Monday, November 20, 2006

Thanksgiving....Recipe and Story

(Shawn's Thanksgiving Blog Post)

I love Thanksgiving so much. It is my favorite holiday because it is the only time when it is perfectly acceptable to overeat and pass out at the table. Each year I try really hard to pass out at the table, but I have never been able to. Wish me luck this year!

My mom takes great pride in her Thanksgiving feast. Even if we don't celebrate at her house she brings the food with her. Her turkey and stuffing is a huge treat and leaves us begging for more (which often ends up with my mom also making a New Year's Turkey too!).

Each year I have only one dish I make - Sweet Potato Marshmallow casserole (I guess that is what you call it). I make mashed sweet potatoes all the time, so this is really just that with marshmallows on top. So here is my recipe:

Peel sweet potatoes (as much as you want, maybe 5-6 potatoes) and cut into cubes. Take cubes and put into steamer and cook until you can easily stick a fork through them. If you don't have a steamer cook potatoes in whichever way you cook potatoes (boil is ok).

After they are done cooking, put into big bowl (drain water if necessary), add cinnamon, brown sugar and butter, making it as sweet and buttery as you like it. If you aren't sure how much put less then you think you should, and then add more later. My rule is just cover everything in cinnamon, then sprinkle the brown sugar around (probably using 1/2 cup) and then a few (maybe 3-4) tablespoons of butter added in.

You can also add milk if you want it creamy but just a little milk (less than 1/2 cup), so it can be easily absorbed into the potatoes. Nutmeg is also a good addition, if you have it around. You may also want to add a little salt for taste (a few pinches).

Mash the sweet potatoes with a potato masher. If you don't have a masher you can use a fork, it just takes a little more work.

Taste to see if it is sweet/buttery enough and add more if needed.

After the potatoes are fully mashed and seasoned, put into a rectangle shaped pan for the oven that is about 2 inches deep and spread the potatoes evenly across the pan.

If you aren't serving immediately, you can take this pan and put back into the oven (at 350 degrees) and warm up the sweet potatoes (this could take a half hour). Then follow up with the marshmallows step.

Take marshmallows (mini or regular, but I find mini works better) and cover the potatoes completely. This last step is very quick, so you may want to only do it at the very end, 15 minutes before you are going to serve it. Put in hot oven (you can choose 350 degrees if nothing else is cooking at that time), and toast the marshmallows. They will melt quickly so you need to watch it (maybe 5-10 minutes). When they get browned on top then remove from oven - it is done. The time to melt depends on the temperature of the oven, so you just need to watch it and see when it is brown.

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2 Comments:

Blogger Shawn said...

haaaaaaaaay danya -- we can't forget the super amazing awesome yummy chocolate cake you made that was THE highlight of the evening -- you know anytime you are in Miami for Thanksgiving (or any holiday for that matter) you are invited back to my house for the meal!

November 20, 2006 3:43 PM  
Blogger elad said...

thanksgiving is only two days away!

November 21, 2006 1:35 PM  

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