SWEET POTATO CASSEROLE RECIPE

Potato casserole is an extremely popular Hungarian dish, and one of my favorites. It is made of layers of sliced potatoes, flavorful sausages, hard boiled eggs, bacon and topped with sour cream and shredded cheese. Sounds amazing, right? Unfortunately my youngest daughter will not eat any kind of sausage, cheese or sour cream. Makes me so sad, and I clearly do not want to make it only for myself, finishing the entire pan alone, as it is not exactly a light flare. So, I decided to try to come up with a healthier dish, which my youngest would be pleased with too. Luckily we both love sweet potatoes and we all know their many health benefits including being an antioxidant powerhouse. Feel free to change some of the ingredients to fit your taste or dietary requirements. Here we go, let’s get started!

Ingredients:

• 3-4 pieces of sweet potatoes, peeled and sliced thinly - I used a cucumber slicer to get even pieces

• 1 bag of frozen broccoli, thawed

• 2-3 gloves of garlic, crushed or chopped

• couple bulbs of shallots, chopped

• bunch of parsley, coarsely chopped

• 1 egg, beaten

• half a cup of Parmesan cheese - optional

• 1/2 to 1 cup of almond milk, unsweetened - cream or regular milk can be used

• 1 tsp of turmeric

• 4 pieces of chicken tenders, or 1-2 pieces of chicken breast

• 2-4 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil

• salt & pepper to taste

First, let’s place the frozen broccoli into a bowl to thaw it out while we prepare the rest of the ingredients. In a small nonstick pan, simmer chopped shallots and garlic with a couple of tablespoons of olive oil on medium-high heat for about 3-5 minutes or until it is translucent in color. Add almond milk and stir.

Season it with salt, pepper and 1 tsp of turmeric and bring it to a quick boil, then turn off heat. Add chopped parsley and put aside to cool.

Meanwhile, prepare the chicken. In a nonstick skillet heat a tablespoon or two of olive oil, brown chicken pieces seasoning it with salt & pepper. Cover with lid to seal in all the juices. Cook both sides for about 4-5 minutes or until nicely browned.

On a chopping board, shred chicken using two forks, gently pulling meat apart.

Next, mix egg into cooled almond milk mixture and stir. Also, squeeze out all the access water from broccoli and slice larger pieces.

Grease the bottom and sides of a glass baking dish, you can use butter, olive oil, or any other oil of your choice. Now we are ready to start assembling our casserole.

First, place a layer of sweet potatoes at the bottom. If you used a thin slicer like myself, you can double it up. Season it with salt & pepper. Next layer is the shredded chicken. No need to season as we already seasoned it while cooking. If you like, you can sprinkle it with Parmesan cheese.

Follow it with a layer of the sliced broccoli. Pour half of the mixture on top of the broccoli. Then finish it up with the last layer of sweet potatoes.

Sprinkle it with Parmesan cheese and pour over rest of almond milk mixture. Cover with aluminium foil and Bake for about 45 minutes on 400 F.

Remove foil and broil top for few minutes to crisp potatoes. Serve it as is or garnish it with sour cream (my favorite). Enjoy this light & delicious sweet potato casserole!