Sweet Potato-Chèvre Napoleons

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 pounds sweet potatoes (1 1/2 to 2 in. wide)
• 12 ounces shallots (3/4 to 1 in. wide), peeled
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 1/2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• About 1/2 cup milk
• 3/4 cup fresh chèvre (goat cheese)
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 teaspoon minced fresh thyme leaves or dried thyme
• Salt and pepper
• Crisp Potato Galettes

Preparation

1. 1. Scrub sweet potatoes, pierce each in several places with a fork, and set in an 8- or 9-inch-wide pan. In another pan, mix shallots with oil and vinegar.
2. 2. Bake shallots in a 375º oven, shaking pan occasionally, until deep golden brown, about 45 minutes; bake sweet potatoes until they give very easily when squeezed, about 1 hour.
3. 3. Protecting your hands with a potholder, slit hot sweet potatoes open and scoop flesh into a bowl; discard skins. With a potato masher or a mixer, mash sweet potatoes, 1/2 cup milk, cheese, butter, and thyme until smooth; for a softer texture, beat in more milk. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
4. 4. Lay a large, hot galette piece on each of four warmed dinner plates. Mound half the hot sweet-potato mixture equally in center of galettes.
5. 5. Lay another galette flat on each sweet-potato mound. Top equally with remaining sweet-potato mixture. Stick remaining galette pieces and any fragments vertically into the sweet-potato mixture; spoon shallots around napoleons.