Sweet Potatoes

Candied yams, those big starchy slabs of potato slathered with butter and sweetened with marshmallows, are a Thanksgiving staple. But a little treasure of a spud called a Hayman -- an Eastern Shore tradition -- has made its way across the Chesapeake Bay, bringing a sweeter, lighter alternative for the holiday table.The Hayman sweet potato is an heirloom variety that has been grown for more than a century on the Shore. Smaller than a traditional sweet potato, it has white flesh that turns pale yellow when cooked -- and a lush, sweet flavor that makes marshmallows unnecessary.

This week's menusEach day of the week offers a menu aimed at a different aspect of meal planning. There's a family meal, a kids' menu aimed at younger tastes, a heat-and-eat meal that recycles leftovers, a budget meal that employs a cost- cutting strategy, a meatless or "less meat" dish for people who may not be strict vegetarians but are trying to cut down on meat, an express meal that requires little or no preparation, and an entertaining menu that's quick.Sunday/FamilyServe...

Ann Bailey of Pasadena asked for a "recipe for sweet potatoes in a syrup that makes them sticky." Her answer came from John J. Krawczyk of Las Cruces, N.M., who enjoys recipes and says he has hundreds of cookbooks.Krawczyk's Candied Sweet PotatoesMakes 8-10 servings6 medium sweet potatoes (about 4 1/2 pounds)1/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar1/2 cup sugar2 tablespoons all-purpose flour1 teaspoon ground cinnamon1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg1/4 teaspoon ground allspice3/4 cup pineapple juice1/3 cup light corn syrup2 tablespoons orange juice1/4 cup butter or margarine1/2 cup chopped pecansCook sweet potatoes in boiling water for 20-25 minutes or until fork-tender.

I'm from North Carolina, love sweet potatoes and want to grow them in my garden. Last year I couldn't find any slips (what Northerners call transplants). Can't I just grow my own from sweet potatoes I brought up last year from North Carolina?Yes, you can. Sweet potatoes are just large storage roots, unlike white potatoes, which are tubers. You can grow slips two ways indoors. First, scrub your potatoes well to remove anti-sprouting chemicals applied after harvest. Then, cut a potato in half and suspend each half in a bowl so that the bottom third of the root is underwater.

This Thanksgiving, just say "no" to marshmallows. And give sweet potatoes a chance to shine on the dinner table.Rescued from their gooey fate, they might just upstage the turkey. They're easy on the cook, delicious and perfect for the season.Try these cooking methods from the SweetPotato Commission:* For perfect baked sweet potatoes, rub a little oil over clean and dry sweet potatoes of uniform size. Place on a baking sheet and bake at 400 degrees for 40 to 50 minutes, depending on size.* To microwave, choose uniform sweet potatoes.

SWEET POTATOES are not easy on the eye. Their long, dark shapes and odd bumps make it difficult for them to win friends easily and influence palates.But like a lot of things in life, once you get beyond firstimpressions, sweet potatoes have a lot to offer. They may be bug-ugly on the outside, but in the right hands they can deliver sweet satisfaction.They are a difficult sell, especially to kids. The other night, for instance, when my wife served up a plate of sweet-potato french fries to our two kids, they turned up their Yankee noses.

Most of us have grown up with our parents exhorting us to "eat your fruits and vegetables -- they're good for you." Since 35 percent of all cancer deaths can be attributed to the typical American diet (too high in fats and too low in fiber), health authorities are encouraging consumers to reduce the risk of cancer by eating at least five servings of fruits and vegetables every day as part of a low-fat, high-fiber diet.And while all produce may be good for you, here are a few specific items that are readily available year-round, are relatively inexpensive and are particularly valuable from a nutritional standpoint.

The culinary and performing arts are equally important in the life of Alexander Smalls, a self-described "social minister" of food with "a Southern presence, a Southern edge."With a song on his lips and food in his heart, this internationally acclaimed opera singer and successful New York restaurateur continually has expanded his horizons beyond his native South Carolina. How he has mastered both roles is delightfully detailed in "Grace the Table: Stories & Recipes From My Southern Revival," by Alexander Smalls (HarperCollins, $25)

Sweet potatoes from the SouthThis unusual and delicious recipe for sweet potatoes is adapted from "The New Southern Cook" by John Martin Taylor (Bantam, $16.95). Serve with roast lamb or chicken:Sweet potatoes4 small sweet potatoes3 tablespoons fresh, grated horseradish1 cup heavy creamSlice peeled sweet potatoes 1/4 -inch thick. Toss with other ingredients and bake, covered with foil, at 400 degrees for 30-45 minutes until just tender.Must havesWilliams-Sonoma has outdone itself with food-related gadgetry in its current catalog.

"Please help me find a recipe for Sweet Potato Pudding. My Dad always wants this pudding," wrote Mrs. Elvin Myers of Baltimore.Chef Gilles Syglowski chose a recipe from Molly Hagel of Baltimore. He noted that "this recipe called for fresh grated sweet potatoes instead of canned and it was a real fresh flavor."Grated potato pudding1/2 cup butter1 1/2 cups sugar2 eggs, well beaten3 cups peeled, grated, raw sweet potatoes1 1/2 cups milk1/2 teaspoon saltpinch of allspiceHeat oven to 350 degrees.

Sweet potatoes, like fine cabernets, get better with age. Fresh out of the ground, they are considered "green" and have a high degree of starch. But if handled properly, their starch converts to sugar and, when cooked, sweet potatoes live up to their sugary appellation. At harvest, they bruise easily and are coaxed from sandy soil with a rubber-coated chain. That is what Robert Knopp Jr., whose family has been growing sweet potatoes in Anne Arundel County for three generations, uses on his Severn farm.

Keep this recipe handy for post-Thanksgiving leftovers - it'll take care of your extra turkey meat and any stray sweet potatoes. It works for brunch or dinner. And, even if it's not Thanksgiving and you're buying a pre-cooked turkey breast on sale, it's economical. shopping list Sweet potatoes: $1 Butter: 12 cents Olive oil: 34 cents Red onion: 50 cents Red bell pepper: $1.99 Turkey breast: $6.99 Eggs: 67 cents From the pantry: salt, pepper TOTAL: $11.61* Note: Prices are based on the amount of each ingredient used in the recipe.

Whenever I am invited to a potluck, I instinctively offer to make dessert, but recently, when a good friend mentioned that she'd like to have us over for such a supper, I volunteered to bring a vegetable. I did this because I was anxious to try a new dish one of my enthusiastic assistants had developed. The recipe was for a sweet potato gratin, which had been fashioned after a similar dish I had created using Yukon Gold potatoes and creme fraiche. My talented helper, Emily Bell, had replaced the white spuds with sweet potatoes, and used rosemary in place of thyme as a seasoning.

As you know, Sweet-Potato-Casserole-With-Marshmallows Day will be here tomorrow. It's also known as Thanksgiving. Many holiday tables - OK, most holiday tables - across the nation will be resplendent with a juicy turkey, cranberry relish, mashed potatoes and the side dish that could double as dessert any of the other 364 days of the year. To which many of you respond: So what's your point? The point is, there is a case to be made for sweet potatoes without marshmallows. Some of us think they're already sweet enough.

Shirley Doran of Queenstown was looking for a recipe that her mother used to make Sweet-Potato Puffs. They had a marshmallow in the center surrounded by mashed sweet potatoes, and they were rolled in corn flakes and fried. Rosalie Baer of Salem, Ore., sent in a recipe that she has used since the 1950s. Her puffs are baked rather than fried, which appealed to me for health reasons. Also, why mess with the deep fryer when oven baking can produce equally good results? Be sure the mashed sweet potatoes are completely cool before you try to form the balls.

While paging through the "new and interesting" twists on Thanksgiving found in recent issues of glossy food magazines, I started yelling, "No! No! No!" Later, when I cooled down, I murmured, "Maybe." The screaming occurred as I read suggested new ways to celebrate Thanksgiving found in Food & Wine, Bon Appetit, Fine Cooking and Cook's Illustrated magazines. With alarm I read about lemon zest swimming in the venerated turkey gravy, about cranberries mingling with the sweet potatoes, about something called a pumpkin tiramisu posing as a dessert.

Hyacinth Logan of Princeton, N.J., was looking for a recipe for a sweet-potato cake. Shirley Eldringhoff of Bel Air sent in a recipe she found in the newspaper many years ago that is still a family favorite. She says that she prefers to cook the sweet potatoes in the microwave oven because they seem to have more body. I decided to bake them in the conventional oven at 350 degrees for a little over an hour. The skins peeled off easily once the potatoes were cooked and cool enough to handle, and then I pureed the potatoes in my food processor.

Thanksgiving's cornucopia spilled out under the Jones Falls Expressway yesterday. Display tables sagged beneath piles of pears, broccoli, onions, sweet potatoes and red, green and yellow apples that seemed to glow in the morning sunshine. Shoppers, dressed in everything from sweat suits to their Sunday best, wound toward the exits of the Baltimore Farmers' Market with wagons, sacks and plastic bags brimming with fresh salad greens, carrots, hams and turkeys. Even the temperatures were refrigerator-perfect yesterday for what is typically the busiest day of the year for the market, which is open Sundays through Dec. 18 at Holliday and Saratoga streets.

Early American settlers and Revolutionary soldiers feasted on them because it was all they had, and most people have a serving of them on holidays. Now there's a day set aside for celebrating the Ipomoea batatas, or sweet potato, thanks to a Towson University professor of health who has a farm in the Stewartstown, Pa., area. The fourth Saturday of September is now National Sweet Potato Day. "I just got an official Pennsylvania Senate ruling declaring ... National Sweet Potato Day," said Jack Osman, who took a short break from teaching health sciences at Towson University to spend the day as a guest at Tuskegee University.

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. It's a day set aside to spend with family -- giving thanks for one another and all the year's blessings while sharing a turkey dinner. I have this dream of planning an elegant, simple Thanksgiving meal. You know, the kind you see on the cover of Gourmet magazine, with the turkey, and just a few side dishes beautifully served. But here's my problem. No matter how I try, I cannot get the few side dishes part right. My dinner menu usually starts out on an optimistic note.