I got some sweet potatoes in my Oddbox order recently but I wasn't really sure what I wanted to do with them. As it is also courgette season, I decided to do a search on the internet for sweet potato and courgette recipes and came across a sweet potato and courgette bake that sounded interesting. It didn't seem like something Steve would like to eat so I figured it might make a nice lunch or dinner for my daughter when we were eating something she didn't fancy.
Well, she's not a huge fan of lamb so when Steve and I decided to have a rack of lamb for our Sunday dinner last night, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to make the bake - just ram it in the oven with everything else that was cooking.
With the recipe to hand, I started by getting some sweet potato on to boil to make some mash. Then I finely sliced the remaining sweet potato and the courgette. It was now time to start assembling the bake but to be honest it all suddenly seemed a bit bland. As it happened, my daughter was in the kitchen, getting herself a glass of water and she asked what I was making. I explain, as I layered the courgette into the bottom of the dish, that I was making the sweet potato and courgette bake but I was thinking of adding a few more flavours. With that, I poured a little passata over the layer of courgette and sprinkled on some dried Italian herbs and dried onion flakes.
"It needs cheese sauce," she commented.
My shoulders slumped. I had been gardening all afternoon, it was getting late, I had roast potatoes to prepare and get into the oven, a rack of lamb to cook and I wanted to fit in a bath before it was all cooked too. I did not have time nor energy for a cheese sauce.
"It's OK," she said, "I'll make it."
So as I prepared the roast potatoes, she put together the ingredients I would have used to make a cheese bechemel sauce but instead of making a roux, adding the milk and then the cheese, she just bunged it all into a sauce pan and stirred.
"That's really not how to make a cheese sauce," I said, as she stirred the unconvincing lumpy ingredients together.
"Oh, isn't it?" she asked, frowning, "but it worked the last time I did it like this."
And to my surprise, a few minutes later she had a cheese sauce. She poured this over the layer of sweet potato and we continued to layer up the bake, finishing with the mashed sweet potato and cheese.
By this point the potatoes were in the oven so I went off for a quick bath whilst things cooked. And upon my return, she had a beautiful bubbly bake, ready to serve. Definitely a lot tastier than the original recipe and full of her favourite flavours.
Sweet Potato & Courgette Bake (serves 1)
1 sweet potato
1 small courgette
300 ml vegetable stock
100ml passata
Dried onion
1 tsp Italian seasoning
25g butter
25g flour
Dash of mustard
100ml milk
Cheddar
Salt & pepper
Preheat oven to 180°C and grease a small ovenproof dish. Peel the sweet potato then cut in half. Cut one half of the sweet potato into small chunks and boil in a pan with the vegetable stock until soft. Drain, but keep the vegetable stock. Season the potato lightly then mash. To make the cheese sauce, put the butter, flour, mustard and milk into a small pan and heat gently. Stir constantly until it forms a smooth sauce then grate in Cheddar to taste. Thinly slice the remaining half of the sweet potato and then do the same to the courgette. Starting with the courgette, layer up the bake ingredients. On top of the courgettes, add some passata, Italian seasoning and dried onion, then layer sweet potato on top and spread on a layer of cheese sauce. Repeat until you have used up all the sliced vegetables. Carefully pour vegetable stock down the edge of the dish until you can see it amongst the layers but without disturbing them. Put the mashed sweet potato on top and finish with a little grated Cheddar. Bake for 1 hour or until golden and bubbling.
