Tag: Thanksgiving side

Categories
Side Dish

This is a really ‘yammy’ way to eat sweet potatoes

This sweet potato souffle has all the hallmarks of traditional holiday sweet potatoes—the delicious flavors of brown sugar and pecans—but without the heaviness and drippiness of syrup and marshmallows.
This sweet potato souffle has all the hallmarks of traditional holiday sweet potatoes—the delicious flavors of brown sugar and pecans—but without the heaviness and drippiness of syrup and marshmallows.

When I was a teacher, I often said that I wished I could have a day or so to audit my colleagues’ classes, just to get a feel for their style and methods.

I had a bucket list of people I would have loved to sit in on to learn some tricks of the trade.

One of those people is Mindy Barter, the contributor of this week’s recipe and a former colleague of mine at Haven High School.

It’s no surprise to me that she chose a recipe for sweet potatoes that has just the right amount of sugar and is a little different from the way everyone else makes them. I think that’s kind of her style in life, too.

Mindy, who is from Newton, said, “This is from my mother in law. This has been a favorite of my family’s for a long, long time.”

After making this and sharing it with some friends, I can tell you I totally understand why.

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Sweet Potato Soufflé

This sweet potato souffle has all the hallmarks of traditional holiday sweet potatoes—the delicious flavors of brown sugar and pecans—but without the heaviness and drippiness of syrup and marshmallows.
Course Side Dish
Keyword brown sugar, butter, Christmas side, holiday side, pecans, potluck dish, souffle, sweet potatoes, Thanksgiving side, vanilla, yams

Ingredients

Topping Ingredients

  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 cup chopped pecans
  • 1/3 cup butter melted

Soufflé Ingredients

  • 3 cups cooked and mashed sweet potatoes
  • 1 cup white sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 eggs well beaten,
  • 1/2 cup butter 1 stick, melted

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray a medium-size casserole dish with nonstick spray.
  • For the topping, combine brown sugar, flour, nuts and butter in mixing bowl. Chill in the fridge until ready to use. This helps the crumble maintain its form and not melt into the sweet potatoes.
  • For the soufflé, combine sweet potatoes, sugar, salt, vanilla, eggs and butter in a large mixing bowl in the order listed. Beat thoroughly with a hand mixer for about three to four minutes to increase the fluffiness of the sweet potato mixture. Add a splash of milk, if needed, and mix.
  • Pour mixture into the baking dish (I use around a two-quart dish). Bake for 25 minutes. At this point, the dish can be covered and refrigerated for a couple of days, if making ahead of time.
  • (If you refrigerated ahead of time, make sure to reheat the potatoes again before adding the topping—around 10 to 20 minutes.)
  • Sprinkle the surface of the sweet potato mixture evenly with the topping mixture and return to oven for 10 to 20 minutes or until crumble is browned. Allow to set at least 30 minutes before serving.
  • The brown sugar and pecan crust should be slightly browned and crunchy. Makes 10 servings.

We really, really liked this. Beating the sweet potato mixture made it nice and light, which was a great contrast to the caramelized, crunchy topping. This one will have to go into my recipe box for future gatherings.

And, after trying out this recipe, I’m not only disappointed I didn’t get to sit in on any of Mindy’s classes, but now I’m pretty sure I need to try to observe her in the kitchen, too. Maybe one day.

This piece first appeared in print on Dec. 19, 2024.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

Categories
Side Dish

I ‘corn’not believe how delicious this savory pudding is

Corn pudding uses lots of herbs, along with corn and yellow onion to create the perfect mashup of sweet and savory in a delicious side dish.
Corn pudding uses lots of herbs, along with corn and yellow onion to create the perfect mashup of sweet and savory in a delicious side dish.

We have a serious love of cornbread at our house.

When we discovered the goodness that is cornbread dressing to go with our holiday turkeys, we were understandably excited.

But, being more of a traditional mindset, the rest of the extended family missed the conventional holiday stuffing at our big meals, so I went back to it this year.

Not being completely dissuaded, though, I started looking for other cornbread-like dishes we could try and stumbled on a recipe for corn pudding.

Before you recoil at the pudding idea, trust me. It’s delicious. It’s a fabulous, non-jiggly texture, and it’s savory and belly warming. It is definitely worth a try—especially if you love cornbread like I do. And it’s also worth a try if you normally find cornbread a bit on the dry side, because this is moist and delicious.

This comes from the “Southern Living” magazine. It’s by Karen Schroeder-Rankin. You can find the original recipe at https://www.southernliving.com/recipes/savory-corn-pudding-recipe. I added lots of extra seasonings in my version.

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Corn Pudding

Corn pudding uses lots of herbs, along with corn and yellow onion to create the perfect mashup of sweet and savory in a delicious side dish.
Course Side Dish
Keyword Christmas side, corn, cornbread, fresh thyme, frozen corn, garlic, sage, Thanksgiving side, yellow onion

Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoons canola or vegetable oil
  • 6 cups frozen corn thawed
  • 1 medium-sized yellow onion diced
  • 4-6 cloves garlic minced
  • 6 eggs
  • 2 cups heavy cream
  • 1/2 cup butter melted
  • 3 tablespoons flour
  • 2 tablespoons sugar
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • 4 teaspoons thyme
  • 2 teaspoons sage
  • 1 teaspoon onion powder
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  • black pepper to taste

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a nine-by-13-inch baking dish by spraying it with cooking spray and set it aside.
  • Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat.
  • Add the onion to the skillet. Saute until it is soft.
  • Add in the corn, and continue to saute until it is just a bit browned.
  • Toss in the garlic and saute for another minute or so, or until it becomes fragrant. Remove the skillet from the heat.
  • In a large bowl, whisk the eggs, cream and butter until it is well combined. Add in the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, thyme, sage, onion powder, garlic powder and black pepper. Stir to combine.
  • Stir in the corn mixture and then pour everything into the baking dish, smoothing it out evenly.
  • Bake for about 40 minutes or until the pudding is set and the top is golden brown.
  • Let it stand for five to 10 minutes before serving. Top with a little more thyme, if desired.

The flavors in this paired amazingly well with our turkey. The herbs along with the slight sweetness of the corn and onions just put it over the top.

It also reheated really well as leftovers, which was good, because this made a ton of food.

I’m hoping that I’ll be able to bring the rest of the family over to my side on the subject of cornbread dressing at some point. They didn’t seem to complain about this recipe, so I think they’re well on their way.

Sometimes you just have to start your own traditions.

This piece first appeared in print on Dec. 29, 2022.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

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