Brown Butter Custard Pie with Cranberry Glaze

I wrote about this recipe years ago when it first came out in Food & Wine Magazine and have made it every Thanksgiving since!  It’s the perfect non-traditional end to one of the most celebrated meals of the year and beautiful to boot!  I love the look of the cranberry glaze on top of the speckled creamy filling and the little golden orange dollops of deliciousness by the way of sweet potato and white chocolate on top!

Brown Butter Custard Pie with Cranberry Glaze
2 teaspoons plain powdered gelatin
Reserved browned butter solids from Cinnamon Toast Crumb Crust (below)
1 cup whole milk
1/3 cup light brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
Kosher salt
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons heavy cream
1/4 cup sour cream
Cinnamon Toast Crumb Crust (recipe below)
3 1/2 ounces white chocolate, chopped
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup mashed sweet potatoes
1 cup cranberry sauce, pureed and strained

Cinnamon Toast Crumb Crust
2 sticks unsalted butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
4 cups diced crusts and end pieces from 1 loaf of packaged white bread (10 ounces crusts)

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Sweet Potato Chips

Like most people, I love all things fried.  Whether it’s a snickers bar or potato, I’m more than willing to give it a go.  This weekend at the Dupont Farmer’s Market, the beautiful sweet potatoes and beets were calling my name, so I brought them home, not to roast, but to fry.  Here’s take on turning them into chips.  The secret is to use a mandoline to slice them so they’re thin enough to get crispy, but not thin enough to brown.

Sweet Potato Chips
1 tablespoon fine or flaky sea salt
1 teaspoon fresh rosemary, very finely minced
vegetable oil
1 large sweet potato, scrubbed clean but not peeled

Early Spring Vegetable Gratin

After returning from the farmer’s market yesterday morning with all sorts of cold weather veggies, I put together this delightful combination of a purple kale, garnet sweet potatoes and leeks using an old recipe for scalloped potatoes as the base. When reheating it for lunch today, I threw in some pine nuts and parmesan cheese, which complemented the dish so nicely, I’ve added them to the below recipe.

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Kale, Sweet Potato and Leek Gratin

1 large bunch of kale (about 1.5 lbs), washed well and deribbed
4 medium-sized sweet potatoes, sliced into 1/8″ rounds
1 medium-sized leek, white part only, thinly sliced
4 tbsp butter, cut into small pieces
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
1 1/2 cups half and half
1/4 cup fresh grated parmesan cheese
1/3 cup pine nuts

Comfort Food on a Rainy Day

I recently had some of the best sweet potato fries at Chef Geoff’s and have been playing around with ways to make them at home. Though the ones at Chef Geoff’s are fried, I have been working on developing a good baked recipe to keep them healthy.

Spicy Sweet Potato Fries

4 medium sweet potatoes (about 2.5lbs)
3 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp cayenne powder
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp sea salt
lime wedges for serving

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees with a baking sheet in the oven (about 15 minutes).

In the meantime, slice the sweet potatoes into wedges by cutting each in half lengthwise and then in half two more times. In a large bowl, combine the olive oil, cumin, paprika, cayenne powder, ginger and salt. Toss the potato wedges in the oil mixture, then arrange in a single layer on the hot baking sheet, being careful not to burn yourself. Return to the oven and bake until lightly golden brown, about 10-15 minutes. Turn over and continue cooking for another 10 minutes.

Remove from oven and season with salt and pepper, if necessary. I like to serve these with lime wedges, which cuts the heat a bit.

Enjoy!

Tip of the Day: Peeling Sweet Potatoes

To easily peel boiled sweet potatoes, plunge them in an ice bath for a couple of minutes after taking them out of the boiling water. It will cause the skin to pucker and easily pull away from the flesh.