Gobble, Gobble: Sweet Potato SKins, from Chef Katie Natale of Four Seasons Resort-Las Colinas

Thanksgiving in middle America is pretty plebian, or at least was when I was growing up in Kansas City.  There was no Bon Appetit, Food Network or Top Chef to guide my mother’s cuisine.  I still carry haunting memories of canned-shaped cranberry sauce.  Our Thanksgiving consisted of some good ol’ mashed potatoes and gravy, an oven-roasted bird and Mom’s homemade stuffing (which I never ate, but enticed me every Thanksgiving morning with the aroma of celery, onions and bacon, mmm).  So, what do you do when there is nothing but the same, boring thing year after year…become a chef!  Now, I have the opportunity to prepare the menu and I like to tweek it every year.

This year’s addition is Fried Sweet Potato Skins with Blue Cheese, Bacon, Chives and Chipotle BBQ Sauce. Look at me now, Mom!
Ingredients

sweet potatoes    4
blue cheese crumbles    1/2 cup
chopped, cooked bacon    3/4 cup
chipotle BBQ sauce    4 oz
chopped chives    1 oz.

method:

Bake cleaned sweet potatoes whole for 25 minutes until tender.  Allow to cool, then cut the potatoes lengthwise leaving 1/2 inch of flesh on each skin.  Fry for 2 minutes in the fryer and season with salt.   Top with blue cheese crumbles and bacon. Bake at 350 for 4 minutes.  Remove from oven and top with  chives plate 2 per plate and drizzle BBQ sauce on top

To make the bbq sauce, blend 1/2 cup of KC Masterpiece BBQ sauce  with a Tbl of chipotle sauce, from canned chipotles.

Katie Natale is the Chef de Cuisine at Cafe on the Green at Four Seasons Resort Las Colinas in Dallas.