These candied sweet potatoes with the surprising addition of lemon were on my Thanksgiving buffet this year. They are so delicious I believe they will find a permanent place on my Thanksgiving menu for many years to come.
If you are not familiar with this acclaimed southern Chef and cookbook writer, Edna Lewis, you can read about her interesting life and the influence she had on southern cooking here.
It is amazing to me how traditional candied sweet potatoes can become so much more delicious with the simple addition of a strip of lemon zest and the juice of a lemon.
The addition of the citrus balances the sweetness of the syrup in a remarkable way. I also like the addition of freshly ground nutmeg in her recipe.
This recipe can also be prepared in advance and warmed before serving.
Amanda Hesser, co-founder and chief executive of the cooking and home company Food 52, and a former New York Times food writer and editor, has included this recipe in the new edition of “The Essential New York Times Cookbook”, now available. It was first published in 2010.
“Lewis’s work … was so good, so familiar, that her recipes become a part of your life,” Ms Hesser wrote in the book. It has made its way onto Ms Hesser’s Thanksgiving table, and now mine too!
This is Ms. Lewis’s 1992 version, a testament to its longevity.
Edna Lewis’s Sweet Potatoes Baked with Lemon (Edna Lewis, Gage and Tollner restaurant, Brooklyn, NY) (8 servings)
6 medium sweet potatoes
2 cups light brown sugar (or a mixture of light and dark)
1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
A (6 -inch) strip of lemon zest (yellow part only)
½ teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
¼ cup lemon juice
1. Rinse the potatoes under warm water. Place in a large pot, cover with cold water, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer until the potatoes are just tender, 25 to 30 minutes. Drain and cool.
2. Combine the sugar, ½ cup water, nutmeg, lemon zest and salt in a medium saucepan, bring to a simmer over medium heat and cook for 10 minutes. Add 5 tablespoons butter and stir well. When the butter has melted, remove from the heat and beat in the lemon juice. Set aside.
3. Heat oven to 425 degrees. Peel the sweet potatoes and slice into ½ -inch disks. Use the remaining tablespoon of butter to grease a shallow baking dish. Lay the sweet potatoes in the dish in a single layer (overlapping, if necessary) and pour the lemon syrup on top. Bake until bubbling hot, about 30 minutes.