Food Network Magazine (November 2013)
We have open minds when it comes to Thanksgiving.
We won't hesitate to use a new ingredient or technique, or choose something that sounds outright bizarre for the Thanksgiving table (we're looking at you, Tomato and Olive Stuffing).
When we were selecting dishes for our Fakesgiving, our menu was shaping up to be somewhat traditional, so we purposefully zeroed in on a few things that were more unusual.
And Tyler Florence's Whipped Sweet Potato with Bananas and Honey from Food Network Magazine is nothing if not unusual.
If you've never roasted bananas, this is what they look like coming out of the oven.
Let's cut to the chase here:
This dish tastes exactly like its two main ingredients: sweet potatoes and bananas.
Is that a good thing?
We're not sure. When whipped together, our sweet potatoes and bananas didn't so much meld into a new, different flavor, as much as they tasted precisely like sweet potatoes and bananas all mashed together.
In the magazine, Florence says that he loves that the dish has an "interesting complexity you can't put your finger on." In our opinion, you'd have to have some pretty sorry finger-putting-on skills to not taste the banana from the very first bite.
Other than the bananas, this is a straightforward take on a sweet potato casserole.
Though we're glad we gave this dish a try, the bananas are not for us.
Maybe they'll be for you?
(P.S. That's not one of our hands in the photo; our nails never look that good. That's Zach's sister -- and our consummate Fakesgiving sous chef -- Cassidy.)
Whipped Sweet Potatoes and Bananas with Honey
Food Network Magazine (November 2013), recipe by Tyler Florence
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Total Time: 1 hr 25 min
Yield: 10 to 12 servings
Ingredients
5 medium sweet potatoes, scrubbed
4 bananas, unpeeled
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/4 cup honey
Kosher salt
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
1 1/2 cups pecans, chopped
Directions
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
Prick the sweet potatoes all over with a fork, put them in a roasting pan and roast for 30 minutes. Toss the bananas into the pan and continue roasting for 10 to 15 minutes, until both the bananas and potatoes are very soft. Remove the pan from the oven but don't turn the oven off.
When the potatoes are cool enough to handle, scoop out the flesh into a large mixing bowl. Peel the bananas and add them to the bowl along with 1 stick of the butter, and the honey. Season with salt and beat vigorously with a wooden spoon until everything's well combined and the mixture is fluffy. Spoon into an oven-proof serving bowl and smooth the top.
In a separate mixing bowl, use your fingers to rub together the remaining stick of butter, the brown sugar, flour, and pecans until the mixture is the consistency of coarse crumbs. Sprinkle the crumb mixture over the sweet potatoes and return to the oven. Cook for about 20 minutes, until the crumbs are golden. Serve hot.