Cheesy Sweet Potato Puree with Roasted Chicken Thighs
This recipe is part of my new series “Baby is the size of a…” We are at week 20 and baby is the size of a sweet potato! My original thought was to make sweet potato nachos, but Kory said we should make some kind of sweet potato puree since it’s similar to baby food - I thought it was a cute idea and couldn’t argue with it! I can’t believe I am halfway through pregnancy… but at the same time December still seems so far away. So far second trimester has been a lot better than the first. I have a lot more energy and thank goodness my nausea has really decreased. Don’t get me wrong though… I’m still napping regularly and if I happen to go a little too long without eating I get quite hangry. Other than that I feel really lucky that things are going smoothly so far, and I’m enjoying this “honeymoon” phase of pregnancy as I’ve heard others refer to it!
Enough about that though, let’s get to the recipe. I made a delicious sweet potato puree with heavy cream and parmesan cheese. Again, this recipe was Kory’s idea and he thought it would be good served with roasted chicken. I knew chicken thighs would offer the perfect flavor compliment with the crisp skin and tender, juicy inside. It was even his idea of how to plate it…. I was going to just blob the sweet potato puree in the middle and place the chicken on top, but he suggested I make it look a little more fancy lol. The man doesn’t always come up with ideas in the kitchen, but when he does they are pretty good and I’ve got to give him credit.
Cheesy Sweet Potato Puree with Roasted Chicken Thighs
Ingredients
- 1 medium size sweet potato
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
- 1/2 cup shaved parmesan cheese
- 2 tbsp. butter
- 4 bone in chicken thighs
- 2 tbsp. olive oil
- 1/4 tsp. paprika
- 1/4 tsp. cumin
- Dash of salt and pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425°F.
- Pierce sweet potato with a fork all over. If you have a large sweet potato I recommend cutting it in half to help it cook faster. Wrap the sweet potato in foil, if you cut it in half wrap each piece separately.
- Place on a baking sheet and bake for about 50 minutes. Depending on how large the potato it is it might need a few minutes longer. You will know it's done when it's soft and you can easily cut through it with a butter knife.
- Once the sweet potato is cool enough to handle, remove the skin and place in a blender with the rest of the ingredients. Blend until smooth.
- Preheat oven to 400°F.
- Pat the chicken thighs dry with a paper towel.
- Drizzle with 1 tbsp. of olive oil and sprinkle with paprika, cumin, salt and pepper. Use your hands to rub into the chicken all over.
- Heat 1 tbsp. olive oil over medium high heat in a cast iron skillet. Once the oil is hot place the chicken skin side down in the skillet. Let cook for ~6 minutes.
- Flip the chicken over, remove from stove top, and place in the preheated oven.
- Bake for 30 minutes or until the chicken reaches a minimum internal temperature of 165°F.
- Serve the sweet potato puree plated with the chicken. The flavors are absolutely incredible when eaten together!