Couple Thanksgiving Dishes

Little late on this, but I tend to make the same thing for Thanksgiving and Christmas. For years I couldn't do Turkey cause the kids were ambivalent and my SO was from Australia where they didn't do Thanksgiving. Then the kids grew up and developed sophisticated palates and my partner(s) did the same, so now I get to do turkey to my great satisfaction.

 This past Thanksgiving my boyfriend came over, griping cause I was running late. So I did what they say not to, and covered the turkey. Found out why too. It's because it steams instead of roasting, so no crispy skin. But boy it cooked in half the time and turned out moist and succulent.

 Tried a new vegetable, broccoli rabe, also called rapini. Stuff I read about says it's bitter and to blanch to remove some bitterness. I found it not so much bitter but sharp. Sharp like mustard greens except a lot moreso. I stir-fried it with garlic in olive oil, salt and pepper. The sharpness was a tad overpowering, I prefer a handful chopped and tossed into a soup.

 For sweet potatoes, I hate the sweet goopy concontions many people make. Thought I'd so something different, savoury instead of sweet. For T-giving, made this chipotle-spiced dish.

 

Pureed Sweet Potatoes with Chipotle
Serves 10

6 large sweet potatoes
1/2 to 1 chipotle pepper in adobo or to taste
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup milk

Preheat oven to 375F.

Prick sweet potatoes with a fork and bake 50 to 60 minutes.  Let
cool.  Scrape the flesh out of the skins into a large bowl.  Beat
the potatoes with an electric mixer until smooth.

For a milder taste, rinse the sauce from the pepper, else omit this
step if you prefer it hotter.  Seed and chop the pepper.  Stir it
into the sweet potatoes.

Stir in the butter and milk into the potatoes.

I whipped it real smooth with an electric mixer. Everyone said they liked it but the leftovers went untouched (what am I saying? The leftover sweet potatoes always go untouched :/ )


So for Christmas I decided to go back to my pineapple sweet potatoes and pulled up this recipe. Stirred in crushed pineapple instead of raisins and added the brandy before reading the recipe to later discover the raisins were supposed to be macerated in the brandy. Came out good, could not taste either the eggnog or the brandy, need to increase the amounts next time. Did not bother with the crunchy topping but it appeals more than the ubiquitous marshmallow kind.

 
SWEET POTATO-EGGNOG CASSEROLE
Yield: 8 servings

5 pounds sweet potatoes
1/2 cup golden raisins
1/4 cup brandy
2/3 cup eggnog
3 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted
2 tablespoons sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt

2 oatmeal cookies, crumbled
2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
2 tablespoons chopped pecans, toasted

Cook sweet potatoes in water to cover in a large Dutch oven 40
minutes or until tender; drain and cool to touch. Peel sweet potatoes
and mash.  Combine raisins and brandy; let stand 30 minutes. Drain.

Combine mashed sweet potatoes, eggnog, and next 3 ingredients;
reserve 2 cups sweet potato mixture. Stir raisins into remaining
sweet potato mixture, and spoon into a lightly greased 2-quart
baking dish. Combine cookie crumbs, brown sugar, and chopped pecans;
sprinkle cookie mixture over top of casserole.

Pipe or dollop reserved 2 cups sweet potato mixture around edge of
casserole. Bake at 350 degrees F. for 20 minutes or until thoroughly
heated.