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Candied Yams Gone Wild! « What We’re Eating – A Food & Recipe Blog
Candied Yams

Candied Yams Gone Wild!

Bleu Cheese Candied Yams
Eater rating: 4.5 / 5  4.54

As part of our week-long Thanksgiving food celebration, we ate a breakfast of homemade candied yams prepared with a stellar combination of molasses, honey, fresh sage and butter. The yams were topped with crumbled extra-creamy danish blue cheese and ganished with fresh sage leaves.

A: Happy Thanksgiving, T!…oh wait… it’s not thanksgiving yet.
T: that’s ok, for foodbloggers (in america) Thanksgiving is a week-long holiday! It’s the ultimate!
A: true dat. this little ditty started a week-long celebration for us. now we may not eat all of this food come thursday, but if we start now, we can get in all our favorites, and still eat the untraditional stuff we want.
T: Hell yeah, this is awesome. ๐Ÿ˜€ Being a foodblogger rocks! Especially for me because if you weren’t cooking I’d be eating nothing but granola bars and Burritos. (not that there’s anything wrong with burritos, I eat them for lunch everyday, but there comes a time to eat something else)
A: shit yeah! well, it rocks for me too, because if i didn’t have you to cook for, i would eat salad all the time… or veggies sauteed in PAM to watch my calories. and my god, would that suck.
T: yes, that would suck. throw in a few california burritos, though, and you’ve got yourself a well-balanced diet.
A: hmm… i’ve still only had the Santana’s cali burrito. before i could commit to that well-balanced diet, i’d have to eat a good one!
T: fair enough. Hey, I just had a great idea…
A: yeeees?!?
T: you could make us some california Burritos, Amanda style!
A: now, while i like how you’re thinking, i just can’t make the best tortillas… and without a decent tortilla, burritos suck!
T: that’s very true. k, mmm… screw the burritos. I eat them all the time anyway. How bout a nice big stuffed burger?
A: now you’re talking! but, you’re talking a different holiday altogether. now’s the time for starches and fowl.
T: Yes, but the burgers don’t have to be for the holidays. They can be just for the heck of it.
A: alright! i’ll do it! within two weeks we’ll have stuffed burgers… mark my words.
T: you’re words have been marked! And I will show you this post in exactly 2 weeks if we haven’t had burgers, and I’ll bitch. And then you’ll remind me of what I would be eating without you, and I’ll shut up.
A: glad you figured that one out for yourself! ๐Ÿ˜›
T: So, time to talk about the yams. These were super-delish, and made a magnificent breakfast. I’ve got to recommend candied yams for breakfast- they’re just the right sweetness and starchiness for the morning. Trust me on this one.
A: you know, i never would have thought of that on my own, but you’re pretty right-on. when you were eating them, was there anything that you thought might improve them?
T: no, they were absolutely awesome. I mean, they probably would have been a little better if there was some smothered fowl with gravy next to it, but, you know, by themselves I think they were about perfect.
A: hmm… you know, that’s the real problem with cooking these dishes on random days… you don’t get the whole “holiday-food-melding-together-on-your-plate” experience, but them’s the breaks, kid.
T: yeah, everyday can’t be thanksgiving day. If it were, americans would be so fat-
A: but wait, T! americans are so fat!
T: let me finish, woman! If everyday were thanksgiving, we’d all be so fat that we’d be stuck in our apartments! we wouldn’t be able to squeeze through the doors… but then some savvy business man/woman would get rich off of double-wide doors. God this country rocks.
A: ๐Ÿ˜ please…. whatever brave souls still happen to be reading this… PLEASE don’t take tyler seriously! (please) this country would not rock for making money because our population was too fat to squeeze through the current doorways.
T: No, our country would absolutely rock for that reason… it would suck because the entire population was so fat that nobody could leave their apartments. The double-wide door industry would be the one great thing about this nightmarish scenario.
A: hahahah touche! well, now that we’ve evoked such wonderful images, what’s your rating for the yams?
T: I give ’em a 4.63/5. They were excellent… what really made them a knock-out was the bleu cheese. I don’t think anything else could have complimented their flavor better (other than a pool of gravy over on the other side of the plate).
A: ๐Ÿ˜€ you know, i’m gonna agree with you. I give them a 4.45/5. That’s pretty much as high as i can possibly go on yams. they’re one of those holiday foods that i’ve always avoided. i generally find their sweetness to be overwhelming, so i thought to myself, “hmmm… what can i do to like these crazy things more?”. and man, add bleu cheese to pretty much anything sweet, and i love it.
T: oooh yeah. And gravy. Add gravy to pretty much anything sweet (or not sweet), and I love it.
A: hehehe i think that’s gonna have to work itself into a new nickname for you… Crazy Gravy T, or something ๐Ÿ™‚
T: You can just call me T-gravy. ๐Ÿ˜‰

p.s. please don’t call me t-gravy.

An Original Recipe, by Amanda
Candied Yams with Sage and Danish Bleu Cheese

4-5 large yams (or sweet potatoes), peeled and cut in 1" cubes
1 tbsp butter
1/2 cup regular molassas
1/4 cup honey
1 tsp fresh sage, finely chopped, plus a few leave for garnishing
1/3 cup crumbled extra creamy Danish Blue Cheese (or other creamy yet crumble-able blue)
Salt and Pepper

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place yam cubes in a medium-sized pot; add cold water until the yams are covered by about two inches. Liberally salt the water. Bring the pot to a boil over high heat. Once the water has reached a boil, continue cooking the yams for about three minutes - until the yams are slightly tender, but a little underdone. they will continue to cook in the oven. Drain off the cooking liquid in a colinder. While the yams are cooking, melt the butter in a small sauce pan over medium-low heat. Allow the butter to completely melt and finish foaming. Stir in the sage and saute for about 10 seconds. Add the molasses and honey and allow the mixture to simmer for a few minutes, stirring occasionally. Put the yams in a baking dish (or casserole dish) so there is one even tight layer. Pour on the molasses mixture and toss the yams and molassas throughly. Season with salt and pepper, then bake at 375 for 30 minutes. Remove the yams from the oven, then sprinkle with crumble danish bleu cheese. Garnish with fresh sage leaves, (but be warned: you probably don't want to eat the garnish!) Enjoy!

14 comments so far:

  1. DENISE says:

    Am I the first?!!!?? WHEE(: HAPPY THANKSGIVING DEAR!(:
    Awesome recipe. Never knew that cheese would go well with yam! Will give it a try.

  2. aria says:

    haha its true, its a glorious week long extravaganza. (oh, that stuffed burger, that will haunt me until i make it, i can tell already.) what an awesome combination the sweet yams and the savory cheese makes, mmmm! i’m so hungry right now too, droool….

    ps. my husband just looked over my shoulder and saw your banner on his way out the door. i can still here him giggling in the garage!!

  3. Bobby says:

    maybe y’all should try a bizzaro blog of Whatwereeating called whatwerenoteating and you could do some really nasty stuff like Sandra lee on the food network, or really nasty buffets, or is that redundant? No, I guess not, since there are some good buffets.

  4. Amanda says:

    Thanks Denise! it’s really the sweet/savory contrast that works together so well. i mean, i love most anything sweet with blue cheese…. hmm… maybe not ๐Ÿ™‚

    Aria, it always makes me happy to hear when people really get our header and how comical it’s meant to be! your husband rocks ๐Ÿ™‚ have you started your week of extravagant cooking yet?

    bobby… you know, we’re always looking for ways to keep WWE fresh, we could do a bizzaro blog day of the week but even if we reviewed nasty shit, i don’t think i could possibly stand that semi-homemade nasty hoe. can you believe a slogan “80% store bought, 20% homemade” actually flys? you should read this outrageous article… you’ll surely shit yourself ๐Ÿ˜›

  5. Rodney P. Sweetchops says:

    STOP CALLING THEM YAMS!

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweet_potato

    The moist-fleshed, orange cultivars of sweet potato are often referred to as รขโ‚ฌล“yamsรขโ‚ฌย in the United States. One explanation of this confusion is that Africans brought to America took to calling American sweet potatoes Nyamis, perhaps from the Fulani word nyami (to eat) or the Twi word anyinam, which refers to a true yam. The true yam, which is native to Africa and Asia, can grow up to 2 m (6 ft) in length (sometimes with knuckle-like ends) and has a scaly skin, a pinkish white center, and a thick, almost oily feel to the tongue.

  6. michellephant says:

    This looks pretty yummy…and no marshmallows! Did you know that it’s actually really hard to get yams in North America and even though that’s what it says at the grocery store, chances are you’re really eating sweet potatoes? It’s true!

  7. Amanda says:

    Rodney, i know and agree that they probably aren’t true yams but when you’re purchasing them from a farmers market where the farmers are selling several types of sweet potatoes as well as this root veggie that looks different from all the other sweet potatoes and they call it yams… that’s what i’m going to call it. who am i to challenge a farmers knowledge of his crop. Dad, if you’re reading this… could it be a yam?

    michelle, I hate the sweet potato/yam holiday dishes with marshmellows! i actually am not really a big fan of marshmellows period. and like i told rodney, i agree, they probably aren’t yams, but when the farmer calls them yams, i’m not gonna fight with him. now if my local grocer called them yams… may then i’d beat the bastard up (or have t-gravy do it).

  8. Regan says:

    Did you know that a Louisiana sweet potato farmer coined the term yams? He created a new variety of the Sweet potato and wanted a way to market them as something different and better. I saw that on Good Eats! BTW, I totally agree with you on Sandra Lee. Not only is she annoying, she always finds a way to show off her Boobs! I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving, we will miss seeing Y’all.

  9. Ashley says:

    oh wow those looks so good… I’m used to having mine with mini marshmallows all over… not complaining but your version looks even better. The whole sweet/savory thing.. I LOVE it!

  10. Tyler says:

    Regan, that’s crazy about the Louisiana farmer naming yams. I wonder if he named it after the african yam that Rodney P. Sweetchops mentioned his comment where he yelled at us for calling them yams.

  11. Nicole says:

    Happy Thanksgiving!

  12. aria says:

    happy turkey day to you both!! status report: i have butternut squash roasting, a cheesecake cooling, and stuffing in on the stove, woooohooo!!

  13. Amanda says:

    thanks for the info regan! i’m pretty sure i’ve read that before, but you know how long my brain retains much of anything! ๐Ÿ˜‰ we definately missed you guys on thanksgiving (and i’m gonna miss you guys for xmas… booo ffyc, boo. ๐Ÿ™ ) and no joke about little-miss-i’m-a-hoey-bad-cook-Lee. i don’t really need canned veggies and a screen full of boobs when i’m looking for food inspiration…

    thanks ashley! i totally agree about the whole sweet-savory thing! i just can’t seem to get enough!

  14. My family also does a week long celebration for Thanksgiving.. mainly because it’s hard to get everyone together on the same day, but we like to all get by to see my grandmother. She makes a slight variation of these candied yams and they are stinking DELICIOUS. Can’t wait to have them again this year..
    -Sylvia