Things have yet to die down completely around here, so I’m keeping tonight’s post short and straight to the point: Sweet potatoes! Cut, season, roast, serve with fattening (and delicious) dipping sauce.

During the Sunday of Sandwiches, Angela showed me a menu from her recent trip to the UK and one of the side dishes was sweet potato wedges with tarragon mayo. It sounded fantastic, so I picked up some sweet potatoes at the farmers’ market and improvised a recipe this evening.

Sweet Potato Wedges
-2 sweet potatoes, washed and dried
-2-3 tbs. olive oil (enough to lightly coat wedges when cut)
-1 tsp. chili powder
-Sprinkling of salt and pepper to taste

1) Preheat oven to 350°

2) Slice sweet potatoes into 1/2″ thick wedges, 3″ long

3) Toss in a bowl with olive oil and seasonings.

4) Place in one layer on a baking sheet and roast for 20-30 minutes, or until tender.

Tarragon Mayo
-1 tbs. dried tarragon
-1/2 cup mayo
-Salt and pepper to taste

1) Mix ingredients in a small bowl. Cover and chill for 45 minutes to an hour and serve with the fries.

Winter is a difficult season for produce-based sweet pies. With no local fruit in season and any fruit that is on the shelves of Brooklyn stores shipped thousands of miles and zapped of flavor, options are limited. Thus, we turn to the sweet potatoes, harvested in the fall and now stored in cool, dark cellars and bottom cupboards. 

The flavor of sweet potatoes has always summoned a sense of warmth for me, making them perfect for a winter dessert. The recipe I created for this pie was pulled together from reading through a number of different recipes, then seeing how far I could simplify them and still preserve the flavor and texture of a classic sweet potato pie (not counting crust preparation). The results after the jump.

Four-Step Sweet Potato Pie
-pie crust
-1 1/4 cups milk
-3 eggs
-1/2 cup granulated sugar
-1/4 cup brown sugar
-1 tsp. cinnamon
-1/2 tsp. ground ginger
-1/2 tsp. nutmeg
-1/4 tsp. ground cloves
-2 cups mashed sweet potatoes 

1) Pre-bake the pie crust of your choice, or for a super simple solution, go store-bought. I used this recipe from Mark Bittman. 

2) Cook your sweet potatoes. My preferred way is to wash and dry the sweet potatoes, prick them multiple times with a fork, and then roast them on a cookie sheet at 400° for one hour. Let them cool for 15-20 minutes, slice the skin lengthwise, and peel it away like so: 
 

Once peeled, mash the potatoes in a medium bowl. 

3) Pre-heat the oven to 375°. In a large bowl (or food processor), combine milk, eggs, sugars, and spices. Mix well and then stir in the mashed sweet potatoes. If using a food processor, add the sweet potatoes and pulse just a few times to further puree them. 

4) Pour the custard mixture into your pre-baked crust and bake for about an hour, or until the custard has set and a knife inserted in the center of the pie comes out clean.

At the farmers’ market last Saturday, I almost tripped over a crate of sweet potatoes and decided it was a sign from the food powers that be: it was time for some smashed sweet potatoes. I picked up about two pounds and took them home, wondering if there was anything that I could add to them to mix things up a bit. 

I rummaged through my spice cupboard and came across a left over vanilla bean from the poached Drunken Pears from a few weeks ago. I then remembered seeing a recipe at 101 Cookbooks for Vanilla Mashed Sweet Potatoes, but lacked the majority of ingredients and sizable food processor. The answer was this simplified recipe.

Mo’s Smashed Vanilla Sweet Potatoes
-2 lbs. sweet potatoes, washed and dried
-1/2 vanilla bean
-3 tbs. unsalted butter
-Salt and pepper

1. Pre-heat oven to 400º.

2. Line baking sheet with aluminum foil and place potatoes on it, with ample room between each spud. 

3. Roast for about 45 minutes, or until tender. Remove from oven and let cool for about 10 minutes. 

4. While potatoes are cooling, start melting the butter in a small saucepan over low heat. Split and scape the 1/2 vanilla bean and add the seeds and pod to the saucepan. Let butter melt completely and let cook over low heat for about two additional minutes before removing the pod. 

4. Once potatoes are cool enough to handle, cut into skin lengthwise and widthwise and peel it away. Place skinned, cooked sweet potatoes in a large bowl. 

5. Get out your potato masher and mash to your desired consistency. Add vanilla butter and stir with a large wooden spoon until fully incorporated. Add salt and pepper to taste.