Thanksgiving-the Old and the New: Sweet Potatoes with Pecan Strussel:
So every year, my wife Sarah cooks the dinner. The kids want “Mom food” and Sarah has a finely honed traditional dinner that we all love. My job is to be soux chef, smoke a turkey, make the vegetarian entree, peel potatoes, keep an eye on things, check timing and doneness, serve the appetizers. Every year, I insist on making sweet potatoes with marshmellow topping, studded with pineapple chunks and sweetened with brown sugar. Like my mom made, you know.
The crew, led by Hannah and Seth, deride the dish from reasons ranging from the “Ladies Home Journal cheesy factor” to it’s overly sugared to a simple and traditional ragging to let me know that my family loves me. The grandkids like them, of course, the boys eating the topping off of the dish like you’re supposed to. Every year, I finish them up over the next couple of days, re-marshmallowing the sweet potatoes as necessary.
This year, I went for change. Cheryl Rule, who I met at Greenbrier, (a fellow winner, actually), had a great sounding recipe for Sweet Potatoes with Pecan Streusel on her website, 5secondrule. Replacing the marshmallows with pecans (so much better than walnuts) and brown sugar, and adding something new with cardamom, vanilla and maple syrup sounded exactly right. So I made it.
My food processor wasn’t up to the task, so I used the ricer like I always do. I also steamed the sweet potato chunks rather than boiling them because I believe that the taste is better. But, unusually, I followed her recipe pretty faithfully. The top came out a little darker than I’d've liked, but it was fine.
Hannah, when told I was making a surprise sweet potato dish this year asked if the surprise was that it was edible. Somehow it sounds far crueler in print than in real life, where the smile predominated. Anyway, off and running.
It was a major hit. The sweet streusel gave some crunch to the potatoes. The spices perfumed the dish without masking the sweet potato flavor. There was almost nothing left, which, as any cook knows, is the true test. It isn’t what they say, it’s what they eat.
Thanksgiving, like all polished traditions, needs someone new to experience it and one or two new foods to set off the traditional ones. We had it all this year. What’s more, we knew it and were grateful.