More for sweet potatoes than marshmallows

Written by Sarah Leah Chase

(November 16, 2023) Even supposing my mother’s peanut butter sandwich, banana slices, and marshmallow fluff was considered one of my son’s favourite lunches when he was in elementary faculty, I’ve by no means been a fan of something made with marshmallows.

For sure, there has by no means been, nor will there be, a candy potato and marshmallow casserole on my Thanksgiving desk.

If anybody apart from me is questioning how this unusual mixture got here to be, the reply is that it was a advertising and marketing ploy initiated by the Angelus Marshmallow Firm in 1917.

The corporate enlisted the founding father of Boston Cooking College journal, Janet MacKenzie Hill, to put in writing a booklet of marshmallow recipes to “encourage dwelling cooks to embrace the dessert as an on a regular basis deal with.” the parts.”

The booklet features a recipe for mashed candy potatoes which can be positioned in a casserole dish after which topped with marshmallows, which kind a sticky, sugary layer whereas baking. Over time, this recipe has gone from being a contemporary novelty to an American Thanksgiving basic.

Nonetheless, the one method I can start to tolerate consuming a marshmallow is when it is melted right into a s’mores drink over a campfire.

That does not imply I am not an enormous fan of deliciously cooked candy potatoes. Just a few years in the past, Zoe Mikhailovich, my proficient assistant in a cooking class, helped me cook dinner entire candy potatoes within the microwave for simply 5 to 6 minutes. Then cut up it in half and mash the butter, olive oil and/or several types of cheese into the meat for a fast and simple dessert.

Just lately, due to Susie Middleton’s weekly e-newsletter Prepare dinner the Winery (as in Martha’s Winery), I fell in love together with her fashion of baking sweets Roast potato halves, flesh aspect down, in a scorching oven till irresistibly caramelized. Though this technique takes longer than Zoe’s fast microwave recipe, I discover that the general texture of the crispy pores and skin and pillowy inside is best.

Final fall, Sean Durnin—often known as Sushi Sean 11:11—launched me to the purple candy potato known as Okinawa. Candy potatoes when he contributed Wasabi Lemon Nantucket Bay Scallops over heat Okinawan candy potato purée on the first annual Surfside Scallop Soirée celebration.

I’ve since been capable of supply these extremely nutritious purple candy potatoes from Asian markets within the larger Boston space and luxuriate in roasting them with plain orange sweet. Potatoes make a surprising and scrumptious purple and orange aspect dish.

Whereas many view the primary few weeks of November as a quiet time of 12 months, it is an awfully busy time for recipe inspiration, given the each day media onslaught of Thanksgiving menu planning suggestions.

I personally witnessed I am much more intrigued than normal by the slew of inventive recipes which have been popping up unsolicited on my Instagram feed.

I am positively not complaining as a result of a bunch of various posts have impressed me to make my very own rendition of baked piles of skinny, layered candy potato slices. In muffin cups with melted butter, contemporary thyme and shredded Vermont cheddar cheese.

I believe that to any extent further these great particular person piles of scrumptious candy potatoes will develop into an everyday addition to my household’s Thanksgiving celebration.

Roasted candy potato halves with cranberry and ginger topping

Susie Middleton steered a wide range of completely different toppings for the roasted candy potato halves, and the cranberry and ginger half struck me as having essentially the most Thanksgiving enchantment.

4 medium-sized candy potatoes, ideally lengthy and skinny, every minimize in half lengthwise

olive oil

Kosher salt

4 tablespoons of unsalted butter

Zest of 1 lemon, 1 lime, or 1/2 orange

Cranberry and ginger:

1/2 cup chopped dried cranberries

1 tablespoon minced crystallized ginger

3 teaspoons of thyme leaves

4 tablespoons chopped and flippantly toasted pecans

1. Preheat the oven to 400 levels Fahrenheit. Line a heavy-duty rimmed tray with aluminum foil. Place a bit of parchment paper over the foil.
2. Flippantly brush the candy potato halves with olive oil. Season the minimize sides with salt and organize them minimize sides down on a sheet pan.
3. Roast till the underside of the candy potatoes caramelizes and the flesh is tender when poked with the tip of a knife, 40 to 45 minutes. Take away from the oven and use a skinny metallic spoon to show the candy potatoes so they’re minimize sides up.
4. Whereas the candy potatoes are roasting, soften the butter in a small saucepan, add your favourite zest and stir for 30 seconds. Take away from warmth and gently reheat if wanted. In a small bowl, mix the dried cranberries, crystallized ginger, thyme leaves, and pecans. Stir the combination evenly.
5. Utilizing a skinny knife, make a criss-cross diagonal form on high of the roasted candy potato halves. Switch it to a serving plate or serving dishes. Brush the highest generously with the melted butter after which place a number of the cranberry-ginger topping excessive of every half. Serve scorching.

Makes 8 candy potato halves.

Heaps of scrumptious candy potatoes

The stacks may be ready prematurely and refrigerated for a day or two earlier than baking.

3 giant candy potatoes, peeled

8 tablespoons of unsalted butter

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 tablespoon contemporary thyme leaves

5 ounces freshly grated sharp cheddar cheese

Kosher salt and freshly floor black pepper

2-1/2 tablespoon contemporary grated Parmesan cheese

Cooking spray

1. Preheat the oven to 400 levels Fahrenheit. Put together 8 standard-sized muffin cups.
2. The candy potatoes needs to be minimize into skinny 1/8 inch slices and one of the best and quickest method to do that is to make use of a mandoline slicer. Stack all of the candy potato slices in a big mixing bowl.
3. Soften the butter with the minced garlic, then pour it over the candy potato slices, tossing till evenly coated. Add the thyme leaves and grated cheddar cheese and season every little thing with salt and pepper. Toss once more till all elements are evenly distributed.
4. Place the candy potato rounds in muffin tins, stacking them up, as they may cook dinner as they bake. Sprinkle a teaspoon or so of Parmesan cheese over every mound. Spray the within of a bit of industrial quality aluminum foil with cooking spray, then line a muffin pan with aluminum foil and place it on a rimmed baking sheet.
5. Bake the stacks for 40 minutes. Take away the foil and proceed baking till the candy potatoes are tender and starting to show golden across the edges, 20 to 25 minutes extra. Let sit for a couple of minutes after which run a knife across the edges of every can to launch the piles. Serve at one time.

Makes 8 stacks.