Thanksgiving Recipes: Yam Gratin with Gruyere

The weekend before Thanksgiving my supermarket was giving out a ton of free samples. As I was standing at the green bean bin picking through the beans, I listened to the woman handing out samples of a Yam Gratin with Gruyere. She touted it as being simple (only 4 ingredients, including salt) and a nice change from the traditional sweet potatoes with marshmallow topping. Of course I got a sample and after one bite I knew I had to change my plans and add it to our menu.



The store was selling pre-sliced yams, but since I'd already gotten my own yams to roast I just sliced them myself. Make sure to cut the slices to an even thinness so the gratin cooks through completely. I had a few rogue pieces that were a little crunchy. This was absolutely amazing and so simple. I will definitely make this again (although cut in half since this made a ton of food), whenever I roast a chicken this winter.

Yam Gratin with Gruyere
Wegmans

2 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
4 lbs yams/sweet potatoes, peeled
3/4 cup shredded gruyere

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 9 x 9 baking dish with nonstick cooking spray. Place baking dish on baking sheet.

Stir together heavy cream and salt in large bowl. Thinly slice sweet potatoes using either a mandoline or a sharp knife. Add to bowl with the heavy cream and salt.

Layer 1/3 of yams in baking dish. Sprinkle with half of the cheese. Repeat with another 1/3 of yams and the remainder of cheese. Top with remaining yams. Pour any remaining yam-cream mixture over top.

Bake uncovered on center rack of oven for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and press a spatula, carefully, against the top layer to allow liquid to flow over the "crust." Replace pan in oven and bake an additional 30 minutes. Remove pan, press top layer and replace pan in oven. Bake for another 40-45 minutes or until yams are tender. Remove from oven, let rest 15 minutes, then serve.

Make Ahead - The sweet potatoes can be sliced and stored in a plastic food storage bag up to 2 days in advance. The gratin can be assembled the night before baking, covered with plastic wrap and stored in the fridge.

Recipe Swap - Ruth's Chris Sweet Potato Casserole

This week's recipe swap theme was side dishes. Even though I love sweet potatoes I only cook them once a year at Thanksgiving. This recipe was reminiscent of the traditional sweet potato casserole, which I've never had (my family simply roasts the potatoes and serves them with butter).


Even though I eliminated the butter and sugar from the sweet potato mixture, the topping made the dish too sweet for my tastes. I think this would be really good as a side at Thanksgiving since there are so many other savory dishes to cut the sweetness.

Ruth's Chris Sweet Potato Casserole

CRUST
1 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup flour
1 cup chopped nuts (pecans preferred, I used walnuts)
1/4 cup butter, melted

SWEET POTATO MIXTURE
3 cups mashed sweet potatoes (about 3 large sweet potatoes)
1 cup sugar (I eliminated this)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs, well beaten
1/2 cup butter, melted (I eliminated this)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Scrub potatoes, prick all over with a fork, place on foil-lined baking sheet and roast for an hour. Allow to coil, peel and mash. Lower oven to 350 degrees.

Combine brown sugar, flour, nuts and butter in mixing bowl. Set aside.

Combine sweet potatoes, salt, vanilla and eggs (and butter and sugar, if using) in a mixing bowl. Mix thoroughly. Pour mixture into buttered baking dish. Sprinkle the surface of the sweet potato mixture evenly with the crust mixture.

Bake for 30 minutes. Allow to set at least 30 minutes before serving.

Mini Thanksgiving Dinner

Just look at this gorgeous plate:


No, it's not the fourth Thursday in November, but this is a Thanksgiving meal. Our friends C & D came over for a pre-Thanksgiving meal to get us ready for the big day in a few weeks. We split the menu so neither of us was cooking the whole meal. D made the turkey:


...which he carved before bringing it over to make reheating it easier. He told us he rubbed the turkey with a bunch of seasonings and then cooked it at high heat to seal in the juices and brown the skin and then finished it low and slow to keep it moist, basting it with apple cider along the way. It was sensational - moist, tender and very flavorful. He also made the stuffing:


... and the gravy:


I was in charge of sides, including a fresh take on green bean casserole:


... where everything was fresh instead of canned. Green bean casserole isn't a staple on our holiday table, but I've been interested in trying a fresh version and this didn't disappoint. Even D, who isn't a fan of green bean casserole, had two huge helpings. I also did mashed potatoes:


... roasted sweet potatoes:


... two kinds of cranberry sauce (jellied and jellied with whole fruit):


... and SP's famous biscuits:


I actually made this batch of biscuits since SP had been cleaning the house all day and didn't want to get any chemical residue in the dough. He walked me through each step and the biscuits were really good, with a nice tang from the buttermilk. C & D were also in charge of dessert, and C made a double chocolate cake:


She even made chocolate leaves to go on top of the cake. It was decadent and very good. After all this food we needed a long walk around the neighborhood. I think we're all sufficiently ready for Turkey Day on the 27th.

Thanksgiving Day Part 2

We got to my parent's house around noon and my mom and I set to putting the finishing touches on our Thanksgiving feast. I just love looking at this picture - it really was a feast.


In order to keep our energy up while we cooked, we noshed on a few nibbles:


... pita chips, crackers, hummus, various pitted olives and marinated mozzarella and sundried tomatoes. The turkey looked beautiful when it came out of the oven:


... all crispy and golden brown. My stepfather did an expert job of carving it using a new butcher's method:


We had two things of stuffing, one that was inside the bird:


... and the overflow that was baked alongside with some of the tasty pan drippings. While they both tasted sensational, I preferred the insider stuffing since it had that amazing turkey and butter flavor you can only get from stuffing cooked inside the bird.


We also had the rest of the usual suspects, including mashed potatoes:


... steamed green beans:


... and roasted sweet potatoes:


Here's the table all set and waiting for everyone to sit down and dig in:


For dessert we had three kinds of pie - pecan, pumpkin and cheesecake (if that counts as a pie):


I opted for a big slice of cheesecake with raspberries and raspberry sauce, and pumpkin pie, both of which were outstanding. Another successful Thanksgiving dinner. I hope everyone had a nice holiday!

Sunday Dinner

You might be wondering why I cooked a roast chicken dinner a few days before Thanksgiving. The answer is because I forgot Thanksgiving was this week. The holiday falls a little earlier then usual this year, not to mention I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that it's the end of November already. Wasn't it just August? Wasn't I just lamenting the hot weather that was keeping us from enjoying apple and pumpkin picking with friends? Where does the time go?


In addition to the perfectly cooked chicken:


... we had the sweet potatoes and carrots that roasted in the pan with the chicken:


... creamed spinach (I cheated and used Seabrook):


... mashed potatoes:


... and an acorn squash roasted with butter, salt, pepper and brown sugar until it was tender:


I also made a quick gravy using the pan drippings, aromatics, some chicken stock and a slurry made with flour and water. It was a mighty tasty meal and certainly made the house smell good, but now I'm worried I won't be in the mood for the big feast on Thursday.

Sunday Dinner Preview

This went into the oven 30 minutes ago:


In the bottom of the roasting pan there's sweet potatoes, onions, garlic, carrots and celery. Inside the bird is more garlic, carrots, celery and onion as well as sprigs of thyme and rosemary and a few lemon wedges. Slathered all over the bird is an herb butter made with parsley, thyme, rosemary, salt and pepper.

The house already smells fantastic.

Roast Chicken Dinner

Nothing says fall like a roast chicken dinner. SP picked up an oven-stuffer roaster awhile back so we decided to take advantage of him still being home to have a roast chicken dinner on a weeknight.


He rubbed the outside of the bird with butter, sea salt and pepper and roasted it until the skin was crispy and the meat was juicy and tender:


It was so good I had no trouble carving the legs, thighs and breasts into pieces. The meat was literally falling off the bone so I got the carcass pretty clean and SP made the leftovers into soup.

We wanted to have broccoli as one of the sides:


...but while we love roasting it that wasn't the right preparation for this meal. The flavors just didn't marry well together, especially with the Madeira-flavored gravy SP made.

After those luscious mashed sweet potatoes we had at the BBQ place over the weekend we decided to make our own at home. While these were fantastic:


...they were missing that pronounced sweet potato flavor for some reason. I added more salt to try to draw out the flavor but they ended up tasting mostly of butter (which isn't a bad thing, just not what we were going for).

Crescent rolls were on sale at the store so SP picked up a pack. It's been awhile since I've made crescent rolls so I had no idea how to separate the dough, resulting in only three or four actual crescent rolls and a lot of mismatched shapes and sizes:


They still tasted great, especially sprinkled with a little fresh chopped dill and pecorino cheese.