LCBO Food & Drink Holiday 2019

THE NEW SPICE ROUTE

SWEET POTATO GINGER HAZELNUT CRISP

Ground ginger is a hallmark of holiday sweets but don’t over- look its warming, zingy flavour for savoury dishes, too. Buttered crumbs fragrant with ginger and hazelnuts top the thyme-scented sweet potatoes in this easy yet elegant side dish that can be en- joyed right away or made ahead. Roasting the sweet potatoes rather than boiling them pro- vides a thicker texture and richer flavour and is worth the time for sure. If you’re feeding a crowd, it’s easy to double the recipe and bake it in a large rectangular baking dish.

3 large sweet potatoes, about 3 lbs (1.36 kg) TOPPING ⁄ cup (60 mL) butter 1 tsp (5 mL) ground ginger ⁄ tsp (1 mL) salt Freshly ground pepper 1 ⁄ cups (375 mL) coarse fresh bread crumbs ⁄ cup (125 mL) hazelnuts, chopped 2 tbsp (30 mL) chopped fresh parsley ⁄ cup (60 mL) butter 1 tsp (5 mL) chopped fresh thyme 1 tsp (5 mL) salt Freshly ground pepper

4 Peel skins from potatoes and transfer to a bowl. Mash with a potato masher, adding butter, thyme, salt and pepper to taste, until smooth. Spread into a 6-cup (1.5-L) baking dish. (To make ahead, cover potatoes and refrigerate for up to 2 days. Store crumb topping in a separate container at room temperature.) 5 To serve, preheat oven to 375 F (190 C). 6 Sprinkle crumb topping evenly over potatoes. Bake, uncovered, for about 20 minutes (if chilled, cover dish with foil and bake for 1 hour, then uncover and bake for 15 minutes), until topping is crisp.

1 Preheat oven to 400 F (200 C). 2 Scrub sweet potatoes and pierce all over with a fork. Place on a rimmed baking sheet and bake for about 1 ⁄ to 1 ⁄ hours or until tender. Let potatoes cool until cool enough to handle. 3 For the topping, in a small saucepan, combine butter, ginger, salt and pepper to taste. Melt over medium-low heat, stirring, until butter is starting to bubble. Remove from heat and stir in bread crumbs and hazel- nuts until evenly coated. Stir in parsley and set aside.

Serves 6

TO EASILY MAKE COARSE FRESH BREAD CRUMBS, USE A DENSE LOAF OR ROLLS BREAD THAT’S A DAY OR TWO OLD WORKS BEST AND GRATE INTO CRUMBS ON THE COARSE SIDE OF A BOX CHEESE GRATER.

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HOLIDAY 2019 FOOD & DRINK