Sweet Potato Spoon Bread

Do you know about spoon bread? I have long been obsessed with this dish, though I rarely encounter it in my adult life here in New England. Falling somewhere between grits, cornbread and polenta, spoon bread is an amazingly tasty dish that is popular in the South.  While my mom is a Mainer, she took to many of the food traditions of the south, where my dad’s family is from. She is a culinary adventurer like that.

I have wanted to post about my mom’s spoon bread here on Lady Gouda for a long time now (did you know that I have been blogging here for two years now? Whoa!), but always forget to get the recipe out of the Gasparilla Cookbook that lives at my parents’ house. Someday. But for now, I will share this slightly jazzed-up version that my mom made over Thanksgiving weekend. When the two of us were menu planning for the big meal, she kept bringing up this recipe that she wanted to try, but in the end, we decided to stick with the tried and true classic Thanksgiving dishes, not wanting a riot at the dinner table if someone missed the mashed potatoes.

We ended up making the spoon bread as a breakfast dish later that weekend, and it was a huge hit. The sweet potatoes added a beautiful color and a nice earthy flavor to the dish, and the whole thing was scarfed up in minutes flat (I had to move quickly to take a few final photographs of it before it disappeared for good.) It made me think of all the other things one might add to spoon bread, and I began to poke around the internet. It turns out, people do some crazy stuff with their spoon bread, which makes sense, because I often see grits as something of a blank canvas. Deb from the Smitten Kitchen makes her spoon bread with fresh corn, while Heidi from 101 Cookbooks also uses sweet potatoes, but adds shallots and goat cheese (yum!).  There were recipes using buttermilk, chipotle, ham, and many other delicious additions. I can’t wait to get wild with my spoon bread this winter. 

I think this would be a fine choice for a Christmas meal side dish, especially alongside a big ham or a roast.  To save some time, roast the sweet potatoes ahead of time, and be sure to use a heavy hand with the salt, pepper and spices—a bland spoon bread is never a good thing.

Sweet Potato Spoon Bread

Recipe by Sara Foster from Better Homes & Gardens

4 tablespoon (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted

2 sweet potatoes (about 1 lb.)

2 1/2 cups milk

1 tablespoon fresh thyme

1 tablespoon light brown sugar

2 teaspoons coarse sea salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 cup finely ground white or yellow cornmeal

4 eggs, separated

2 teaspoons baking powder

Directions 

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Generously grease a 2-quart soufflé or casserole dish with about 1 tablespoon of the butter; set aside.

Wrap potatoes in foil. Bake for 45 to 55 minutes, until soft to the touch. Remove from oven; discard foil. When cool enough to handle, remove and discard peels. In a large bowl, mash potatoes.

Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F. In a large saucepan, bring milk, thyme, brown sugar, salt, and pepper to a low boil over medium heat. In a slow, steady stream, whisk cornmeal into milk mixture. Cook, whisking constantly, for 4 to 5 minutes, until mixture is thick and pulls away from bottom of pan. Remove from heat; cool slightly. Add potatoes, egg yolks, remaining 3 tablespoons butter, and baking powder to cornmeal mixture; stir to thoroughly combine. 

In a large mixing bowl, beat egg whites with electric mixer until soft peaks form. Leaving obvious swirls of egg white, gently fold egg whites into the potato-cornmeal mixture.

Spoon batter into prepared dish. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until internal temperature reaches 165 degrees F. Edges will be firm and the center a bit soft. Remove from oven. Let stand for 10 minutes. Serve warm.

Tip: This recipe can also be made in a 9 x13 baking dish, then baked for 30 to 35 minutes, until internal temperature registers 165 degrees F with an instant-read thermometer.

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