i was experimenting with sweet potatoes, and thought i would try something different.
i tried sweet potato (salted) and added some pumpkin (about 4:1). i mixed in butter and cream as in regular mashed potatos and mixed in creme fraiche and cream cheese with a little sugar, kind of a cheesecake direction. after adding some spices it was pretty good cold, but once i baked it with marshmellows (thankgiving camoflage :-) the flavor seemed to me mostly pumpkin pie, which was totally not where i was going with that.. the pumpkin pie flavor just jumped way out in front. so, i guess i should have seen that coming, but how can i get cheesecake flavor and not pumpkin pie? leaving out the spices makes it pretty bland
edit: now that i think about it, im probably setting myself up for failure since the potatoes are bland and the cheesecake is bland, theres no real star of the show here.
i also tried a savory version.. 1 pound of sweet potatoes salted, then starting with an alfredo base went from there..
so it was 6 or so oz of butter, 8 oz of cream, 4oz parmesian, 4oz cheddar, and added 1/4 tsp cayenne, tsp smoked paprika, 2 tsp chili powder
i then pureed 5 jalapenos without seeds with more butter and some of the potato mix. a decent amount of lemon juice at the end.
that was pretty good, good warmth to it, but it needs something.. maybe something green (cilantro maybe?).
might be good samosa filling. im not sure where to go with this, but it has potential. does anything jump out at you as a way to improve this?
also, which sauce category does alfredo go in? emulsification or reduction?