Maker's Sweet Potatoes

I've dubbed this sweet potato dish "Maker's Sweet Potatoes." Here the "Maker" is God (Maker of all sweet potatoes), but also the whiskey that he inspired down yonder in Kentucky -- Maker's Mark (the jewel of all whiskeys). Can you tell I've jettisoned my wine in favor of the hard stuff?

Actually the recipe is taken from Virginia Willis' Bon Appetit Y'all. I think Virginia must be a cousin of mine from my granddaddy's Atlanta roots because I am severely in love with all of her recipes. It must be in the Atlanta blood -- like Coca-Cola. 

I served these along with the Swiss chard on the previous post and some of that great grass-fed ribeye from the co-op. I also made a killer horseradish sauce to serve on the beef. That recipe might show up tomorrow!

NOTE: These are so good that double portions can be made for dessert!! And my non-bourbon loving kids loved them. 

Virginia Willis' Bourbon Sweet Potatoes

Ingredients:

1/2 stick of butter

4 to 6 sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch slices

Sea salt and freshly ground pepper

1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1/2 cup bourbon (Maker's Mark is gluten free!!)

2 tablespoons of maple syrup

Make it!

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter a casserole dish. I used my Le Creuset oval casserole dish. Arrange the slices of sweet potato around the casserole. Season with salt and pepper. 

In a large sauce pan, combine the sugar, 4 tablespoons of butter, bourbon, and syrup and bring to a boil. Use a LARGE sauce pan because I used a small All-Clad saucepan, and I had FLAMBÉ going on when the mixture came to a boil. Not clever. So use a big and deep pan. As soon as the sauce is boiling, pour it over the sweet potatoes. 

Bake the casserole, basting and turning the potatoes occasionally, until the potatoes are tender. This should take about 60 minutes (even in my convection oven). Adjust your seasonings and eat it up!!

 Cheers! It's 5 o'clock somewhere!

The finished product -- definitely a bit of heaven!!