Sweet Potato Mac and Cheese

Sweet Potato Mac and Cheese - made December 27, 2017 from Tastefully GF

I think I did this recipe wrong. It was meant to be gluten-free but I didn’t have the gluten-free flour suggested in the recipe so I just used regular flour. But I didn’t brown it – I know, I went rogue. It thickened up considerably more than I expected so I ended up adding more milk than was called for. It still made for a thick consistency though and I ended up with more “sauce” than sweet potato. Calling it sauce might be a stretch. “Paste” might be more accurate.

My other angst is with my spiralizing of the sweet potato. I think I’m spiralizing-impaired. I swear I’m using the spiralizer correctly but mine don’t come out as long spirals that look like noodles. They look like short bits of sweet potato. How do other people do it?? All the pictures on pinterest look good enough to seem like real noodles. Mine end up looking like stunted potato bits. Hmph.

So I can’t say this recipe was a rousing success. The taste itself was good but I did everything wrong from the spiralizing to the sauce-paste. Too bad since I like “mac and cheese”. I just can’t seem to make it well, at least not this time.

1 medium-sized sweet potato, peeled

2 teaspoons olive oil
3 tablespoons gluten-free all purpose flour (I used regular all-purpose flour)
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 tablespoon nutritional yeast (optional)

For protein, I added a cup of cubed chicken thighs

1. Make the sweet potato noodles using a mandolin, spiralizer, julienne peeler. 
2. Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium high heat. When the oil is warm, add the sweet potato. Cook the sweet potato, stirring frequently, until the “noodles” have softened. It takes about 5 minutes, depending on the thickness of the noodles. Set the cooked noodles aside.
3. Add the flour to a small saucepan and turn the burner onto medium. Stir the flour continuously. Watch closely for the color of the flour to change. The flour will darken in color and resemble sand. It goes from white to sandy quickly, so don’t look away for long! When you see this color change, add the milk and whisk to get out any lumps.
4. Add the cheese and the nutritional yeast, and stir until melted.
5. When the sauce is smooth, stir the cooked sweet potato into the cheese sauce. Season with salt and pepper, if desired.
6. Serve warm. This mac & cheese is best fresh.