Sweet Potato Casserole
Saturday, November 14, 2009 at 1:09PM It's almost Thanksgiving! Tonight is our church's annual Thanksgiving Dinner; we usually have about 200 people in attendance for turkey, gravy, and all the fixings galore. In addition to the turkey and stuffing I'm contributing tonight, I'm bringing a sweet potato casserole.
I'm not a marshmallow fan (unless we're talking s'mores or homemade marshmallows). So when I make sweet potatoes, fluffy white goo is not an option. Here's what I do instead.
Choose Garnet variety sweet potatoes, if you have an option, because they have the most beautiful deep orange flesh. Don't pick the skinny ones; go for the fatter, turnip-shaped tubers.
4 sweet potatoes (about 3-4 pounds)
1 20-ounce can crushed pineapple in its own juice
1 large apple (Ida Red or Empire)
1 cup pecan halves
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup brown sugar
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Scrub the sweet potatoes and prick them several times each with a fork. Put them on a cookie sheet and bake them for 1 hour.
Drain the pineapple very well and give the juice to your favorite child to drink. Peel and chop the apple into half-inch chunks. Chop the pecans roughly. When the sweet potatoes are baked, cut them in quarters and let them cool for about ten minutes. Scoop the flesh out of the skins and save the skins for the compost pile.
Put the sweet potato flesh, pineapple, apple chunks, and pecans in the mixer and mix well. Stir the salt and sugar into the cream, then add the cream to the sweet potatoes and mix well. Taste the mixture and add more salt and/or sugar if you feel the need. Spread the sweet potatoes in a 9x13" pan and bake for a half hour. Serves 12.
Delicious Dish
Reader Comments (8)
Sounds dee-lish! Is this what's known in the south as sweet potato pie?
Will I be a sinner if I tell you that I've never had sweet potatoes?
TC, I think sweet potato pie is more like pumpkin pie, with eggs, milk, spices, etc. But I'm not sure. LT, try them! You might like them!
Yum! I'm always excited to change up TG, but the traditionalists shoot me down. It occurs to me just now that it doesn't HAVE to be TG in order to eat sweet potatoes...
I love this version - have tried something similar. Like you - not a marshmallow fan, especially with delicious garnet potatoes!
I need to read some of your sidebar books.
it's so hard to find sweet potatoes in Belgium....well the supermarkets carry them per 3 or something. I never know (because I've rarely ever tasted them): what to replace them with in a recipe if I can't find sweet potatoes?? I assume regular potatoes and sugar won't do :p
Ellen, you could use an orange winter squash, but the texture would be somewhat different.
That sounds lovely. Unfortunately, my sister has the constant job of doing sweet potato souffle'. And Faramir's family are all fans of the marshmallow variety. I prefer my sweet potatoes cooked and mashed in a savory manner, unless it's the souffle'.