Edna Lewiss Sweet Potatoes Baked With Lemon Recipes

SWEET POTATOES BAKED WITH LEMON

Steps:

• Rinse the potatoes under warm water. Place in a large pot, cover with cold water, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer until the potatoes are just tender, 25 to 30 minutes. Drain and let cool.
• Combine the sugar, ½ cup water, nutmeg, lemon zest and salt in a medium saucepan, bring to a simmer over medium heat and cook for 10 minutes. Add 5 tablespoons butter and stir well. When the butter has melted, remove from the heat and beat in the lemon juice. Set aside.
• Heat oven to 425 degrees. Peel the sweet potatoes and slice into 1/2-inch disks. Use the remaining tablespoon of butter to grease a shallow baking dish. Lay the sweet potatoes in the dish in a single layer and pour the lemon syrup on top. Bake until bubbling hot, about 30 minutes.

EDNA LEWIS'S SPICED PEARS

Steps:

• In a large saucepan over medium heat, toast the cloves, shaking the pan, until they're very aromatic. Add the sugar, vinegar and salt, and bring up to a simmer. Simmer for 5 minutes.
• Meanwhile, peel the pears, and halve them lengthwise, if needed, to fit the pan. (You can pick out the seeds if you like.) Carefully place the pears in the syrup, and simmer gently.
• Stir the pears every few minutes, to make sure they cook evenly, especially if the hot syrup doesn't completely submerge them. Cook them until they are just tender at their thickest parts; check with a toothpick after 15 minutes of cooking. When the pears are ready, remove the pan from the heat and place a clean plate on top of the pears to keep them submerged in the vinegar syrup. Allow to cool for six hours or overnight.
• Serve right away, store in the refrigerator or can. If you store them in the fridge, you can separate the pears and syrup and use them independently. If you plan on canning, Lewis instructs you to strain the syrup and boil it for 5 minutes. Pack the pears in jars, cover with the hot syrup and process according to your jar manufacturer's directions.

ROASTED SWEET POTATOES WITH HOT HONEY BROWNED BUTTER

Steps:

• Heat the oven to 425 degrees. Poke sweet potatoes all over with a fork and place them all directly on the oven rack. Roast until they are very tender, with bits of sweet potato sugar caramelizing in the spots they've been poked, 50 to 60 minutes.
• Meanwhile, melt the butter in a small pot over medium heat, swirling the pot just until the butter starts to bubble and brown, about 5 minutes. Add the honey, vinegar and red pepper flakes, swirling to combine (it will bubble up quite a bit), and season with salt and pepper. Remove from heat and set aside.
• Once the sweet potatoes are out of the oven, slit them down the middle. Warm the browned butter mixture, and pour over the sweet potatoes. (Alternatively, scoop the flesh out of the skins and transfer to a bowl or serving dish, then drizzle with the browned butter sauce.) Generously sprinkle with flaky sea salt.

EDNA LEWIS'S BISCUITS

Steps:

• Take a large bowl, sift into it the measured flour, salt, soda and baking powder. Add the lard, and blend together with a pastry blender or your fingertips until the mixture has the texture of cornmeal.
• Add the milk all at once by scattering it over the dough. Stir vigorously with a stout wooden spoon. The dough will be very soft in the beginning but will stiffen in 2 or 3 minutes. Continue to stir a few minutes longer.
• After the dough has stiffened, scrape from sides of bowl into a ball, and spoon onto a lightly floured surface for rolling. Dust over lightly with about a tablespoon of flour as the dough will be a bit sticky. Flatten the dough out gently with your hands into a thick, round cake, and knead for a minute by folding the outer edge of the dough into the center of the circle, giving a light knead as you fold the sides in overlapping each other.
• Turn the folded side face down and dust lightly if needed, being careful not to use too much flour and cause the dough to become too stiff. Dust the rolling pin and the rolling surface well. Roll the dough out evenly to a 1/2-inch thickness or a bit less. Pierce the surface of the dough with a table fork. (It was said piercing the dough released the air while baking.)
• Dust the biscuit cutter in flour first; this will prevent the dough sticking to the cutter and ruining the shape of the biscuit. Dust the cutter as often as needed. An added feature to your light, tender biscuits will be their straight sides. This can be achieved by not wiggling the cutter. Press the cutter into the dough and lift up with a sharp quickness without a wiggle. Cut the biscuits very close together to avoid having big pieces of dough left in between each biscuit. Trying to piece together and rerolling leftover dough will change the texture of the biscuits.
• Place the biscuits 1/2 inch or more apart on a heavy cookie sheet or baking pan, preferably one with a bright surface. The biscuits brown more beautifully on a bright, shining pan than on a dull one, and a thick bottom helps to keep them from browning too much on the bottom. Set to bake in a preheated 450-degree oven for 13 minutes. Remove from the oven, and let them rest for 3 to 4 minutes. Serve hot.