A Green Poutine-Style Sweet Potato Recipe is a healthy version of Canada’s favourite treat – poutine, dress up a sweet potato with cheese sauce, gravy, and greens.

Double cooking the sweet potato will give you a beautiful creamy texture inside, with crunchy bits on the edges. Make sure to cut your sweet potato in half using a fork (the same way you would with an English muffin), so you’ll get lots of nooks and crannies that will brown in the oven.

The amounts for the cheese sauce and gravy here are vague, since it depends on how saucy you like things, and also on how big your sweet potato is. Both sauces last for a week in the fridge, so any leftovers will have time to be used up.

I’ve given two options for the cheese sauce: one cashew based (pictured) and one potato based.

Ingredients (Serves 2)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400F.
2. Using a fork, poke a bunch of holes in each sweet potato. Cook sweet potatoes in microwave on high heat for 5-7 minutes until soft.
3. Remove from microwave and split sweet potatoes in half using a fork so you get lots of nooks and crannies.
4. Put onto baking sheet with cut side up and drizzle each with 2 tsp olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
5. Roast for 20 minutes or until browned and crispy on the edges.

Cashew Queso

Directions

1. Blend everything in Vitamix until smooth.
2. Put into pot and bring to a boil over medium heat while stirring. It will go all lumpy and then smooth out.
3. Let cook for a couple of minutes after it smooths out, then remove from heat, and use right away or let cool and refrigerate.

Fresh ‘Cheese’ Sauce

Directions

1. Boil potatoes and carrots in water until totally soft.  Drain.
2. Put all ingredients in a container and puree with immersion blender until totally smooth.
3. To save some time, you can use canned potatoes and carrots if you like.

Roasted Mushroom Gravy
Yield: 2 1/2 cups (625 ml)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400F.
2. Combine mushrooms and 1 tbsp oil in a bowl and toss until well coated.  Transfer to a roasting pan.
3. Roast in preheated oven for 15-25 minutes or until mushrooms release their liquid.  Remove from heat and set aside.
4. Heat remaining oil in saucepan over medium high heat.
5. Add onion and garlic and cook for 3-4 minutes, stirring occasionally, until softened.
6. Stir in tamari, nutritional yeast, and pepper.
7. Add flour and just enough stock to make a thin paste.  Cook, stirring, for a minute so that the raw taste of the flour cooks out.
8. For a smooth gravy base, put immersion blender into pot and gradually add the rest of the stock while blending. If you don’t mind a gravy base with chunks of onion, just stir the rest of the stock in gradually with a wooden spoon, going slowly at first to avoid getting lumps of flour.
9. Add roasted mushrooms and stir to combine.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 5 minutes.  Use immediately or let cool, transfer to an airtight container, and refrigerate for up to 1 week.