Sweet potato gratin.

One of my many (many, many) least favorite things about winter is the heavy meals. They’re usually centered around dense foods like pasta that leave me feeling heavy and gross. We try to eat seasonally (and locally, although we’re still looking for a good CSA that’s in our price range) so healthy meals are often a challenge.

Today I’m sharing with you one of my very favorite solutions to that problem. It’s a little recipe that we found in Vegetarian Times, all incognito and picture-less. I didn’t have very high hopes for it, because though it sounded tasty, I didn’t think it could be filling. It rings in at only 143 calories per slice (sometimes, when you’re a vegan, you have to make yourself eat more. It’s a curse, I swear. And then you discover things like Daiya and vegan cookies and it’s all over.)

So, here you go – don’t say I didn’t warn you!

Sweet Potato Gratin

2 tbs olive oil, divided

3 medium leeks, white and light green parts chopped (6 c.)

3 cloves of garlic, minced (1 tbs)

3 tbs fresh chopped rosemary, divided

2 medium sweet potatoes (2 lbs), peeled and cut into 1/8″ slices

1/2 c low sodium vegetable broth

4 tbs bread crumbs

Italian seasoning, to taste

Preheat the oven to 450. Coat a casserole dish with olive oil spray (or, if you’re me, put a few drops in there and spread it around). Heat 1 tbs of olive oil in a skillet over medium-high flame. Add the leaks, garlic, and 1 1/2 tbs of rosemary. Saute for 8 minutes until softened. Season with salt and pepper if you’d like.

Arrange 1/3 of the sweet potato slices over the bottom of the casserole dish, overlapping them slightly. Spread half of the leek mixture on top. Arrange another third of the sweet potato slices, and continue alternating with the rest of your mixture. Drizzle the vegetable broth over the top of your mixture, cover the pan with lid or foil, and bake for 35 minutes.

Stir together the breadcrumbs, remaining olive oil and rosemary, and italian seasoning. Remove cover from the dish and sprinkle your breadcrumbs on top. If you have a small, deep dish, you may want to mix some of the bread crumbs into the mixture (I do this.) Bake uncovered for 15 minutes, or until the bread crumbs are browned and crisp.