Repost: Thanksgiving (and sweet potato casserole)
I posted this recipe last year, and hope you'll consider making it yourself; we plan to eat it again this Thanksgiving.
Hi there, we set an extra place for you at the table!
Ah, Thanksgiving. I have never traveled far from home for this holiday and so it has close associations with the countryside of the American South, where I'm from and my family still lives. Muted fall colors, maybe semi-warm weather, cotton growing in neighboring fields. Pecan pie, and if it's a big enough family gathering, turkey AND ham.
I was pretty young in my first marriage (22) but that didn't stop me from tearing right into a full Thanksgiving menu! Bon Appetit magazine's 1992 November issue had a Southern theme and I found so many dishes that I wanted to make. Boy was I naive.
I knew that I wanted a fresh turkey, not frozen, but the only one at the store weighed between 22-24 pounds. I dragged that sucker home and it barely fit in the oven. I basted it with herb butter every 30 minutes for about 6 hours until it was done. And you know what? It was insanely delicious. As was the sweet potato casserole, the cornbread dressing with tons of sage and sweet bell peppers, and the green beans with onion, and the pumpkin cream cheese tart....everything I made from that issue.
Recipes from that old issue of BA aren't even online. The magazine still sits in my file, and I pull it out each year to make my sweet potato casserole. The orange juice makes it special. My aunt tells me the flavor reminds her of how her mother would hollow out oranges, fill them with mashed sweet potato, and top them with maraschino cherries.
And so for your Thanksgiving enjoyment, a taste of 1992.
Sweet Potato Casserole with Pecan Topping
Bon Appetit, November 1992
Sweet Potatoes
3 pounds sweet potatoes
3/4 cup orange juice
2 large eggs
2 T butter, melted
2 T sugar
1 1/2 t cinnamon
1/2 t nutmeg
Topping
1/2 cup all purpose flour (I always use less, 1/3 cup is plenty)
1/4 cup plus 2 T firmly packed light brown sugar
1/2 t cinnamon
1/4 cup butter, room temperature
1/2 cup chopped pecans
For the sweet potatoes: butter an 8x2 baking dish. Bake potatoes at 350 degrees for 45-60 minutes until soft. Cool, and scrape pulp from skins into a large bowl. Mash pulp with electric mixer. Add orange juice, eggs, melted butter, sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg. Beat until smooth. Spoon into baking dish.
For the topping: combine flour, brown sugar and cinnamon in a medium bowl. Add butter and cut in until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Mix in chopped pecans. Sprinkle pecan mixture over potatoes.
Bake until potatoes are hot and topping is dry, about 30 minutes. Serve warm.
Image courtesy of the Norman Rockwell Museum
Hi there, we set an extra place for you at the table!
Ah, Thanksgiving. I have never traveled far from home for this holiday and so it has close associations with the countryside of the American South, where I'm from and my family still lives. Muted fall colors, maybe semi-warm weather, cotton growing in neighboring fields. Pecan pie, and if it's a big enough family gathering, turkey AND ham.
I was pretty young in my first marriage (22) but that didn't stop me from tearing right into a full Thanksgiving menu! Bon Appetit magazine's 1992 November issue had a Southern theme and I found so many dishes that I wanted to make. Boy was I naive.
I knew that I wanted a fresh turkey, not frozen, but the only one at the store weighed between 22-24 pounds. I dragged that sucker home and it barely fit in the oven. I basted it with herb butter every 30 minutes for about 6 hours until it was done. And you know what? It was insanely delicious. As was the sweet potato casserole, the cornbread dressing with tons of sage and sweet bell peppers, and the green beans with onion, and the pumpkin cream cheese tart....everything I made from that issue.
Recipes from that old issue of BA aren't even online. The magazine still sits in my file, and I pull it out each year to make my sweet potato casserole. The orange juice makes it special. My aunt tells me the flavor reminds her of how her mother would hollow out oranges, fill them with mashed sweet potato, and top them with maraschino cherries.
And so for your Thanksgiving enjoyment, a taste of 1992.
Sweet Potato Casserole with Pecan Topping
Bon Appetit, November 1992
Sweet Potatoes
3 pounds sweet potatoes
3/4 cup orange juice
2 large eggs
2 T butter, melted
2 T sugar
1 1/2 t cinnamon
1/2 t nutmeg
Topping
1/2 cup all purpose flour (I always use less, 1/3 cup is plenty)
1/4 cup plus 2 T firmly packed light brown sugar
1/2 t cinnamon
1/4 cup butter, room temperature
1/2 cup chopped pecans
For the sweet potatoes: butter an 8x2 baking dish. Bake potatoes at 350 degrees for 45-60 minutes until soft. Cool, and scrape pulp from skins into a large bowl. Mash pulp with electric mixer. Add orange juice, eggs, melted butter, sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg. Beat until smooth. Spoon into baking dish.
For the topping: combine flour, brown sugar and cinnamon in a medium bowl. Add butter and cut in until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Mix in chopped pecans. Sprinkle pecan mixture over potatoes.
Bake until potatoes are hot and topping is dry, about 30 minutes. Serve warm.
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