I have been commissioned to make “something with sweet potatoes” for my brother and his wife’s first Thanksgiving dinner at their house. I want to come up with something really cool, tasty, and interesting. Any favorites? Two proviso:s must be vegetarian, but not necessarily vegan; nothing too exotic or funky (these are not culinarily adventuresome folks).
Thanks!
I don’t have my trusty Joy Of Cooking book in front of me, but there is a great recipe (look for it under candied yams).
The “trick” is a day or more before, you get 16 ounces of dried apricots, disolve them in minimum water in a pot over the stove until they are mushy with a wire whisk - them you add two large cans(?) crushed pineapple. You bring mixture to a boil and then let cool and put a jar or tuperware and put in the fridge. When you are ready to cook the yams, pour this mixture over the casserole with the yams and bake. Very good, not too sweet, but smells and tastes great. You can also use the mixture over ice cream or whatever.
I am doing that from memory (haven’t done it since last Thanksgiving) - it would be better if you could look it up in the book to get exact measurments, etc.
I will try to remember when I get home to get the recipe and post it here later.
If not - every house should have a Joy Of Cooking book anyway…
I’ve got two that my mother makes. They use canned sweet potatoes, so the Food Snobs may cry foul, but they’re pretty good.
WHIPPED SWEET POTATO CASSEROLE
24 oz. can sweet potatoes
2 Tablespoons orange juice
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 Tablespoon margarine or butter, cut in pieces
1 Cup miniature marshmallows
Mash sweet potatoes with orange juice, nutmeg, sugar, and margarine. Put in a 1 qt. casserole. Bake 30 minutes at 400°. Sprinkle with marshmallows and bake 10 minutes or until marshmallows are golden brown.
Bourbon Sweet Potatoes
2 quarts canned sweet potatoes
1/4 to 1/2 Cups Bourbon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sugar
2 beaten eggs
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
Whip all together, top with walnuts or pecans.
Bake 350 degrees for 30 minutes.All 3 of the recipes here look good. I saw the show just last night, and I’ve made Alton Brown’s reciepes before and they always rock.
I made a sweet potato soup a few weeks ago that was really, really tasty. It had smoked sausage, but you could leave that out. I just eyeballed it and tinkered till it tasted right, so the recipe probably leaves a lot to be desired.
Wash, peel, and dice sweet potatoes, then boil in a very small amount of water until tender. Mash lightly with potato masher while still in water. Sautee onions and garlic in olive oil, then add to sweet potatoes. Add water, butter, brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg to taste. Bring to a boil, then cover and reduce heat. Simmer for a few hours.
This goes really well with cornbread and white wine.
Sweet Potatoe Cheesecake. Better than any pumpkin pie ever.
~2 Sweet Potatoes, baked through and cooled
3 8 oz packages cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon of whatever spices you like…ginger, nutmeg, clove, allspice, etc
3 large eggs, room temperature
1 package graham crackers
1/4 cup butter (half a stick), melted
Bake the sweet potatoes the night before, until soft and tender. Next day, crush up the graham crackers, add melted butter and press into the bottom of a springform pan. Prebake the crust at 350 for about 10 minutes, then remove. Or forget the crust, you don’t need it if you don’t want it. But the oven should be at 350 while you mix the filling.
In a large mixing bowl, add the cream cheese and sugar and beat on med-low until mixed. Add the sweet potatoes (skins removed of course), the spices and vanilla and beat until mixed. Next add one egg, mix on low until mixed. Add the next egg, mix on low until mixed. Add the last egg, mix on low until mixed. You have to add the eggs one at a time to avoid getting lumps. Don’t beat too much air into the cheesecake or it will puff up too much and then tragically collapse as you take it out of the oven.
Put the springform pan in the 350 oven for about 40 minutes, then check. It should still be soft in the middle…the cheesecake will set further after you take it out of the oven, so it should be slightly softer than you prefer to eat it. Let cool for a few hours. Cheesecakes actually taste better the day after you bake them, so making it the day before Thanksgiving and storing it in the fridge can make things much easier on the day. Take the cake out of the fridge when you serve dinner to let it come to room temperature before serving. If you like, top with whipped cream, although it is generally so rich I don’t bother.
My family’s favorite is Sweet Potato and Apple Casserole
3 medium sweet potatoes
1/2 c packed brown sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground nutmeg
2 large cooking apples, peeled and cut into 1/4 inch rings
Streusel Topping
Cook unpeeled sweet potatoes in water to cover in a Dutch oven 25 minutes or until tender (I don’t have a Dutch oven so I just boil them in a regular saucepan). Drain and cool; peel and slice into 1/4 inch rounds.
Combine brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
Layer sweet potato, apples and brown sugar mixture in a lightly greased 11 x 7 x 1 1/2 " baking dish, beginning and ending with the sweet potato. Sprinkle sweet potato with streusel topping.
Bake at 350 for 30 min.
Streusel Topping
1/4 c flour
1/4 c packed brown sugar
1/4 c butter or margarine
1/4 c chopped pecans
Combine all ingredients.
Taters
Milk
Cumin
Coriander
Flour, preferably white, whole is OK
Caraway seeds, whole
Oil, good at high temps
Black pepper
Salt - exotic or plain salt-shaker kind
Skin your sweet potatoes and cut then into disks the long way, then turn the disks and pull your knife through the disks to convert them into nice long golden orange french fries.
Take a half cup of white or whole wheat flour and add in 1/4 teaspoon of black pepper, 1/4 teaspoon of coriander, 1/4 teaspoon of cumin, and 1/4 teaspoon of whole caraway seeds. Stir.
Drop them into ice water (with real ice cubes, seriously). Heat up a cast iron skillet about 1.5" deep in vegetable oil, preferably not canola, go with grapeseed oil if you can afford it. Get it hot enough that a drop of water dropped upon the oil becomes a bouncing hissing marble.
Set aside a plate with paper towels across it, and have tongs in hand, the scissors kind. Set up a second plate identical to the first, right down to the paper towels. Reach into the ice water and grab yourself a bunch of ice cold raw french fries. Drop onto Paper Towel Plate #1 and roll them until they are superficiall dried off. Drop into hot oil. Catch a second handful and put them on same paper towel and similarly dry them off. Right around now the first batch should be floating and changing color, so take the tongs and fish them out and place them on Paper Towel Plate #2, rolling them a bit to get the towels to take up excess oil. Repeat until all french fries are on Plate #2.
Let oil cool briefly then turn on burner again. Pour off all but a couple tablespoons of the fry oil. Gradually mix in the flour/coriander/cumin/seeds mixture a bit at a time, stirring and letting it brown. Don’t burn it. Reduce heat to just barely. Add milk, stirring it in, until mixture is thinned to easy flowin liquid, then keep stirring on low heat until it’s a medium thick gravy. Salt to taste. Pour gravy into gravy vessel and serve fries while still piping hot.
This is dead easy and looks and tastes great.
Boil or bake your yams. Meanwhile lightly toast some slivered almonds in a dry pan, stirring or tossing constantly, just until they start to smell good. (Pay attention here - they’ll go from raw to burnt in 30 seconds if you’re watching, or 10 if you turn your back.) Dump them on a plate to cool. Mash yams with butter, then pack in a pie plate or cake pan. Sprinkle almonds over yams and pat them down a little. Mix brown sugar with cinnamon or whatever spices you like, and sprinkle that on thickly enough to cover the almonds. Put under a pre-heated broiler just long enough to start caramelizing the sugar. (This step is the same as for creme brulee.) Serve hot, and hope for leftovers to eat cold.
Our family always enjoys the wonderful taste of Sweet Potato Souffle! It’s easy and dang it’s good.
Sweet Potato base:
3 cups cooked, mashed sweet potatoes
1 cup sugar
1/2 stick butter
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/3 cup evaporated milk.
Topping:
Mix 2 cups (chopped) pecans, 1/3 cup flour, 1 cup light brown sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla, and 1/2 melted stick of butter.
Steps:
That’s it - easy and good.
— Peter Wiggen
My wife has a terrific (and possibly secret) recipe for sweet potatoe pancakes. I’ll see if I can get it from her.
Boil an equal amount of cut up sweet potatoes and red skin potatoes until soft. Dilute a can of whole berry cranberry sauce with orange juice until it has a saucelike consistency. Heat the sauce and pour over the potato mixture.
I’m just posting so I can find this thread easily when I have to make the sweet potatos.
SWEET POTATO PUDDING
6 medium sweet potatoes, boiled and mashed
2 eggs, beaten
1¼ lb butter
¾ c brown sugar
½ c milk
2/3 c flour
¼ c orange juice
1 t vanilla
Mix together sweet potatoes, eggs, butter, brown sugar, milk, flour, orange juice, and vanilla. Mix well with electric mixer. Put into buttered casserole or any shallow baking dish. Place thin slices of orange on top. Bake 350º for 30 minutes or until slightly browned at edges.
OK. I’m told that this is a lot harder than it looks, but I can say from experience that it’s worth it.
Sweet Potato Pankakes
(Actually, they’re more like latkes.)
2 kg sweet potatoes (scale before peeling and cooking)
2 cup white all-purpoise flour (sifted)
2 measuring Tbs good-quality soy sauce (Kikoman preferably)
Clarified butter (for frying)
Bake and peel sweet potatoes. Leave in fridge to drain overnight. Mash (by hand) and add flour and soy sauce. Mix very, very well to avod lumps. Cover and let rest in fridge overnight. Form into 2" (5cm) medallions. Fry at a low temp in non-stick skillet (teflon best option) in 0.5" of butter (clarified butter crucial here). Serve with a sour cream and scallion dip (sour cream, salt, white pepper and minced scallions).
My wife indeed says it’s a secret recipe, but it’s not her secret recipe, so don’t let anyone trace it back to her. It’s the house specialty of a very nice TA retaurant called Orna & Elaa.
Another board I’m on has been raving about this recipe, which they call Sweet Potato Crack, because it’s addicting. I haven’t tried it yet.
SWEET POTATO AND TURNIP GRATIN
2 to 3 pounds white turnips, peeled and sliced 1/4 inch thick
2 to 3 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled and sliced 1/4 inch thick
1/4 pound (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 to 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh tarragon leaves
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 cup grated imported Parmesan cheese
1 cup bread crumbs
2 cups heavy cream
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter a 3-quart casserole.
To blanch the turnips, bring a large pot of water to the boil. Add the sliced turnips and cook 5 minutes. Remove them and drain thoroughly in a strainer.
Gently combine the turnips and sweet potatoes. Place a layer of the vegetables in the casserole and dot with half the butter. Sprinkle generously with tarragon, salt, and pepper, and cover with half of the Parmesan. Make another layer. Top with the bread crumbs and pour the cream around the sides. Dot with the remaining butter and Parmesan. Bake until the vegetables are soft but not mushy, 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
The gratin can be made ahead several days, or frozen for up to 3 months. Let defrost in the refrigerator and reheat for 30 to 45 minutes in the oven, or reheat in the microwave.
My oldest sister makes a sweet potato crisp that rocks. Basically, it’s just like apple or peach crisp except that you make it with sweet potatoes. Man, it’s good.
My mom and I make these every year for Thanksgiving. I recently made these for a Halloween themed dinner party (orange and black food only) and they were a huge success.
Double Stuffed Sweet Potatoes
The real beauty of this recipe is that exact quantities are unimportant… you just sort of do everything to taste and texture.
Bake sweet potatoes in a 350 degree oven for about an hour. They should be fairly squishy.
Once they’ve cooled enough to handle, slice each potato in half lengthwise, then scoop out all of the insides, getting as close to the skin as possible. Be careful not to tear any holes, though! Lay the skins aside.
Mash the insides, then combine with butter, brown sugar, and canned crushed pineapple (drain the syrup/juice). The consistency should be lumpy and gloppy, not smooth and creamy. If you wish, you may add mini marshmallows and/or walnuts.
Scoop the potato mix back into the shells of skin, and top with nutmeg or cinnamon, whichever you prefer. Arrange the stuffed potatoes in a baking dish, and put back into the 350 degree oven for about 15-20 minutes.
In Alice’s Restaurant Cookbook. Alice May Brock tells about serving 15 people a meal of sweet potatoes with a lot of different things to put on them: sweet butter and salt butter, honey and brown sugar, pineapple rings and spiced apple rings, walnuts and pecans, sweet whipped cream and regular cream, cinnamon and nutmeg. Presenting a big bowl of sweet potatoes with a lot of little bowls of sambals around it would make you look very, very cool.