TRIPLE WHIPPED SWEET POTATOES with Whipped Feta, Pomegranate Salsa, Blue Cheese, and Walnuts [recipe]

Savory Triple Whipped Sweet Potatoes three ways, because we all need balance in our lives, and a lot of it

If my future husband doesn't like blue cheese on whipped sweet potatoes, well I guess we're just going to have to compromise and have blue cheese on whipped sweet potatoes.

The recipe as it's written makes three different whipped sweet potatoes, served three different ways. The options make this dish the epitome of flexibility, which is essential from Thanksgiving to Christmas to New Year's Eve when you're cooking for many people with many different taste preferences and dietary restrictions. Cook all three color sweet potatoes, or just make the classic orange colored sweet potatoes. Prepare all the different topping options -- Whipped Feta, Pomegranate Salsa, Herb Butter, Toasted Walnuts -- or just make one. If you only make, I highly recommend the as your default).

See? I told you I could compromise.

Getting the Right Sweet Potatoes

Any and all sweet potatoes work in this dish. In fact, yams work too, since technically, anything labeled "yams" are actually sweet potatoes.

If you see purple sweet potatoes at the market, use those. The color is much more interesting, and offers a slightly different nutritional profile.

How to Cook Sweet Potatoes

This recipe calls for cooking the sweet potatoes in a pot on the stovetop, with the assumption that the oven is already occupied by whatever main dish you are roasting. However, if the oven is available to you, you can spread the peeled, cut potatoes onto as many baking sheets that will fit them separated by color, and roast all the sweet potatoes all at once.

Cooking in Advance

You can make any part of this dish ahead of time. Unlike regular white potatoes, sweet potatoes are not fussy about pureeing or re-heating, which gives sweet potatoes yet another winning point over regular white potatoes.

The Pomegranate Salsa and Whipped Feta are definitely something you can make ahead and keep for days at a time.

Pro-tip: Make double Pomegranate Salsa, since it tastes great with Roasted Butternut Squash, on an Autumn Caprese Salad with Persimmons, and on Avocado and other Toast.

Recipe for Triple Whipped Sweet Potatoes with Whipped Feta and Pomegranate Salsa, Herbs and Butter, and Blue Cheese and Toasted Walnuts first. Notes and Resources follow.

TRIPLE WHIPPED SWEET POTATOES

serves 4 as a side dish

INGREDIENTS

2 pounds of orange, white, and purple sweet potatoes, scrubbed, peeled, and cut into cubes
1 tablespoon olive oil
Kosher salt
½ cup Whipped Feta
½ cup Pomegranate Salsa
2+2+2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley and chives
2-4 tablespoons crumbled blue cheese
¼ cup toasted walnuts
flaky sea salt, fresh cracked black pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS

Bring a medium pot of water to a boil and drop the white sweet potatoes in. Lower heat to a low boil and cook until sweet potatoes are tender, about 15 minutes, exact time depending on the size of your pieces. When the sweet potato can be very easily pierced with a fork, turn down the heat all the way, remove the sweet potatoes from the water with a slotted spoon to a colander to drain.

Turn the heat back up to bring the water to a boil. Add the orange sweet potato to the boiling water, reduce heat to a low boil, and cook until sweet potatoes are tender, about 15 minutes, exact time depending on the size of your pieces.

While the orange sweet potato are cooking, put the drained white sweet potatoes in a food processor and pulse. Add 1 tablespoon butter, about ½ teaspoon salt, and some of the cooking water from the pot to food processor while you pulse until a smooth puree forms. Remove white sweet potato puree from the food processor to a bowl. Wipe out the bowl of the food processor or rinse it.

When the orange sweet potatoes are tender, remove from the pot with a slotted spoon to a colander to drain. If the cooking water is not too tinted or has a lot of small broken pieces of orange sweet potato, use the same water to cook the purple sweet potatoes. Otherwise, save about ¼ of the cooking water, dump the rest in the pot, and bring a pot of fresh water to a boil. Add the purple sweet potatoes, lower heat to a low boil and cook until sweet potatoes are tender, about 15 minutes, exact time depending on the size of your pieces.

While the purple sweet potatoes are cooking, put the drained orange sweet potatoes in the food processor and pulse. Add 1 tablespoon olive oil, about ½ teaspoon salt, and some of the reserved cooking water from the pot to food processor while you pulse until a smooth puree forms. Remove orange sweet potato puree from the food processor to another bowl. Wipe out the bowl of the food processor or rinse it.

When the purple sweet potatoes are tender, reserve ¼ cup of the cooking water, then drain them in a colander. Put the cooked purple sweet potatoes in the food processor and pulse. Add 1 tablespoon butter, about ½ teaspoon salt, and some of the cooking water from the pot to food processor while you pulse until a smooth puree forms. Remove purple sweet potato puree from the food processor to another bowl.

Transfer the whipped sweet potatoes to a serving dish, keeping each color separate from the others as much as possible. Top the white sweet potatoes with 2 tablespoons of room temperature butter and sprinkle with chopped fresh herbs. Top the orange sweet potatoes with Whipped Feta and Pomegranate Salsa. Top the whipped purple sweet potatoes with blue cheese and toasted walnuts.

trio of orange, white, and purple sweet potato purees

RESOURCES and NOTES

Sweet Potatoes. All vegetables that look like sweet potatoes in the United States are sweet potatoes, even the vegetables that might be labeled "yams" in the market. True yams are rare in the United States. I used California-grown sweet potatoes grown and processed by Mininger Farms in the San Joaquin Valley, California.
Olive Oil. I used California-based Rosenthal Ranch organic extra virgin olive oil for all of the components of this recipe: Whipped Feta, Pomegranate Salsa and drizzling at the end over the blue cheese and walnuts.
Kosher Salt. I use this brand Kosher salt in the dark red box.
Whipped Feta. If you don't have time or energy to make the whipped feta, use crumbled feta, which by itself is strong and salty. However, since you will have your food processor out for the Whipped Sweet Potatoes, you might as well make the Whipped Feta too because you will want to use it for everything from cheese boards to salads.
Pomegranate Salsa. You don't have to make Pomegranate Salsa just for this dish. You can toss a cup of undressed pomegranate arils onto the whipped sweet potatoes, but know that you will miss the flavors of onion/shallot, and fresh parsley. Just take the extra five minutes to make the Pomegranate Salsa, you will end up putting it on everything, then making it every week until pomegranates go out of season.
Blue Cheese. If you are new to blue cheese, try something milder like Gorgonzola, a cow's milk blue cheese from Italy, or this one, also a cow's milk blue cheese made in Northern California. If you love blue cheese like I do, you can use a soft, buttery blue cheese like the Gorgonzola and actually whip a few tablespoons into the hot sweet potatoes.
All produce is California-grown, from local Los Angeles farmers' markets or organic at Whole Foods Market