Lots of folks consider them an essential part of their Thanksgiving feast: A big dish of whipped sweet potatoes, topped with a thick layer of marshmallows, baked until the tops of the marshmallows become toasty brown. But I’m not one of them.
Don’t get me wrong. I love sweet potatoes. I even enjoy marshmallows, especially when roasted over a campfire until their exteriors caramelize to a deep dark brown – even black – and their insides are melted and gooey.
Even so, they seem out of place with the rest of the Thanksgiving meal. The three forms of sweet-tart cranberry preparations on our Thanksgiving table – (homemade) jellied in a Tupperware mold, a ground relish and a cranberry sorbet – seemed better foils to the richness of the rest of the dinner. In truth, if my memory is correct, the marshmallow-topped concoction never made an appearance at Thanksgiving. Instead, my grandmother baked chunks of sweet potatoes in a butter and brown sugar mixture until their outer surfaces had absorbed the syrup and were, if anything, more cloyingly sweet than their marshmallow-ed counterparts. The only family member who really enjoyed them was my father; it was for him that my grandmother made them every year.
Both my grandmother and my dad aren’t with us anymore, so sweet potatoes don’t inevitably grace our Thanksgiving table. But even when they do, they appear in forms that, although still somewhat sweet, are only lightly so. And with much more complex flavor components.
If marshmallow-topped sweet potatoes are your most cherished Thanksgiving dish, I hope you’ll please accept my apologies and know that I totally understand the desire to keep such traditions alive. My son, who loves experimenting with different stuffings, has said for several years that he wants to “take on” preparation of the Thanksgiving meal. Which, as I’ve told him, is fine with me as long as he doesn’t start experimenting with the basics: Roasting the turkey, using my grandmother’s stuffing recipe, gravy preparation, etc. “It’s ok if you want to add something,” I’ve told him more than once. “And once I’m gone, you can do whatever you want. But until then, the basic menu doesn’t change, understand?”
Here are three sweet potato recipes. They range from one that doesn’t use any additional sweetener beyond that already in the potatoes themselves, to two more that add a bit of sugar, though far less than the more “traditional” dishes. Good as all three are with a turkey dinner, they’re also outstanding with such proteins as roast pork or chicken, smoked sausages, pork chops or BBQ.
This preparation is nothing more than mashed sweet potatoes with a bit of chipotle that adds an extra dimension of taste without at all obscuring the sweet potato’s luscious texture and flavor. Canned chipotles en adobo can be found in the ethnic section of most groceries.
Mashed sweet potatoes with chipotles en adobo
• 5 1/2 lbs. sweet potatoes
• 6 T. butter
• 1 tsp. salt or to taste
• 1 T. chipotle en adobo (about one chipotle with some of its sauce) mashed, or more or less to taste.
Preheat the oven to 375 F.
Bake scrubbed sweet potatoes in their skins until completely tender. Cut the potatoes in half and scoop the flesh into a bowl.
Combine the butter, salt and mashed chipotle, then add to the bowl of sweet potatoes and mash to a purée.
Serve warm.
Makes 6-8 servings.
Variation: Bake sweet potatoes in their skins and serve whole. Make a flavored butter with the softened butter, salt and chipotle; pass at the table for diners to add their own.
From the Southern Foodways Alliance Community Cookbook comes this recipe from SFA founder John T. Edge. I love it so much that I’ve found myself describing it to restaurant servers and complete strangers. All it takes is a reference to ginger ale, something I can even work into the conversation if the mood strikes me.
My enthusiasm is based equally on the recipe’s deliciousness and its incredible simplicity. It calls for only three ingredients and almost no work.
As the SFA Community Cookbook says: “The recipe below isn’t what you’d call complicated in construction. But the flavors (buttery and sweet and hot, all at once) are.”
This dish is perfectly good using regular ginger ale. But Spicy Blenheim Ginger Ale, as the SFA cookbook says, “ups the ante.” I described Blenheim’s “three-sneeze-worthy” and its history in my May 15 column about the Homer (Illinois) Soda Company. A reasonable substitute for Blenheim Spicy or other spicy ginger ale can be made by adding ginger (see below) to ordinary ginger ale. But it’s possible to experience the real deal by ordering Blenheim’s from the Homer Soda Company. HSC will home deliver 24 bottle cases of Blenheim (and 250 plus other heritage sodas) for $34/case and a $5-per-delivery fee. Visit their website, homersoda.com, for more information.
Ginger ale-spiked sweet potatoes
• 3 T. butter at room temperature, divided
• 2 lbs. slender sweet potatoes, peeled and cut crosswise into ¼-inch-slices
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 (12-ounce) bottle Blenheim Ginger Ale, preferably hot, OR substitute another spicy ginger ale, such as Reed’s, OR supplement regular ginger ale with finely grated fresh ginger, powdered dry ginger or ginger juice (available at Food Fantasies and some groceries) to taste
Preheat the oven to 350° F.
Butter the bottom of a shallow 2-quart casserole or gratin dish with a tablespoon of the butter.
If adding supplemental ginger to not-so-spicy ginger ale, whisk it into the soda pop in a bowl and set aside. Depending on the kind of ginger used, you may need to whisk it again just before pouring over the sweet potatoes.
Arrange the sweet potato slices in the dish in rows with their edges overlapping. Sprinkle with the salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.
Pour the ginger ale or ginger ale mixture over the sweet potatoes, making sure that it moistens all the slices.
Dot the surface with the remaining butter and place the casserole in the oven. Bake until the potatoes are tender and glazed with the syrupy sauce, about 30-40 minutes. If the top surfaces of the sweet potatoes begin to dry out, baste or brush with some of the glaze. If not serving immediately, keep warm until serving.
Brandied sweet potatoes with cranberries
• 1 1/4 c. apple cider (preferred) or juice
• 1/3 c. brandy or cognac
• 2 T. dark brown sugar
• 2 T. butter, plus additional for buttering the casserole
• 1 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. ground allspice or cloves
• 1 tsp. ground coriander
• 1/2 tsp. nutmeg, preferably freshly grated
• 3 lbs. sweet potatoes
• 1/2 c. dried cranberries
Preheat the oven to 375 F.
Combine the apple cider, brandy, brown sugar, butter, salt and spices into a medium pan. Heat, stirring, over medium-high heat on the stove until the sugar melts and the mixture comes to a simmer. Remove from the heat and let stand.
Butter a 2–3 quart shallow casserole with a tight-fitting lid. (Alternatively, you can cover the casserole with foil.) Set aside.
Peel the sweet potatoes and cut them into approximately 1-inch cubes.
Place half the sweet potato cubes in the bottom of the casserole. Stir the cider/brandy mixture to combine, then pour half of it over the sweet potatoes. Sprinkle the dried cranberries evenly over them, then spread the rest of the sweet potato cubes evenly over the top. Pour the rest of the liquid over the top.
Cover the casserole, place in the oven and bake until the sweet potatoes are tender, about 1 hour.
Remove the lid from the casserole. Raise the heat to 425 F. Bake for about another half hour, basting several times until the juices are thick and bubbling and the tops of the sweet potatoes are slightly browned. Let cool slightly before serving.
Serves 6-8.
Contact Julianne Glatz at [email protected].
