Uncle Johns Sweet Recipes

CHEF JOHN'S SWEET POTATO CASSEROLE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 2 1/2-quart baking dish with butter.
• Place sweet potato cubes into a large pot, cover with water, and add a large pinch of salt. Bring to a boil and cook until a knife is easily inserted into a sweet potato cube, about 10 minutes. Drain well. Return to the pot and mash 2 tablespoons butter into sweet potatoes.
• Whisk eggs, maple syrup, buttermilk, milk, vanilla extract, cayenne pepper, allspice, and 1/2 teaspoon salt together in a large bowl until smooth. Gradually mash sweet potatoes into egg mixture, starting with 2 tablespoons of sweet potato mixture, until all sweet potatoes are incorporated. Transfer sweet potatoes into prepared baking dish.
• Mix pistachios, brown sugar, flour, and 1/4 cup melted butter together until completely mixed. Crumble topping evenly over top of sweet potatoes. Use the back of a fork to gently press pistachio mixture down onto sweet potatoes.
• Bake in the preheated oven until topping is browned and casserole is set, 25 to 30 minutes. If desired, place under oven's broiler for 5 minutes to give topping a little more brown color. Let rest to cool slightly before serving, about 10 minutes.

CHEF JOHN'S ITALIAN MEATBALLS

Steps:

• Cover a baking sheet with foil and spray lightly with cooking spray.
• Soak bread crumbs in milk in a small bowl for 20 minutes.
• Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Cook and stir onions in hot oil until translucent, about 20 minutes.
• Mix beef and pork together in a large bowl. Stir onions, bread crumb mixture, eggs, parsley, garlic, salt, black pepper, red pepper flakes, Italian herb seasoning, and Parmesan cheese into meat mixture with a rubber spatula until combined. Cover and refrigerate for about one hour.
• Preheat an oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).
• Using wet hands, form meat mixture into balls about 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Arrange onto prepared baking sheet.
• Bake in the preheated oven until browned and cooked through, 15 to 20 minutes.

CHEF JOHN'S PUMPKIN PIE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).
• Whisk together pumpkin puree, egg yolks, and egg in a large bowl until smooth. Add sweetened condensed milk, cinnamon, ginger, salt, nutmeg, and Chinese 5-spice powder; whisk until thoroughly combined.
• Fit pie crust in a 9-inch pie plate and crimp edges.
• Pour filling into the pie shell and lightly tap on the work surface to release any air bubbles.
• Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes.
• Reduce heat to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) and bake until just set in the middle, 30 to 40 more minutes. A paring knife inserted into the filling, 1 inch from the crust, should come out clean. Allow to cool completely before serving.

UNCLE JOHN'S SWEET / HOT DIPPING SAUCE FOR MEAT

Steps:

• Place water, chili powder, cumin, garlic, sugar, molasses, salt and red pepper flakes into saucepan or in microwave. Heat until the mixture comes to a boil and completely dissolves into like a syrup-like consistency.
• Then, lower heat to medium-low or even simmer.
• Add tomato sauce and catsup, cover and let simmer, stirring occasionally, until the mixture turns a bit darker color. Don't heat on too high of heat or you may burn the tomato component of this sauce. Let simmer very low for long enough to make the sauce thicker (in other words on LOW heat reduce the sauce).
• When done, remove sauce from heat and let cool to almost room temperature.
• Add vinegar and smoke flavor. (Do not add while sauce is too hot as this destroys the vinegar's potency).
• Stir well and test for final balance of
• sweet/hot (sweet component should not be much in evidence, just add a tang to the sauce, the sour should not be pronounced. To adjust sweet, add sugar a tablespoon at a time if needed when you taste test it. To add tang, do the same with vinegar, spices, sweetness and heat. You can add a dash of Tabasco sauce.
• If sauce still isn't hot (spicy) enough, rather than add more red flaked pepper, add a dash or two of Tabasco sauce or Sri Racha Asian hot chili sauce.
• Place sauce in covered container to refrigerate.
• **Note: The amount of heat you like (red pepper heat) varies from person to person. So before using the full amount of the pepper listed in the recipe, you might experiment first on a half batch or quarter batch of this sauce and start out small on hot pepper and increase to where you like it. You should be able to taste the 'bite' of the hot pepper through the sweetness of the sauce.