Spicy Serrano-Maple Scalloped Sweet Potatoes

Recipe

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
2. Add the tomatillos, Serrano pepper, and half and half to a blender and purée until smooth. Add the cheese, garlic, 3 tablespoons of the syrup, salt and pepper. Set aside.
3. Use a food processor with the slicer attachment, or a chef's knife to cut the sweet potatoes into thin slices,1/8-inch or thinner. (They should be sliced in circles, not lengthwise!) Set aside.
4. Add the butter to an 8-inch cake pan and place it in the oven just to melt it, about 1 minute. Drizzle the remaining 1 tablespoon of maple syrup over the melted butter and swirl the pan to coat the bottom.
5. Neatly add two layers of the slice sweet potatoes directly over the butter-syrup mixture. They should be layered in a circular pattern, with each slice slightly overlapping the next.

6. Add the remaining sweet potato slices to the cream mixture and use your hands to be sure each slice is well coated with it.
7. Layer about one third of the coated sweet potatoes on top of the first two layers already in the pan. (Make sure you're incorporating the cheese with the potatoes as you layer!) Then add half of the spinach on top.
8. Repeat the previous step and then add the final third of the potatoes. Pour any remaining cream mixture on top and move the pan around to be sure it seeps into the ingredients.
9. Bake in the preheated 425 degree F oven for 20 minutes. Then turn the temperature down to 375 degrees F, cover the pan with foil, and bake for another 30 minutes.
10. Remove the pan from the oven and let it sit at room temperature for about an hour. Place a plate or platter that's at least a couple of inches larger than the cake pan, upside down on top. Flip it over gently to invert the potatoes. Voilà!

Notes