Serves 4-6
Cook time: 45 minutes

Preheat oven to 400, bake sweet potatoes until soft, but not cooked through.  Once sweet potatoes have cooled enough to handle, sliced into them 2/3 of the way, but not all the way through.  Insert a slice of butter into each slice, then top each sweet potato with pecans and cranberries, drizzle with maple syrup and sprinkle with salt.  Return to oven to cook through.

Saute shallot  and carrot in olive oil until softened; add remaining ingredients and cook until everything is soft enough to be blended with an immersion blender.  Once blended, allow to simmer for about 30 minutes so flavors come together.
This is a great sauce that can really fancy up a meal; I often use it with an inexpensive cut of meat to dress it up.  You can even turn it into soup by adding more liquid.

Pumpkin Soup
Serves 4-6
Cook Time: 1 1/2 hours

In a medium Dutch oven, heat olive oil until it shimmers.   Saute onion until softened, then add pumpkin, apples, stock, salt & pepper.  Once vegetables are softened, puree using an emersion blender.  

Serves 6-8
Cook time: 45 minutes

Preheat oven to 350.  Using a mandolin, slice sweet potatoes into thin slices.  Meanwhile, melt butter is a medium sauce pan; once melted add flour and whisk in; cook until the roux is blond in color.  Slowly add the milk to roux to create a bechamel; be patient and keep whisking while cooking; allow mixture to thicken.
Shingle in sweet potato slices in the bottom of a greased casserole dish.  Pour some of the bechamel over the first layer of sweet potato slices.  Keep layering sweet potatoes slices and bechamel until you run out (try to finish with the bechamel).  Sprinkle with grated cheese and cook until browned and bubbly.

Whisk mayonnaise and ketchup together, adding a much or as little horseradish, Worcestershire, salt and pepper as you would like.  Spread bread with sauce and top with remaining ingredients
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