Two potatoes are better than one.

The Kansas City Star’s Parmesan Sage Crusted Sweet Potato Gratin combines slices of Yukon gold with sweet potatoes in a layered, breadcrumb-topped dish known as “au gratin.”

Au gratins are typically starchy vegetable dishes napped with cream or milk and liberally topped with cheese. For instance, the Pioneer Woman Ree Drummond’s recipe for Perfect Potato au Gratin uses 3 cups of heavy cream, 1 cup of whole milk and 2 cups of cheddar cheese.

Granted, it serves 16, but still ... with a few healthful substitutions you can wind up with a rich and delicious version that won’t make you feel like you’ve overindulged.

We use a low-sodium chicken broth and, instead of high-calorie soft cheeses, we went with Parmesan, a cheese surprisingly high in calcium.

Shopping tip: The recipe was tested with soft sweet potatoes, which have copper-colored skin and deep orange-colored flesh, and cook up soft and moist. Sometimes, these are labeled yams. This variety cooks more quickly than drier, firmer textured ones. If you use the firmer variety, you may need to slightly adjust the cooking time.

Vegetarian tip: Chicken broth is generally lighter in color than many vegetable broths. For a vegetarian dish, you may substitute reduced-sodium vegetable broth or stock, but the finished dish may be a little darker due to the color of the broth.

Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Spray a 25 cm deep dish pie plate with nonstick cooking spray.

Heat olive oil in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and cook, stirring frequently, until onion is just crisp-tender, about 2 to 3 minutes. Add broth, thyme, pepper and salt. Heat 2 to 3 minutes or until broth is steaming.

Arrange potato slices evenly in the prepared pie plate, overlapping slices. Pour the hot broth and onion mixture over the potatoes. Cover with aluminum foil. Bake 30 minutes or until potatoes are almost tender.

Meanwhile, in a small bowl, stir together panko crumbs, Parmesan, sage and butter. Uncover potatoes and sprinkle crumbs evenly over the top. Bake, uncovered, 15 to 20 minutes or until golden brown and potatoes are tender. Allow to stand 10 minutes before serving.

Per serving: 158 calories (26 percent from fat), 5 g total fat (2 g saturated), 8 mg cholesterol, 25 g carbohydrates, 6 g protein, 113 mg sodium, 3 g dietary fiber.

Recipe developed exclusively for The Star by Kansas City-based professional home economists Kathy Moore and Roxanne Wyss. (Tribune Content Agency)

By Jill Wendholt Silva

The Kansas City Star