Yam Stuffed Taters

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What I’m listening to: Cat in the Hat

Someone asked me for a new idea for sweet potatoes for their Thanksgiving table. For years, I have made Praline Sweet Potatoes, a creamy, sweet, crunchy, pecan-topped casserole. It’s rich and delicious (email me if you’d like the recipe or comment below). This year, someone else is on sweet potato duty for our Thanksgiving meal, so I decided to play around with new, more savory, sweet potato ideas.

We had this version tonight for dinner and it’s, well, just downright delightful. But, the only problem is that I couldn’t come up with the perfect name for this dish. It’s a twice baked potato, yes, but it’s also two potatoes in one – a baked potato and a sweet potato together. One potato, two potato… twice baked potato. You can probably see my naming problem. Also, it has bacon. Ooooo. And cheddar cheese. Ahhhh. And a few other little goodies that make it colorful and beautiful on any holiday plate.

So, here’s the recipe… but please do me a favor and suggest a name for this scrumptious double-potato marvel. Just leave me a comment below and tell me your idea. Once a name has been selected, I will edit the post with the new recipe name and credit the creative genius who suggested it in the post. What fun this will be! Go on… name that potato!

Revised on November 21, 2011: Thank you to my subscriber, Lady Di from California, the creative genius behind the suggestion that ultimately morphed into the name for this recipe. A few reasons why I chose this name – it incorporated the two types of potatoes in the name in a creative way without saying “potato” twice. I have a wonderful friend here in Alaska who always says “taters” referring to anything with a potato and I thought it fitting to continue the trend. And finally, I have an adorable honorary nephew whom we affectionately call, “Tater,” and it reminded me of him. This looks like just the sort of dish he would gobble up.

Yam Stuffed Taters

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Yields: 4

• 4 baking potatoes (I used Alaska-grown potatoes)
• 1 large yam
• 1/4c sour cream (I used light)
• 2T butter, melted
• 3T milk
• 1/4c green onions, thinly sliced
• 1/2c cheddar cheese, grated
• 3 slices of bacon, cooked crisp and crumbled
• salt and pepper
• freshly grated nutmeg

Preheat oven to 400. Wash potatoes and prick with fork. Place all potatoes directly on oven rack and bake until cooked through, about 45-60 minutes, depending on size.

Remove potatoes from oven and allow to cool on a rack for about ten minutes before handling. Reduce oven to 375.

Peel yam and place it in a bowl. Mash until smooth and season with salt.

Take baked potatoes and cut a thin slice off the top of each. Carefully scoop out most of the insides, leaving the shells intact, and place the insides in a separate bowl. To the bowl, add melted butter, sour cream, milk, most of the green onions (saving some to sprinkle on top), most of the cheddar cheese (saving some to sprinkle on top), and salt and pepper.

Carefully fold mashed sweet potatoes into baked potato mixture until a marbled effect is reached. Do not over mix. Carefully scoop heaping spoons of potato mixture into baked potato shells. Sprinkle remaining cheese and green onions on top and return potatoes to oven for 20 minutes or until cheese is melted and beginning to brown.

While the potatoes are cooking, cook bacon until crisp. Cool and crumble.

Remove potatoes from oven, sprinkle with bacon, and top with a pinch of freshly grated nutmeg.