I’ve been making this sweet potato casserole since I arrived in New York in 1983, when a friend brought one, and it is always on my Thanksgiving menu. But a little about Alex:
If a Nordic God were to appear to me he would look like Alex Baker. He’d be tall and lean but muscular with well-developed thighs from years of running and he’d smell of green apples. I often thought if only he weren’t gay and a heart-breaker! I had a mad crush on him that I somehow sublimated into a lasting friendship but others weren’t so lucky. I asked him once why he’d broken up with a perfectly lovely guy he was living with and he said: Basically it’s because he’s a bore, and I’m a whore. That may be true but who else would spend days looking at apartments until he found the perfect one for us and when the lease ran out he moved me because I couldn’t deal with it. He helped me set up and run my catering business. Such boundless joy in giving! What fun we had together as we traveled together and partied at the China Club and Studio 54 until they closed the bar at 4:00 a.m. and brought out bowls of shaved ice to cool us down. We’d walk home through Central Park all aglow in pink as the sun rose, high on life and mescaline. We often marvel that we’re both still alive.
Alex was very clever with words. I had left a man who had been a significant part of my life when we moved to New York and one day Alex asked me: “Is this a case of ‘out of sight, out of mind’ or ‘absence makes the heart grow fonder?’” Oh, how I miss him!
Sweet Potato Casserole
Ingredients
- 8 medium sweet potatoes or yams
- 1 stick butter chilled, divided
- ½ to ¾ cup heavy whipping cream
- 1 pound pecan pieces
- 1 cup packed light brown sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350ºF
- Place the sweet potatoes on a baking sheet and roast in the oven until soft, about 50 minutes. Let sit until cool enough to handle and peel.
- Transfer peeled sweet potatoes to the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade and process until smooth. Add 6 tablespoons of butter a little at a time. Add the whipping cream in a thin stream and process until fully incorporated.
- Transfer to an ovenproof casserole and smooth out the top.
- Make the streusel topping: Spread the pecans on a baking dish and toast for 10 minutes. Let cool. Place the pecans and brown sugar in the bowl of a food processor and pulse until almost ground. Cut the remaining butter into pats and add, one at a time, to the pecan mixture.
- Spread evenly over the sweet potatoes and bake until heated through and golden, about 20–25 minutes.
