The careful passing of plates had already begun like a game of hot potato with a Fabergé egg, and I could already tell you-know-who took a bigger scoop of mashed potatoes than was reasonably appropriate in a shared-food setting with limited quantities. I found myself in possession of a bowl filled with pieces of an orange mystery vegetable. Since I knew maple-glazed carrots were on the menu, I spooned one chunk onto my plate eager to savor the deliciousness that only can only come of carrots being treated like buttermilk pancakes. Perhaps I should have been more skeptical about the fact these portions weren’t remotely carrot shaped, but what other orange vegetables are there? It took only one bite for me to realize I had mistaken a maple-glazed carrot for a nasty-ass sweet potato.
I was traumatized at the dinner table last Thanksgiving, and I vowed to step outside my comfort zone to make a lasting impact on next year’s feast: I was going to make a sweet potato dish that didn’t make everyone want to spit into their napkin.
***
I don’t like sweet potatoes. I wouldn’t say I hate them (except when I confuse them for maple-glazed treats), but at Thanksgiving dinner I usually pass them along because I need the extra plate real estate for stuffing. I’ve never tried it, but it’s definitely a gross factor for me that people put marshmallows on a tropical tuber. If you ever feel sadistic enough to read about health foods you should be eating (instead of Chipotle), you might already know that sweet potatoes are one of those “superfoods” with a long list of nutritional goodies that your life is empty without. Just to give you some context for how much of a big deal sweet potatoes are, here’s a quote from WebMD:
These tuberous roots are among the most nutritious foods in the vegetable kingdom… Nutritionally, sweet potatoes greatly outweigh yams.
So it sounds like life as a vegetable is a lot like Game of Thrones. Next time you go to the produce section, know that behind the scenes there’s an epic power struggle between broccoli (my personal champion), brussels sprouts, kale, and spinach for power over the vegetable kingdom. I imagine eggplant is the court jester, onion is the manipulative right-hand to whoever’s in power (all those layers are filled with secrets like Gretchen Weiners’s hair), and yams get all the shade.
Considering sweet potatoes have a couple of the good -iums and are chock-full of Vitamins A and C, For T-Day 2014 I wanted to make something using sweet potatoes that people actually look forward to eating–that doesn’t inspire the dread and disappointment I experienced last year.
Enter: Fudgy Sweet Potato Brownies.
…I know they sound gross. I’m sure most of you would agree that the adjective “fudgy” will always give off the subtle poo vibes that were established during childhood on the playground when you discussed with your friends all the brown things that kinda sorta look like poop. The brownies I plan on making come from a Paleo recipe that uses one sweet potato, an avocado, pitted dates, and brown rice flour among a list of other weird ingredients that’ll land you lost in an aisle at Whole Foods asking a store associate for assistance.
Before you get too nervous about my experimental dish running an otherwise fabulous feast like a last-minute Jell-O mold that didn’t congeal properly, chill out. I’m not the type of gal who thinks anything Paleo is sufficiently decadent enough to stand alone as a dessert. Altogether, I’m making three desserts for T-Day: the Fudgy Sweet Potato Brownies, a traditional pumpkin pie (with a store-bought crust, if you’re one of those elitist bakers who judges people who don’t make everything from scratch), and some oatmeal cranberry cookies.
My boyfriend and I were putting together the Thanksgiving shopping list when I shared my intentions, and let’s just say he’s skeptical, and his Facebook friends opinions varied from politely skeptical to mentioning diarrhea and vomiting.
Since Mike had turned to his friends for backup, I had to solicit feedback from Julie and my mom:
Truthfully, I have no idea how these are going to turn out. I know the ingredients are unexpected (read: somewhat gross), and there’s a good chance only people who routinely deprive themselves processed foods would describe these as delicious, but I’m determined to clear sweet potato’s name. Be on the lookout for a Thanksgiving morning post where the outcome of the Fudgy Sweet Potato Brownies will be revealed. In the meantime…
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PS: If you notice the video skips at the 3:24 mark, that’s because I turned my phone on myself, and when I watched it back I realized I had an unmistakeable booger in my nose.
