Miscellania Life’s Miscellania

I am NOT a big fan of them, at least not the way I have been presented with them most of my life. This consists of either baked (which renders them sort of a cross between mush and slime and I am so bad about food textures) or the quintessential southern souffle topped with a ton of marshmallows. I do like sweet potato fries. I watched good eats and saw where Alton Brown recommended steaming them. I decided to steam them and make my own souffle. Unfortunately I didn’t measure, but here is what I did. This made enough for 2 people to eat as a side with 2 meals and still have a serving to send to Russ’s mom. I also ate 1 serving cold with whipped cream heh.

2 sweet potatoes peeled, cut into cubes
Mascarpone Cheese
1 Egg
Dried Cranberries
Pecans- some toasted, some not
Brown Sugar
Maple Syrup
Cinnamon
Nutmeg (fresh grated)
Coconut
Butter
Molasses
Salt
I would have added vanilla but I was out *sigh*

I couldn’t find my steamer basket so I put a wire mesh strainer over a pot that had a little boiling water in it and lidded it. How long depends on how big your cubes are. You want them soft but not mushy or falling apart.

I put the potatoes in a bowl and added a heaping spoon of mascarpone cheese, a few generous handfuls of dried cranberries, toasted pecans, maple syrup, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and molasses. (I would have also added vanilla at this point) I used the mixer to whip this up. Taste and adjust flavorings. Remember though that once baked it will taste a bit sweeter than raw. Then I added my egg while the mixer was going. Don’t overmix, you just want to make it a bit fluffy. Scrape it into a buttered casserole dish.

Mix butter, coconut (bout 1/2 can), untoasted pecans, brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg to make a crumb topping. Make a good bit. This was my favorite part hehe. Sprinkle this very liberally (more of a layer than a sprinkle). Bake at 375 F until crumb top is toasty and firms up. Everything else is cooked except the eggs when you put it in. I think I baked it about 45 minutes, but mainly keep an eye on it.

I know I am being vague, I made this as an experiment before Thanksgiving. But it should give a jumping off point at least.