Christmas Eve With The In-Laws

Tomorrow we'll be celebrating the holidays with Spouse Guy's dad and step-mom. Since they weren't here for our Thanksgiving feast, we are more or less going to do a repeat performance.

The changes will be potato casserole instead of mashed potatoes, green beans with carrots and mushrooms instead of country-style green beans, and sweet potato pie instead of pumpkin roll.

Here are the recipes for the casserole and the pie.


Rich and Creamy Potato Bake

(Sorry there's no picture of this. It came out of the oven just minutes before we ate, and I completely forgot to snap a pic of it.)

3 cups half-and-half cream
1/2 cup butter
1-1/2 teaspoon salt
1 2-pound package shredded hash browns, thawed
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

Heat oven to 350° F.

In large pan, combine cream, butter and salt. Cook and stir on medium heat until butter melts.

Place potatoes in 13-in. x 9-in. x 2-in. dish that has been sprayed with pan spray.

Pour cream mixture over potatoes. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

Bake, uncovered, for 50 minutes or until potatoes are tender and top is golden brown.

Sweet Potato Pie

4 oz. (1 stick) butter, softened
2 cups cooked, mashed sweet potatoes (about 3 med. ones)
2 cups sugar
1 cup evaporated milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 eggs
1-1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
¼ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 tablespoon nutmeg
1 tablespoon lemon juice (to preserve color)
crust for two 8" or 9" single-crust pies

Heat oven to 375°. With mixer, combine butter, sweet potatoes, sugar and milk until blended well. Add vanilla, eggs, cinnamon, salt and nutmeg and blend until smooth. With mixer running, very slowly mix in the lemon juice. (If mixture ends up looking grainy, either because of the lemon juice or because the butter particles start to harden again, don't worry…it will bake just fine.)

Divide filling between the two pie shells. Cover edges of crust with foil to prevent over-browning. Bake for 40 minutes, then remove foil and bake another 20 minutes or until a knife inserted in center comes out clean. Let cool before slicing.

Makes two 8" or 9" pies.

Serves 8 to 10.


Never-Fail Pie Crust

2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
2/3 cups COLD butter (can use shortening or lard if you like)
6 tablespoons ice water
1 egg
1 tablespoon vinegar

Cut shortening into flour and salt. Beat egg with water and vinegar. Stir egg mixture into flour mixture until soft dough forms. Knead several times on a well-floured surface. Divide dough and roll as desired.

Once this crust has been mastered, start omitting the vinegar. Once that version has been mastered, start omitting the egg for the final recipe.

I've never seen an explanation why this works as a "teaching recipe" for making a good crust, but it does. I still like to keep the egg in mine, though, because it helps give it a golden color.