Sweet potatoes are packed with nutrients and fiber to keep your body healthy during the cold season ahead. This sweet potato mac and cheese recipe is smooth and creamy with a perfect balance of cheese and sweet potato flavors. It’s a great way to sneak some extra vitamins and nutrients in, especially if you’re cooking for a picky eater!
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients
2 cups penne pasta (or macaroni noodles, for all the purists out there)
1 medium-size sweet potato (this recipe would also work with yams!)
2 cups 1% milk
2 tablespoons flour
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1¼ cups Sharp Cheddar Cheese, grated
1 teaspoon ground mustard powder
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
3 tablespoons bread crumbs
Preparation
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees and grease a 9×9 glass baking dish, large (12”) cast iron skillet, or four individual size cast iron skillets.
2. Cook noodles in a pot of boiling water until tender, then drain, rinse with cold water, and set aside. While your pasta is cooking, prick your sweet potato with the tips of a fork in a few places, then place in the microwave for 8 minutes, or until soft. Use caution when removing from the microwave, your sweet potato will be a hot, hot, hot potato! Set it aside to cool down.
3. Add milk, flour, and garlic to a large sauce pan and bring to medium heat while whisking. Once the milk begins to steam, remove from heat.
4. Your sweet potato should be cool enough to handle now. Peel away the skin and place in a blender. Carefully pour the milk mixture into the blender, and blend until smooth. This can also be done with a hand held immersion blender, but be very careful not to splash any of the hot milk on yourself! If you don’t have a blender, mash the potato with a fork and add directly to milk. Your final product may have some chunks of sweet potato in it, but will taste equally as delicious.
5. Pour your smooth puree back into the sauce pan and add cheese, ground mustard, salt and pepper, then stir until the cheese completely melts. Carefully dump in pasta and stir until noodles are evenly coated.
6. Pour pasta mixture into your baking dish. Sprinkle bread crumbs and the extra ¼ cup shredded cheese on top, and then bake on the top rack for 15-20 minutes, until the bread crumbs begin to brown and the cheese sprinkled on top has melted.
7. Enjoy!
Recipe adapted from Eating Well.
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