Dinner: Candied Yams

Recipe by /contributors/peter-berley This recipe was created for my ten-year-old friend and cooking student, Evan Chender, who used it for his Thanksgiving feast one year. Fresh ginger really spices up the sweet, meltingly tender yams.

Ingredients

2 pounds garnet yams or sweet potatoes
3 (2-inch) strips orange zest, white, spongy pith removed
2 cinnamon sticks, broken in half
1/2 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
1/3 cup pure maple syrup
2 tablespoons pure olive oil, light sesame oil, or unsalted butter
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 teaspoons peeled and finely chopped ginger root
1/2 teaspoon coarse sea salt

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 375 °F.
Peel and halve the yams crosswise. Cut each half lengthwise into 4 wedges.
Place the yams in a baking dish that will hold them in a snug single layer.
Tuck the orange zest and cinnamon sticks among the yams.
In a bowl, whisk together the orange juice, maple syrup, oil, lemon juice, ginger, and salt. (Note: if you're using butter, omit it in this step, but dot the assembled casserole with small pieces of it before it goes into the oven.) Pour the mixture over the yams.
Bake for 1 1/4 hours, basting every 15 minutes, until the yams are tender and glazed and the pan juices are syrupy.
Remove the orange zest and cinnamon sticks before serving.

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