Two potatoes are better than one.
The Kansas City Star's Parmesan Sage Crusted Sweet Potato Gratin combines slices of Yukon gold with sweet potatoes in a layered, breadcrumb-topped dish known as "au gratin."
Au gratins are typically starchy vegetable dishes napped with cream or milk and liberally topped with cheese. For instance, the Pioneer Woman Ree Drummond's recipe for Perfect Potato au Gratin uses 3 cups of heavy cream, 1 cup of whole milk and 2 cups of cheddar cheese.
Granted, it serves 16, but still ... with a few healthful substitutions you can wind up with a rich and delicious version that won't make you feel like you've overindulged.
We use a low-sodium chicken broth and, instead of high-calorie soft cheeses, we went with Parmesan, a cheese surprisingly high in calcium.
Shopping tip: The recipe was tested with soft sweet potatoes, which have copper-colored skin and deep orange-colored flesh, and cook up soft and moist. Sometimes, these are labeled yams. This variety cooks more quickly than drier, firmer textured ones. If you use the firmer variety, you may need to slightly adjust the cooking time.
Vegetarian tip: Chicken broth is generally lighter in color than many vegetable broths. For a vegetarian dish, you may substitute reduced-sodium vegetable broth or stock, but the finished dish may be a little darker due to the color of the broth.
