A great meal is made up from the sum of its parts. I just butchered a saying from Aristotle but with tasty intent. We had a wonderful marinated prime rib to roast and needed a side dish. We experienced the most decadent side dish at the Elks Club Purple Pig Fundraiser that we wanted to recreate. This dish was a Sweet Potato with Candied Bacon Praline Topping. We did not get the actual recipe but this one is darn toot- in close. We copied and pasted a recipe off of the World Wide Web and tweaked it to our liking. The original recipe had way too much butter and sugar. Now butter and sugar is not such a bad thing but today and today only we are using restraint. This praline topping is over the top with candied bacon, brown sugar and pecans. This dish is teetering to dessert like heights. Have a seat and let’s get cooking.
We will break this recipe down into steps. The first step is to roast 2 pounds of sweet potatoes on a foil lined sheet pan in a 400 degree oven for 45 minutes. You will know they are done when you can stab them easily with a dull knife. Cool and reserve cooked sweet potatoes. The next step is to candy some bacon. Make a slurry of 3 tablespoons of maple syrup and 3 tablespoons of brown sugar. Lightly oil another foil lined baking sheet. Coat 4-6 slices of bacon with slurry and place on oiled foil lined baking sheet. Thank me for foil lining your baking sheet. This gets very sticky after baking for 30 minutes in a 350 oven. Let cool and try not to eat them because this will go with the topping.
We are almost ready to assemble. Let’s start with the vessel. An 8 by 11 well oiled baking dish will work. The sweet potato base will comprise of three beaten eggs, ½ cup of evaporated milk, ½ cup of white sugar, ½ stick of softened butter, 1 teaspoon of salt and 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract. Combine all the ingredients and place in cooking vessel.
The topping comprises of ½ stick of softened butter, 1 cup of chopped pecans, 4-6 strips of coarsely chopped candied bacon,1/2 cup brown sugar, ¼ cup of flour and a pinch of salt. Combine all these ingredients and spread over sweet potato filling. Bake all for 40 minutes at 350 degrees. Easy Peasy bacon squeezy is this dish. Serve with prime rib.
Needless to say this is one decadent dish. Take a recipe and tweak it to your liking. The bacon praline top makes this dish dessert like. Candied bacon? Why not? Thanks to all my Purple Pig inspirations. Have fun with this recipe and feel free to make it your own.
Decadent was exactly the word that came up for me - you weren't raised in the South were you? I thought we were the only ones that ate dishes like this.
ReplyDeleteBig Dude, The West Coast is my home but I do have a sweet tooth. I cut the sugar and butter down to half of the original recipe and it still is very Decadent. Good stuff.
ReplyDeleteEating good! Dare I ask what a purple pig is?
ReplyDeleteGreg, Feed the Purple Pig was the theme of a fundraiser at the Elks Club where we first had this side dish. There was an actual Purple Pig Piggy Bank that we were encouraged to donate to the fundraiser. That is all.
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