Sweet Potato Pie with Praline Sauce

Sweet Potato Pie with Praline Sauce

Sweet potato pie is a staple in the deep South, differing from pumpkin pie by mere spices. Quick to make and paired with a sweet Praline Sauce, it's just the right dessert for any Cajun meal or holiday table. It's also the best alternative to pumpkin pie, so if you have pumpkin pie haters at your feast this year, give this one a try.


Sweet Potato Pie with Praline Sauce

Hands-On Time: 20 minutes
Ready In: 2 hours
Serves: 8

Ingredients:

2 large sweet potatoes - about 1 pound
1 cup heavy cream
3 large eggs
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1 9-inch pie shell, baked

Directions:

1. Prick sweet potatoes and bake in a 450 degree F oven for 50 minutes or until soft. Cool and remove skins.
2. Combine potatoes with cream, eggs, sugar, vanilla and nutmeg in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth.
3. Pour into baked pie shell and bake in a 375 degree F oven for 50 minutes, or until center of pie is set.
4. Cool completely and serve topped with Praline Sauce.


Pralines (said like PRAW-leen if you're from the South) are the most commonly found and popular candy in New Orleans. There are candy shops devoted to the confection. This heavenly rich sauce has all the flavor of a true praline and is perfect drizzled atop vanilla ice cream, cake or Sweet Potato Pie.

Praline Sauce

Hands-On Time: 10 minutes
Ready In: 20 minutes
Serves: Makes 2 cups

Ingredients:

1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 can (12 ounces) evaporated milk
4 Tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract.


Directions:

1. In a heavy bottomed sauce pan combine butter and brown sugar over medium-high heat. Stir until thick and sugar begins to dissolve.
2. Add evaporated milk and stir well. Heat untli bubbling. Continue to cook and stir for 10 minutes.
3. Remove from heat and add pecans and vanilla. Stir well and let cool for 10 minutes or until slightly thickened before serving.

Sweet Potato Pound Cake with Dulce de Leche

Sweet Potato Pound Cake with Dulce de Leche

Leftovers are a fact of life, especially during the holidays. I'm a straight-up kind of girl when it comes to them so it's rare that I make anything different from a leftover holiday food. This cake, though, is something I'd make extra sweet potatoes for any day.

When this was done, still warm from the oven and topped with thick dulce de leche, the result was something that can really only be described as foodgasmic. There were no words for just how good that cake was. I made it again with the same delicious results and expect it to stand the test of time here.

Sweet Potato Pound Cake with Dulce de Leche
Serves: 12
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

2 cups leftover mashed sweet potatoes
1 cup unsalted butter - softened
4 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup unpacked light brown sugar
3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup milk
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
2 cups prepared dulce de leche

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 12-cup bundt pan and set aside.
2. Mix together butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add sweet potatoes, vanilla, eggs and milk and stir until smooth.
3. Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and pumpkin pie spice and add to wet ingredients slowly. Batter will be thick.
4. Spoon batter into prepared pan and bake for 55 to 60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.
5. Cool for 10 minutes and invert onto a clean serving platter.
6. Heat dulce de leche until smooth and warm and serve over slices of cake.

*Notes: If you don't have pumpkin pie spice on-hand you can use 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger and 1/4 teaspoon each ground nutmeg and cloves.

R,S,C! #36 Recipe

OK, all you chickens ... I played. I hate that I had to use the flash for this photo, but my camera wasn't doing the right thing without it--someday I'll have my own personal photographer.

So, what is this? Sweet Potato Fries on the bottom, a Turkey-Scallion Roll set on it and it's topped with a Tart Cranberry Sauce and Fried Scallions.

Do I have a recipe? Nope. Basically I peeled and cut up 4 sweet potatoes, fried them in hot oil and salted them to taste. The turkey rolls are turkey breast fillets that I pounded thin, seasoned well with coarse salt and freshly ground pepper and topped with sliced scallions before rolling up. I floured them, salted and peppered again and fried the same way as the potatoes.

The cranberry sauce is 1 cup of fresh cranberries, 1/2 cup of apple juice, 1/2 cup of cranberry-pomegranate juice and 1/4 cup of sugar combined and simmered until thick.

Ready, Set, Cook! #36

Click the icon above for complete rules. One change is that you can send your recipe to me to be posted here if you don't want to post on your own blog. I know it's not the first Tuesday of the month, but we haven't played in so long, I didn't want to wait until after the hectic holiday season to play again!

So, in honor of Thanksgiving coming up for us Americans, these three ingredients should blend together pretty well!

turkey breast
whole cranberries
sweet potatoes or yams

I'm all over this one!

See you next Tuesday with submissions!

Sunday Dinner

Mediterranean Chickpea Salad

Our dinner today comes from the recipe I submitted to Ready, Set, Cook! this week.

Moroccan Spiced Beef Roast and Sweet Potatoes (I'm also adding white potatoes--spiced and roasted the same way--to this for the kids who don't eat sweet potatoes.)
Mediterranean Chickpea Salad
Benne (Sesame) Seed Wafers


Moroccan Spiced Beef Roast and Sweet Potatoes
Printable Recipe

1 1/2 lb beef roast (ours is larger today)
3 large sweet potatoes
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 t kosher or sea salt
2 t ground cumin
2 t sweet paprika
1 t ground cinnamon
1 t cayenne pepper
olive oil

Combine garlic, salt and spices. Rub half of the mixture into the roast, cover and chill for 2 to 12 hours.

Was sweet potatoes well and cut into thin wedges. Coat wedges with olive oil and the other half of the spice mixture.

Preheat oven to 350° F. Place roast on a rack in a shallow baking pan and surround with potatoes. Roast, covered, for 1 1/2 hours until roast reaches 160° (well done) in the center and potatoes are tender.


Mediterranean Chickpea Salad
6 servings
Printable Recipe

2 15-ounce cans chickpeas (or garbanzo beans), drained and rinsed
1 large cucumber, peeled and diced small
1 pint grape tomatoes, halved
2 cloves garlic minced
3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh basil
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
salt to taste

Combine chickpeas, cucumber, tomatoes, garlic, parsley, and basil in a large bowl.
Drizzle olive oil, vinegar, and salt over the top, and toss all ingredients well to combine. Cover and chill at an hour or two so flavors blend.


Benne Seed Wafers
24 cookies
Printable Recipe

1 cup sesame seeds
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 stick butter
1 egg, slightly beaten
1/2 cup flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 325ºF. Grease baking sheets and set aside. In a heavy pan, toast
the sesame seeds over medium heat until they are golden brown.

Mix the brown sugar and butter together until fluffy. Add the egg, flour,
salt and baking powder and mix together to form a soft dough. Add the
sesame seeds and vanilla extract; blend well.

Drop the dough onto the baking sheets by the teaspoonful, leaving space between them
for the cookies to spread. Bake for 15 minutes, or until they are lightly brown at the edges. Let them cool on the baking sheets for a minute or so, then transfer them to a rack to cool completely.

R,S,C #22 Recipes

Awesome entries! Give the participants' blogs a read, won't you?

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From Ian at The Gallumphing Gourmand:

Sweet 'n Spicy Shepherd's Pie

3 8oz steaks, boneless
1/4 C honey
1/4 C dark soy sauce
1/4 C chicken broth
6 cloves garlic, crushed & minced
2 tbsp fresh ginger, peeled and finely diced
2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 large onion, sliced
3 large sweet potatoes, peeled, boiled & mashed
1/2 C fresh parmesan cheese, grated
1/2 C cheddar cheese, grated

In a medium-sized bowl, mix together the honey, soy sauce, chicken broth,
garlic, ginger and pepper and stir until blended.
Place the steaks into a large Ziploc baggie, and pour mixture over the
steaks. Seal the bag, then shake to coat the steaks. Place in the
refrigerator for from 2 hours to overnight, turning the bag occasionally.
Remove steaks from bag and reserve ¼ C of the marinade.
Stir-fry the onion over medium-high heat until softened. Add ¼ C of the
marinade and let cook for an additional 5 minutes.
Grill the steaks until medium-rare, then let rest for about 10 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C).
Thinly slice the steak on the bias and place in into a large mixing bowl.
Add the onions, and toss to combine.
Place the steak and onions in the bottom of a lightly greased casserole
dish.
Cover with the mashed sweet potatoes, and cover that with the grated cheese
mixture.
Bake for 30 minutes, until the potato topping has browned and puffed up
slightly.

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From K at KFarmer & The Dell. See the real dish here at KÂ’s Simple Fare & Victuals:

Spicy Beef & Sweet Tater Stir Fry

2 tbs. Olive Oil
1 Green Onion
1 Green pepper
Sirloin Steak
3 Sweet Taters
Cayenne Pepper
Beef Stock
3 tbs. Soy Sauce
Ginger
3 Cloves Garlic
Orzo

Sprinkle cayenne pepper, salt and pepper all over beef, slice into thin strips then
stir fry beef in olive oil until brown on outside but pink on inside. Remove from pan.

Place chopped onion, green pepper and garlic into pan and cook till onion is clear. Add beef broth (around 1/2 cup), soy sauce, the cut and cubed sweet taters, more cayenne pepper, ginger, a little salt and black pepper. Steam until taters are tender. Add beef and warm through. Serve on orzo. Garnish with tops of green onion.

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From Krista at Going Gluten-Free and In the Kitchen with Krista:

Sweet Potato Hash with Fried Eggs

2 mediumpotatoespotatos, cut in 1/2" cubes
1 to 1 1/2 lbs leftover pot roast, shredded or cut in small cubes
1 large onion. diced small
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup beef broth (consomme adds a nice level of flavor)
1/4 to 1/2 tsp cayenne - to your taste
dash black pepper
good dash of kosher sea salt
6 eggs


In large skillet, add about 2 Tbs of olive oil and allow to heat over
medium heat. Add onions and sweat/saute until lightly carmelized.
Add garlic and saute for 1 minute. Add sweet potato cubes. Saute for
5 minutes until the are getting crispy on the outside. Add
broth/consomme, cayenne, salt and pepper. Cover and let come to a
boil for about 10 minutes. Remove cover, increase heat to medium high
and add beef cubes. Cook until the liquid is almost gone.

In a separate pan fry eggs to desired doneness - I personally like over-medium.

Place hash out on six plates, top with 1 egg each....or make more eggs
if you like.

ENJOY!!!

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My own recipe:

Moroccan Spiced Beef Roast and Sweet Potatoes

1 1/2c lb beef roast
3 large sweet potatoes
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 t kosher or sea salt
2 t ground cumin
2 t sweet paprika
1 t ground cinnamon
1 t cayenne pepper
olive oil

Combine garlic, salt and spices. Rub half of the mixture into the roast, cover and chill for 2 to 12 hours.

Was sweet potatoes well and cut into thin wedges. Coat wedges with olive oil and the other half of the spice mixture.

Preheat oven to 350° F. Place roast on a rack in a shallow baking pan and surround with potatoes. Roast, covered, for 1 1/2 hours until roast reaches 160° (well done) in the center and potatoes are tender.

Ready, Set, Cook! #22

This is our first game of Ready, Set, Cook! for 2007.

Participation is not really huge, but we have a good time. I'm not sure if people are not playing because there is no prize, no winner chosen or if they feel too pressured to "make something good". Let me assure anyone reading this that this is ONLY FOR FUN! You do NOT have to submit a real recipe, you do NOT have to actually make something from the ingredients, you just have to do what was done on the show; come up with a reasonable recipe or idea with the ingredients you're given.

One of my regular players (Ian at The Gallumphing Gourmand) will often come up with a recipe and later test it and make changes and then blog about it.

Read HERE for instructions and get your apron on!

In regard to food trend predictions for 2007, I found several reputable sources that say beef is still big and African cuisine is taking root outside it's own borders (among many other trends), so with that in mind I chose these three ingredients for today's game:


1 to 1 1/2 lbs beef (whatever cut you like-not ground)
2-3 sweet potatoes
cayenne pepper (to taste~remember, some like it hot!)

Have FUN!

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Pssst...new baby pic over at my other blog ;o)