Sweet Potato & Pecan Casserole

This was another favorite dish at my family's Thanksgiving dinner this year.  If your idea of sweet potatoes on Thanksgiving is deathly sweet marshmallow-covered sweet potato mush, maybe this one isn't your thing.  But since my cousins were literally fighting over the leftovers, I think they would agree that this is the way to make sweet potatoes.  I'm sorry to say that I didn't get a picture, but just imagine some creamy orange-gold potatoes baked with a crunchy, caramelized pecan topping :-)


Ingredients:

• 3 lbs sweet potatoes
• 1/4 cup evaporated milk
• 3 tbsp unsalted butter
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tbsp granulated sugar
• 1 egg
• The topping:
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg (freshly grated, if possible)
• 3 tbsp flour
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 2 tbsp butter, melted
• pinch of salt

Start by preheating the oven to 350 degrees.  Next, prick each sweet potato with a fork 4 - 5 times and microwave them on high for 3 to 4 minutes.  Don't cook all of them at once in the microwave, just two to three at a time.  This is just to speed up the cooking process.  Then, wrap each in foil, and stick directly onto the oven rack.  Bake for 20 - 25 minutes, turning them over halfway through the cook time.  They should feel soft when you give them a squeeze; if the potatoes feel stiff, they need more cooking time.  

Let the potatoes cool for several minutes before handling.  Open each foil pouch and cut a slit into the skin.  Using a fork, peel back the skin, remove the potato and put them into a large mixing bowl.  Add the butter and stir the potatoes with a whisk to incorporate and melt the butter.  Then whisk in the milk, vanilla extract, salt and 1 tbsp of sugar.  Next whisk in the egg.  Spread the potato mixture into a 9 x 13 pan sprayed with cooking spray.  

For the topping, mix all ingredients except the butter in a bowl; then stir in the melted butter until all ingredients are slightly moistened.  Sprinkle the topping over the potatoes.  Bake in a 350 degree oven, uncovered, for 25 - 30 minutes.  If the topping is not golden and bubbly enough, move the pan to the highest rack under the heating element and bake for a few more minutes.  Enjoy!