Potatoes au gratin typically means thinly sliced potatoes covered in a buttery cream sauce, topped with cheese and then baked until the top is a nice crispy brown.
Sound delicious…ly not paleo at all? Yeah, exactly. That’s why I decided to come up with an amazing, paleo and AIP-friendly Fall dish that was inspired by the traditional French way of cooking something “au gratin”. Thus was born, my AIP Paleo Sweet Potato Au Gratin.
Instead of heavy cream and butter, you’ll find that it uses coconut milk and a palm/coconut oil shortening. I added a little pumpkin puree and arrowroot powder to thicken the sauce, then added beautiful Fall spices to give it an inviting flavor that makes the house smell better than a Yankee Candle store.
The outcome of this recipe was way better than even I expected: the layers of thinly sliced sweet potatoes gave it a really neat texture, the sauce was deliciously creamy and buttery, and the top of the casserole had that great taste of the “brown crispies” that potatoes often get (you know…like on hash browns).
My wife pretty much had to put me in restraints to keep me from eating the entire pan all at once. Needless to say, this recipe will be on my Thanksgiving recipe list!
- 1 large sweet potato
- Full pack of creamed coconut OR ½ cup full-fat coconut milk
- 1 ½ tbsp palm/coconut shortening OR 1 tbsp palm shortening and ½ tbsp coconut oil
- 1 tbsp pumpkin puree
- 1 tsp arrowroot powder
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- ¼ tsp dried sage
- ⅛ tsp dried rosemary
- ¼ tsp dried thyme
- a “pinch” of cinnamon
- a "pinch" of ground mace
- ⅛ tsp sea salt
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Preheat oven to 375F
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Using a mandolin, slice the sweet potatoes into about ⅛” thick medallions
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Layer sliced sweet potatoes in a 6x9 (1QT) glass baking dish
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In a medium saucepan, heat the coconut milk over medium heat until hot
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Add shortening to milk and mix together until melted
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Add pumpkin puree and lemon juice, and stir into milk/shortening mixture until blended
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Slowly whisk in arrowroot powder so that it doesn’t clump
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Add in sage, thyme, rosemary, cinnamon, mace and salt; let simmer while stirring consistently for about 3 minutes
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Once mixture is ready, pour evenly over layered potatoes in casserole dish
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Bake for 40 minutes and then transfer to top rack and set to “broil” for about 4 minutes
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Serve and enjoy!
Tools:
Mandolin slicer
