Candied Sweet Potatoes
Epicurious.com is the best place for me to find new recipes. (Allrecipes is great too, but the recipes on Epicurious are just a bit more gourmet, and when I’m hosting ten for dinner, I’d rather err on the side of classy.) Aside from the fantastic search function, where you can search by course, by ingredient, and even by kid-friendliness, you can sort by user reviews. I only ever bother with recipes that have been reviewed multiple times and have high ratings. In many reviews the reviewers post modifications they’ve made and some of the modifications become the standard- in some cases almost all of the reviewers follow the advice of one person and rave about the recipe.
Today’s search was for sweet potatoes. I make sweet potatoes pretty regularly and have cooked them a variety of ways but never for Thanksgiving. The last two years my mother-in-law has made and brought them to my house, but this year I’ve got a good 6lbs of sweet potatoes left from my CSA and I’ve got to use them. Rather than reinvent the wheel (new, interesting recipes got me nowhere last year) I’m going for tradition. I know I don’t want anything with marshmallows on top (yuck!) and I know I don’t want pureed or mashed because my aunt’s bringing mashed potatoes. (I wish I was making the mashed- I have a ton of potatoes from the CSA and I make phenomenal roasted garlic mashed potatoes. Another time.) After browsing by rating for a while I came across two contenders.
Maple-Glazed Yams with Pecan Topping and Candied Sweet Potatoes. After reading the reviews, Candied Sweet Potatoes was the clear winner. I’ll make them a day in advance and reheat them while the turkey rests.
Candied Sweet Potatoes
*3 lb large sweet potatoes, peeled and halved crosswise
*1 cup packed light brown sugar
*1/2 stick unsalted butter
*1/4 cup water
*1/4 teaspoon salt
*1/4 to 1/3 cup bourbon
Preheat oven to 375°F.
Cut each potato half lengthwise into fourths. Steam potatoes on a steamer rack set over boiling water, covered, until just tender, 10 to 15 minutes, then cool, uncovered. Transfer to a buttered 3-quart shallow baking dish.
Simmer brown sugar, butter, water, and salt, stirring occasionally, until sugar is dissolved and syrup is thickened, about 5 minutes. Stir in bourbon to taste. Drizzle syrup over potatoes and bake in middle of oven, basting occasionally, until syrup is thickened, about 1 1/4 hours.
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