Calling all cooks...

[perdita]

Okay - a few weeks ago I offered to make sweet potato pie on Steve's blog. No one took me up on it (losers). Even WEM said he'd rather have pecan pie (snif). But I am undeterred:

Perdita's Fabulous Sweet Potato Pie

Makes 1 one-crust pie.

2 eggs, beaten
2 T butter, melted
2 cup mashed sweet potato*
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1/3 cup apricot jam
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cloves

*Don't you dare used canned! And bake those sweet potatoes. I usually bake them the night before I'm going to make the pie.

Just combine it all in a bowl, beat til it's smooth, and pour it into your prepared crust. I bake it at about 350 for 40 - 50 minutes.

[Whateverman]

Do you have a preference in crusts? This looks like it'd go well with graham cracker...

[E-lad]

Okay - a few weeks ago I offered to make sweet potato pie on Steve's blog. No one took me up on it (losers). Even WEM said he'd rather have pecan pie (snif). But I am undeterred:

Perdita's Fabulous Sweet Potato Pie

Makes 1 one-crust pie.

2 eggs, beaten
2 T butter, melted
2 cup mashed sweet potato*
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1/3 cup apricot jam
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cloves

*Don't you dare used canned! And bake those sweet potatoes. I usually bake them the night before I'm going to make the pie.

Just combine it all in a bowl, beat til it's smooth, and pour it into your prepared crust. I bake it at about 350 for 40 - 50 minutes.

We ate pumpkin pie my whole life till a few years ago I had my first bite of sweet potatoe pie. SP pie is not popular up north I think, but now I can't live without it around the holidays- and feed the punkin pie to the dogs.

[perdita]

Do you have a preference in crusts? This looks like it'd go well with graham cracker...

Never thought of that... you could add some of the spices to the crust. I've always made it with a butter crust, but I'll have to experiment.

Froggie: Yes! I'm from the chilly mid-west (Minnesooooooota) so I hadn't even heard of sweet potato pie until I has an adult. Tragic, that

[Benjamin Franklin]

Try using brown sugar. Mmm!

[Whateverman]

Roasted Asparagus and Fennel Medley
One of the best make-ahead recipes for roasted vegetables I've tasted. Can be served warm, cold or room-temp. Very easy to assemble

INGREDIENTS

• 2 medium fennel bulbs (1.5 pounds), trimmed of stalks, cored and sliced into 1/4" thick strips
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil (plus some for serving)
• salt and ground black pepper
• 2 bunches of thick asparagus (2 pounds), tough ends snapped off, and sliced diagonally into 2 to 3" pieces
• 1 medium onion, minced
• 1 TBS fresh thyme (or 1 tsp dried)
• 3 medium garlic cloves, minced (about 1 TBS)
• 1 pint cherry tomatoes (12 oz), quartered
• 1/4 cup coarsely chopped fresh basil leaves
• 1 TBS fresh lemon juice

DIRECTIONS
1. Adjust the top oven rack 6 inches from the heating element and preheat the over on broil. Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil and spray it with cooking spray.

2. Toss the fennel with 1 TBS of the oil, 1/4 tsp of the salt and a pinch of pepper; spread it in an even layer over the prepared baking pan. Broil it, stirring once or twice until very lightly browned around the edges but slightly underdone. 7-10 minutes. Transfer this to a wide / shallow serving dish

3. Repeat this with the asparagus. Slightly charred but slightly underdone, 7-10 minutes. Transfer to the serving dish.

4. Heat the remaining 2 TBS of oil in a 12" non-stick skillet over medium-high heat; don't let the oil smoke. Add the onion, thyme and 1/4 tsp salt and cook until lightly brown, about 10 minutes. Stir in the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Remove from the heat and stir in the tomatoes. Gently scatter the onion/tomato mixture into the dish with the broiled vegetables.

To store: cover dish with plastic wrap, and poke it with a few vent holes. Refrigerate for up to 2 days.

To serve after storing them: Let the vegetables come to room temperature, about an hour; alternatively, you can microwave them at 50% power for 1 to 2 minutes. Sprinkle with the basil and lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper, and drizzle with a little olive oil, if desired.

To serve right away: After scattering the onion/tomato mixture into the dish, cover with plastic wrap and let sit for 10 minutes. You can serve them warm or et them cool to room temp. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, lemon juice, basil and olive oil before serving.

----

TIPS
I substituted fresh dill for thyme and it worked great. When drizzling the veggies before serving, I substituted no more than 1 TBS of the olive oil with chilli oil; adds a nice spicy kick. The key with the recipe is to make sure the veggies brown a bit but don't get soft; they need to have a little crunch left when you take em out of the oven. They'll sit for a little while before serving them, and will thus continue cooking a bit.

[Vagon]

People talking about egg nog made me remember my favourite xmas desert.
You see I dont like cake (ice cream cake excluded) so the only way I eat it is with other stuff I love piled on top of it.
Therefore Trifle!

There a bajillion ways to make trifle but this is the Vagon family recipe and involves no alcohol so its kid friendly.
Now this is a little hard to make in the states because I haven't seen jam rolls on sale, but bear with me because we can still work around it. Apologies my Euro friends but I have NFI on what this would be called in the various parts but when searching for a pic I found a recipe: http://joepastry.com/index.php?cat=125

Ingredients (North American alternative in bracket):
Jam roll (Jelly roll/plain sponge cake)
Tin of sliced peaches in syrup.
500g Custard (make yourself or purchase to taste)
Two colours of Jelly (Jello)
200g Thick cream for whipping
Fresh fruit to top (usually berries)
Crushed or sliced almonds to top

Method:
Morning of or night before creation create the two separate jelly mixes and leave to set.
Get a large clear bowl, Salad bowls can often do the trick.
Cut the Jam roll in to about 1" width slices and cover the bowl as much as possible starting from the bottom.
Open the tin of peaches a little way and pour the syrup over the cake.
Layer the peach slices on top of the cake slices.
Pour the custard over the peaches.
Get the Jelly from the fridge and cut into cubes and place over the peaches.
Whip the cream and spatula it over the Jelly.
Top with fruit and nuts
Keep in the fridge till serving time.

Booze-hound/Zilch-would-kill-me-if-I-didnt-include-alcohol variety:
Instead of peach syrup use a sweet sherry
Instead of custard use brandy custard
Instead of regular jelly, use vodka jelly

[zilch]

Hey! I saw that!

[Vagon]

Hey! I saw that!

[E-lad]

Hey! I saw that!

Vagon,
What you describe there is what my Mother called a "Parfait." Cake and/or cookies layered with fruit, jellatin, cream, etc.
It can be built out of layers of pound cake, fruit and whipped cream and...well use the imagination! She would sometimes use a layer of ice cream and freeze it.
She had a special bowl with a stem bottom that she used to create them. You've inspired me to try this again!

I remember that on certain occasions she would infuse the layers of cake with coffee liquer and stuff, and hide it from us kids.