Happy Holidays! This is the season we get to enjoy time with family and friends and share amazing food and wine. Here’s one of my favorite holiday recipes offering a creamy variation of sweet potatoes that all can enjoy as they are vegan and
gluten-free.

Ingredients:

4 medium sized sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into ¼ inch thick slices

Roux (sauce to pour over sweet potatoes)

3 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 ½ cup oat milk (or vegan milk of choice)
2 tablespoons unbleached gluten-free all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
Pinch ground allspice
2–3 tablespoons Braggs nutritional yeast
1 teaspoon sea salt
Black pepper to taste

Sauté

1 bunch collard greens
1 medium red onion, sliced
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 tablespoon olive oil
Salt and black pepper to taste

Gratin

½ cup parmesan-style vegan cheese
3 tablespoons gluten-free panko
1 teaspoon olive oil

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 400°F.
Using a mandoline or a sharp knife, cut sweet potatoes into thick slices. Set aside.
Finely slice onions and crush garlic cloves. Prepare collard greens: remove stem and roughly chop large ribs.
In a large skillet pour in olive oil over medium heat. Add onions, garlic, sauté for a couple minutes and add in collard greens; season with salt and pepper, sauté for 15-20 minutes, set aside.
In a medium saucepan over a medium heat, melt 2 tablespoons olive oil, add in crushed garlic, cook for 30 seconds (do not burn). Add in remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil. Whisk in flour until smooth. Allow to cook for 30-60 seconds, creating the roux.
Slowly pour oat milk into the roux ¼ cup at a time, whisking until smooth. Then pour in the remainder of the oat milk whilst whisking (if too thick, add a little more milk).
Add in nutmeg, allspice and season with salt and pepper.
Continue cooking for 3-5minutes. Turn off heat and stir in the nutritional yeast. Remove from heat. Taste, adding more salt if necessary. Note: this sauce is a bit salty to carry the weight of the sweet potatoes.
In a 9” x 11.5” enamelware pan (or similar), coat base and rim of pan with soft butter. Add enough sauce to coat bottom of the pan. Spread sliced sweet potatoes overlapping about 1 inch.
Once there’s a solid layer of sweet potatoes, liberally cover with sauce.
Add sautéed collard greens, evenly covering the dish.
Repeat until all the potatoes have been used to cover the greens. Then pour reminder of the sauce.
Cover pan with foil and bake for 40 minutes.
Mix panko, olive oil and grated parmesan in a small bowl, set aside.
Once cooked, remove foil and pierce sweet potato to see if cooked. Turn down heat to 375°F.
Finish by sprinkling the panko cheese mix evenly over sweet potatoes and bake for 20-25 minutes until golden brown, giving it a crisp even Gratin. Transfer to a wire rack and let rest 10 minutes before serving.

Dipika is a holistic health and lifestyle coach who empowers clients to activate a balanced lifestyle of mind, body and soul. She can be reached at [email protected] or www.loveyourlifehealthy.com.