Scalloped Sweet Potato Ring (2024)

I feel like it had been ages since I’d last eaten sweet potatoes. I was starting to show signs of withdrawal!

GAH! I totally put the blame for that on it being summer for the past bunch of months. I tend not to use the oven quite as much during the super crazy hot months of summer, you know. And sweet potatoes, well, I much prefer them when they’re baked, so they pretty much demand that I turn that oven on…

Now that it’s finally gotten way cooler out, my beloved tubers and I aredefinitely getting reacquainted;ESPECIALLY now that I have turned them intothis crazy beautiful, elegant and, most of all, totally DELICIOUS Scalloped Sweet Potato Ring!

Thisstunnerof a dish isa bit similar to theHasselback Sweet Potatoes that I’d madea while back, only this one is somuch easier to make! In fact, it’s so stupideasy to assemble,yet it looks so elegant, I think thatit totallymakes it theperfect sweet potato side dish recipe EVER, fit for just about any occasion!

The only prerequisite to the complete and outrightsuccess of this dish, perhaps, would be that you useda mandolineto slice your sweet potatoes.Slicing them that thin by hand would require some pretty awesome knife skills, not to mention a little bit more time. Plus,the end result might notbe quite as pretty; I’m not so bad at handlingmy blade, but I sure ain’t that good…

I’m not sayingthat it can’t be done, though; only that it would be a tad trickier!

Honestly, when I initially purchased my mandoline (actually, I’d bought it for my ex as a presentback then, but he left it behind when we split: I’d been the one to give it to him, you know, so he didn’t want to take that “piece of me” with him…) I thought it was a useless kitchen gadget and that it would only collect dust in the cupboards. No way! While I may not use it everyday, it’s turned out to be one of my favorite tools! I honestly could not be without it anymore.

I think it’s a neat apparatus that’s very well worth the investment; no kitchen should be without one!

Once your potatoes have been dealt with and sliced really reallythin, you’ll want to arrange the slices vertically in a 10″ round baking dish. Of course, you could also use a rectangle, oval or even square dish. Only then, you’d have to find a new name for your dish… no one’s ever seen a square ring!

Oh, and you need to preheat your oven to 400°F;you might want to do that before you start slicing the potatoes, to make sure it has ample time to get there.

Unless you’re using a knife and need a little bit more time to slice your tubers… then you may want to wait a bit!

All that’s left to do now is drop little dabs of butter or ghee on top of the potatoes, then sprinkle the chopped pecans, green onion, fresh rosemary, salt and pepper.

If you preferred to keep this completely vegan, you could substitute vegan butter or even extra-virgin olive oil for the butter or ghee.

Likewise, you could replace the pecans with walnuts or even pistachios, if you wanted to change things up a bit…

Last but not least, drizzle some maple syrup all over the potatoes. Do make sure that you use pure maple syrup here; it’ll make all the difference in the world!

If you can’t get your hands on theliquid gold, I suppose that melted honey would make for a very suitable replacement. Better that than imitation maple, trust me!

Now cover your dish with aluminium foil and bake for 50 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender. You’ll then want to remove the foil and resumebaking for about 15 to 20 minutes, until the top starts to brown and crisp up a little.

If after that time you find that the top hasn’t browned enough for your liking, set the oven to broil for 2 to 3 minutes, but make sure to keep a close eye on things though, so you don’t end up burning the pecans. These things do burn really really fast!

Garnish with a little bit of fresh parsley and serve without delay.