brown butter. The sweet potatoes are caramelized on the outside and perfectly tender on the inside after steaming in the water. And the apples are a sweet, slightly crunchy bite rounding out all of the flavors and elevating your traditional sweet potatoes. Dare I say this sweet potato apple skillet may deserve a place next to everyone s favorite sweet potato + marshmallow casserole?

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9 If you re having a smaller gathering or looking for a fun way to spice up your Monday night supper, give this Sweet Potato Apple Skillet a try! I think you ll love it. Will you tell me about your favorite Thanksgiving memories? I d love to hear them in the comments! Print Sweet Potato Apple Skillet Author: Jessica Wood Recipe type: Side Dish Prep time: 10 mins Cook time: 30 mins Total time: 40 mins Serves: 6 With bacon and sage, this Sweet Potato Apple Skillet recipe is the perfect side dish for Thanksgiving or your next weeknight supper. No oven required and only 5 ingredients! Ingredients 4 slices bacon 3 tbsp butter 6 sage leaves 2 sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed 3 small apples, diced 1 cup water Instructions 1. Cook bacon in a cast iron skillet or heavy pan over medium heat until fat is rendered and bacon is browned. Remove from pan and drain on paper towels. Pour bacon fat from pan, but don't clean. 2. Return pan to heat and melt butter until beginning to sizzle and brown. Fry whole sage leaves in butter until crispy and brown, about 1 minute. Remove sage leaves from pan and place on paper towel to drain. 3. Add sweet potatoes to pan and stir to coat in butter. Let potatoes cook 4-5 minutes until

10 starting to brown and caramelize on the outside. Your pan should still be on medium to medium-high heat. Add 1 cup water to pan and leave sweet potatoes to cook, stirring once or twice until water has mostly evaporated. 4. When water is mostly evaporated, turn heat to low, add diced apples to pan and stir to combine. Let cook an additional 4-5 minutes until apples begin to soften and sweet potatoes are fork tender. 5. Remove from heat and add crumbled bacon and crispy sage leaves. Enjoy!