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Sweet Potato Souffle
Heat 3 tablespoonfuls butter; when frothy add 3 tablespoonfuls flour; cook a moment, then add 1/2 cupful of hot milk and 1/2 cupful sweet potato pulp; when thick, remove; add 1/3 cupful sugar, pinch salt, cinnamon, yolks of 3 eggs beaten thick; stiff whites; bake; serve with wine sauce.
A thick sweet potato panade lightened with beaten whites — closer to a pudding-soufflé than the airy French kind, and more forgiving. The original omits oven heat and time, so both need supplying.
- Oven and timingBake at 350F. A 1 1/2-quart dish takes 30 to 35 minutes, until well risen and just set at the centre; individual ramekins take 18 to 20.
- The dishButter the dish and dust it with granulated sugar rather than flour — the sugar gives the batter something to climb and a thin caramel crust. Fill no more than three-quarters full.
- Sweet potato pulpHalf a cupful of pulp means cooked and mashed, from roughly one medium sweet potato. Baking rather than boiling gives drier, sweeter flesh; boiled potato carries water that slackens the base.
- Folding the whitesLet the thickened base cool to warm before the yolks go in, and fold the whites in two additions with a light hand. Stiff but not dry whites — overbeaten whites break into grains and will not lift the heavy purée.
- CinnamonNo quantity is given. Half a teaspoon suits this volume; a grating of nutmeg is a period-appropriate addition.
- Wine sauceThe sauce assumed here is a sweetened custard or a butter-and-sugar sauce flavoured with sherry or Madeira, beaten warm over hot water. Any warm sabayon-style wine sauce serves.
- ServingServes four as a vegetable course. It falls within a few minutes of leaving the oven, so bake it to come out as the plates go down.