Sweet Potato 'Risotto'

      I went out to dinner with my parents the other day.  There is a local place here called Blackboard Bistro that serves and eclectic and inventive mix of tasty food.  One of the items that attracted my attention was something called sweet potato 'risotto.'  I couldn't resist.  It was combined with scallops and utterly delicious!

      I should clarify here.  The term risotto is used rather loosely.  There is no rice involved here.  Indeed, this is a sweet potato dish.  I could taste chicken broth and butter.  The sweet potato is chopped very finely, minced really, and thus (slightly) resembles rice in texture.  It almost eclipsed the scallops.  

     The chef may have given me the recipe, but I didn't have the courage to ask.  So I elected to devise my own recipe, and that is what we have here.  

     Even though the dish at Blackboard did not appear to have anything else in it, I have a fair number of leeks in the garden still, so that was added.   The sweet potato was added of course, and then chicken broth as the moisture.  That's it.  

Sweet Potato 'Risotto'

serves 2-4, depending on what else is served

1/4 c leeks, cleaned, quartered lengthwise and sliced thinly

2 c finely chopped sweet potato (this could well be relegated to the food processor)

2T butter

1-2 c chicken broth

Salt and pepper to taste

Melt butter in a saucepan large enough to hold the above ingredients comfortably.

Add the leeks and sweet potato, stir to coat with butter, x 1-2 minutes.  

Add the broth, 1/4 c at a time, in the manner of making risotto:  Add the broth, stir frequently until the broth is nearly absorbed or evaporated, repeat until the potato is very soft.
This should take about 15-20 minutes.  There should be some moisture left in the dish.
Season to taste.

The dish at the bistro had a rougher texture to it and wasn't flecked with green.  That may be esthetically preferable.  Either way will be delicious, but that's all there is to it.  But to my mind, the result is more than the sum of the parts.