Thanksgiving Sides

Not making the entire meal, haven't done that in years, but I am a contributor next week at my brother's. I love sweet potatoes in any way shape or form, so this year I'm making a great recipe from Country Living Magazine, the November 2009 issue - sounds easy enough. I mean what's not good with lemon on it?

LEMON-GLAZED SWEET POTATOES

Makes 4 servings. Working time: 5 min.

Total Time: 55 min. (Approximately. My words.)

Ingredients:

3 medium sweet potatoes

1 tablespoon of unsalted butter

2 tablespoons of dark brown sugar

1/2 cup fresh lemon juice

1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon kosher salt

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Peel sweet potatoes and cut into 1 inche slices. Butter a 13 x 9 inch baking dish and arrange sweet potato slices in a single layer.

2. Mix brown sugar, lemon juice, cinnamon, and salt in a small bowl. Pour evenly over potatoes, cover with aluminum foil, and bake until potatoes are fork tender, about 45 minutes.

3. Remove foil, return potatoes to oven, and bake until glaze becomes syrupy, about 5 more minutes. Serve immediately. (The glazed sweet potatoes may be cooked in advance, stored in the refrigerator, and reheated in a warm oven.)

My comments: Depending on how many people you're cooking for, I'm assuming you can

just double the ingredients, etc, etc, as you like. Use your best judgement. I'm going to add a bit more lemon juice than 1/2 a cup, but I LOVE the taste of lemons on anything.

This would also be nice if you added a few toasted pecans. I may or may not. If you love raisins you could probably add a few of those those too. Don't think I will.

One More Recipe: If you're wondering what green vegetable to serve or bring, I have my own fast and VERY easy string-bean dish that I love. (IF you don't mind a cold vegetable at the Thanksgiving table. It can take the place of salad if someone forgets to bring it or you've forgotten to buy lettuce or it's just too much trouble with everything you have to do and nobody eats salad at Thanksgiving, anyway.)

MARINATED STRING BEANS ala YVETTE (HA!)

Ingredients:

A bunch of fresh string beans - judge how many you'll need by the people involved.

OR a bag or two of frozen un-cut string beans (you know, the WHOLE bean).

Your Favorite Salad Dressing - I like Ken's Steak House Table Caesar Dressing.

Warning: This dressing is kind of salty, so go easy when assembling salad. (It's

ALWAYS easier to add than to subtract.) You could use any herb dressing as

well or a nice simple red wine vinegar dressing.

What to do:

Cuts tips off fresh string beans, then blanch them in boiling water, whole, until crisp and still green. A couple of minutes should do it depending, of course, on how big the pot and how many beans you've got. You can also steam them, but this might take a little longer.

Take a bean out and taste it and you'll know when it's right. They should still be crunchy.

If you're using frozen beans, then just steam them or place them in a 1/2 inch or so of boiling water for a few minutes. Again, you'll know when they're done - taste one.

None of this should take more than about five or so minutes, maybe even less. It all depends on how crisp and crunchy you like your string-beans.

Okay, once the beans are done to your satisfaction. Put them in a colander and run cold water over them to stop the cooking.

Place beans in a bowl.

Add as much or as little salad dressing as you like - see my salt warning above if you use the salad dressing I like - then toss.

Cover bowl, place in refrigerator and VOILA! How easy is that? This is delicious by the way, so don't forget to take it OUT of the refrigerator and place it on the table.

I'm thinking you could also add some finely chopped roasted peppers to this dish and it would probably be great. But it's not necessary. Green or red and green always look nice at the Holidays and add a visual pep to meals that with turkey and traditional accompaniments always seem boringly monochromatic.