Festive Orange Yams

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Ease: average Type: side dish Prep Time: 20 minutes Total Time: nearly 2 hours counting the time to bake yams. Yield: 6-8 servings

Cook's notes

You can serve these in the half orange peels as shown in the photo, but it will add a great deal of time. Scooping out the pulp and juice while keeping the half orange peel in tact is time consuming. I prefer to serve the finished puree in a lovely serving dish or bowl.

Ingredients

2 1/2 lb yams, scrubbed and not peeled
juice and pulp of 4 large oranges (about 2 1/2 c)
4 t freshly minced ginger root
1/2 t nutmeg
2 t cinnamon
1/2 c chopped pecans and some whole pecans for garnish
2 T butter, (optional)

Steps

• Pierce the skins with a fork or knife in several places. Bake the yams at 375° F directly on a rack in the center of the oven. No need to preheat. Tip: in order to save clean up from dripping yam syrup, place foil on a rack below the rack with the yams. Bake until very soft and dripping with syrup, about 1 1/2 hours. If the yams are soft but not dripping, they are not done.
• Let the yams cool enough to handle. Peel the yams. Do not throw away the peels! They are the sweetest and healthiest part of the yam! Either enjoy them with your assistant chefs, as a cooking reward, or reserve them for delicious additions to soup.
• Combine the remainder of the ingredients and mix well with a high speed mixer until creamy. Mix in Pecans.
• Either refill orange halves with yam puree or pour into serving dish. Garnish with pecans and serve hot.