Decorate Your Sweet Potato With Swiss Meringue Instead.
Yams and sweet potatoes are sweet. Nobody can dispute this. There’s a reason they’re just as good in a pie as they are as a side dish. However, many people insist on adding brown sugar, candied nuts, and marshmallows to orange tubers because sugar tastes good.
However, the marshmallow is too sugary for me. I’ve made my own marshmallows in the past to cut down on the sugar and add some spicy ginger, but I just needed to make Swiss meringue. It’s easier to make and work with than marshmallow flakes, and browns and crunches in ways marshmallows just can’t.
If you’ve never made Swiss meringue before, it’s just like any other meringue, with one extra step: Instead of whipping raw egg whites with very fine sugar or powdered sugar, you mix the whites with table sugar, then heat mixture over double boiler until sugar dissolves. (Rub a little between your fingers. When you no longer feel any grains of sugar, you’re done.) The resulting meringue is more stable than raw meringue, with fewer air bubbles and a more delicate texture.
If you spread a mass of sweet potatoes or sweet potatoes and fry, the meringue will brown and become crispy, forming a thin, crunchy layer that you’ll have to break through with a spoon to access the creamy, buttery orange puree underneath. (You can make your own puree, but I usually cook mine in a slow cooker because it tastes great and doesn’t require manual labor.)
Once you’ve warmed up and cooked the potatoes, it’s time to make the meringue. I use this recipe by whipping to stiff peaks. Spread the mixture over the sweet potato/yam in a baking dish, swirling with a spoon to create a fanciful pattern. (You can also put it in a piping bag and squeeze, but I’ll never do that.) Put it all in the oven and toast for a minute or two to toast the meringue – watch this really closely – then serve immediately.