So, a few days ago I made some really awesome sweet potato stacks, which you can check out here. They turned out so fabulously that I decided to explore other interesting things I could try out with sweet potato. As I have mentioned previously, I generally don't follow any kind of recipe when I cook, I like to steal ideas with my eyes by browsing images and then I turn it into my own concoction haha... So, when I went scouting about at pics for ideas, I spotted this...

So, I took that photo and decided to run with it. I loved the aesthetics of the presentation, but a dish compiled solely with sweet potato felt like more of an accompaniment than a main, and I wanted to turn it into a main. The idea of my moms (Hive account@lizziesworld) traditional potato bake came to mind. She normally makes that with traditional potato, egg, bacon, onion and a creamy style sauce... the combination of the two sounded good to me, so with that in mind, it was time to start chopping a lot of veg because I needed a LOT of rounds! haha...

Creamy Sweet Potato, Bacon, Butternut & Brinjal Bake

The ingredients I decided to combine as the primary makeup were...
Sweet Potato
Onion
Brinjal
Butternut
Back Bacon

The prep work took a little bit of time, but like I also said in my potato stack post, you can make light work of it if you have a mandolin. Other than that though, there was very little to do other than prep the stock based sauce. So, once all the veg and others had been chopped, I began to stack them in sequential piles, until all of it had been used. As it turned out, I had precisely the right amount to perfectly fill the circumfrence of the dish I had selected, but not to fill the centre. The dish size "down" from that one would have been too small, so then I needed to figure out what to do with the open space - without having to chop more veg... because well, I was sick of it lol - and I knew that we had enough for us as a family. So I opted for throwing the remaining uncut veg into the centre in a.......lets call it "artistic" manner hahahaha!!! - I quite liked it actually - and had I prepped this dish for guests, I honestly think I would do the same thing again, as it creates quite a dramatic presentation.

Once that was done, it was time to do the sauce. I make sauces all the time, and clearly did not have my brains switched on that day, as I did it all backwards... which as any cook will know, will cause lumping, but nonetheless, nothing a whisk cannot fix.... lol - which it did! It was a simple cheese sauce that I made, and if you are not one to make sauce from scratch - then you can simply buy a ready made packet sauce.

If however, you ARE in the mood to do the sauce backwards (or forwards lol) you will need 500ml of beef stock, a large tablespoon of butter, same of flour, a cup full of grated cheese, some crushed garlic and a little salt and pepper.... if you are doing it correctly (unlike me lol) then you will melt the butter first, then add the flour and whisk. Then slowly add the stock. But let it be said.... backwards works just as well too and this is what backwards looks like hahahaha....

Oh, but a BIG NB - the one part you cannot do wrong, is the adding of the grated cheese! Make sure you remove the sauce from the heat before adding the cheese... otherwise you will have a string sauce. haha!

Once the sauce was done, I simply poured it over the stacked ingredients and then sprinkled it with some freshly chopped parsley and ground black pepper. Once the oven was ready at 200 degrees Celsius, I shoved that baby in!

It cooked for about 30 min at 200 degrees and then I turned it down to 180 for about another 45. Once the top was lovely and golden and the veg nice and tender, I turned the oven off and gave it about 30 min to just settle. I have to say that although not exactly a challenging dish - I was exceptionally impressed with how tasty it was! Even Jude had seconds and asked if he could please have it for dinner the following night too! haha

Being a midweek dinner, I did not get particular fancy with either the plating or the sides haha - so simple chopped tomato and cucumber to break the richness was the order of the day lol - and it worked just wonderfully! I will have to do this again in a slightly more "gourmet fashion" lol... Oh, and for the record... the centre veg never went to waste. It was also consumed as there was plenty of sauce to accompany it too. When I began this dish, I really thought there would be enough for two days, but it was all gone (bar one small serving) haha!

And so there you have it! Another AWESOME sweet potato dish! In the comments section of my sweet potato stacks post mentioned above - I got into a bit of banter with Hive account@vliet and shared this inspiration with her and promised to tag her when I had done it :) So, there you go Hive account@vliet....

bon appetit

Until next time...
Much Love from Cape Town, South Africa xxx

WHO ARE THE

The Hive account@steemitbloggers is a discord community of individuals who are committed to producing content which adds value to the Steemit platform. We are STRONGLY focused on supporting our fellow members individual growth as well as offering support to those that are new to Steemit and still trying to get ahead. We are a CLOSE KNIT community of individuals, each with our own strengths, passions and input, yet ALL willing to go the extra mile for our family members... WHY? - because, simply put - we CARE about one another and MANY HANDS make light work! - THAT is what FAMILY is about! - To infinity and beyond...

_{Interested in joining the Steemit Bloggers Community?}

INTERESTED IN SUPPORTING CURATION INITIATIVES?

Hive account@theluvbug regularly supports the Steemit community with upvotes and resteems of great content which is really adding value to this platform, but in order to grow and be able to offer MORE SUPPORT, Hive account@theluvbug needs your help - with upvotes and resteems of the latest curation announcements on that profile.