I called the restaurant and [it] could not give me a specific recipe, only that one of the ingredients was blue cheese. This dish tasted divine, and I would love it if you could adapt this recipe for home use. I tried to make my own version of it last year for Thanksgiving and it tasted good, but it was nothing compared with the original. Please help!

-- Judy Mellichamp, Atlanta

A: Doug Turbush (below), executive chef at Nava, was happy to share this recipe. Thinly sliced sweet potatoes are layered with cream, baked and topped with Cabrales blue cheese, a strong-flavored dark blue cheese from the northern coast of Spain. This dish is served as part of the Dark Beer Braised Beef Short Ribs, Sweet Potato Cabrales Gratin and Jicama Slaw entree and occasionally as a special with other entrees.

-- Jeanne Besser, for the Journal-Constitution

SIDE DISH

Sweet Potato Cabrales Blue Cheese Gratin

Louie Favorite / AJC

Makes 12 servings Preparation time: 20 minutes Cooking time: 65 minutes

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

4 garlic cloves

6 large sweet potatoes, peeled and sliced thinly

2 teaspoons kosher salt

1/2 teaspoons white pepper

2 cups heavy cream

3 ounces Cabrales blue cheese, crumbled

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat a 13-by-9-inch baking dish with the butter. Rub garlic cloves over dish, crushing them for flavor and leave remaining pulp in the dish. Overlapping each slice, place a layer of sweet potatoes in the baking dish. Season this layer with salt and white pepper. Repeat this five times, seasoning each layer with salt and pepper until you have six layers of sweet potatoes. Pour the heavy cream into the dish and push down on potatoes to evenly distribute the cream.

Cover the dish with aluminum foil and bake for 45 minutes. Carefully remove the foil. Turn oven up to 400 degrees and cook uncovered for 20 minutes or until golden brown on top and the gratin is not runny. The potatoes should absorb the cream. Remove from oven and top with the Cabrales blue cheese. Serve immediately.

Per serving: 240 calories (percent of calories from fat, 66), 3 grams protein, 17 grams carbohydrates, 2 grams fiber, 18 grams fat, 62 milligrams cholesterol, 436 milligrams sodium.

Is there a restaurant recipe you'd like to make at home? Tell us what you're looking for and perhaps we can help you get it. If we succeed, we'll have the recipe tested and adapted for the home kitchen, if necessary. Because of volume, we can't answer all inquiries. Send your request, along with address and phone number, to: Mail: Betty Parham, Food Department, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 72 Marietta St. N.W., Atlanta, GA 30303. E-mail: menu@ajc.com. Fax: 404-526-5509.