O Canada!

Now I am not one to quibble with our friends to the north but tell me does cheese fondue, curried rice, enchiladas, ravioli, and German dark rye bread sound particularly Canadian? I don't think so either. The New Purity Cookbook: The Complete Guide to Canadian Cooking even contains three--three!--recipes for the all-American apple pie. This book is another gift from my brother, and I wonder if he was more intrigued with the word "purity" in the title than the Canadian in it. Before your mind starts wandering people, know that Purity refers to a brand of flour.

Here in DC winter is in full swing (er, mostly, we have some weird warm days) and I tend to focus my cooking on soups, stews, roasted root vegetables and other seasonal recipes. In our household, sweet potatoes are not limited to a Thanksgiving side dish and we eat them once a week or so, normally combining them with black beans and salsa or cut up and baked as "fries." Mashed sweet potatoes do make me think of the holidays but don't write this recipe off just because you are so. Glad. The. Holidays. Are. Over. These are slightly sweet, a little tangy, and just right on a cold day.

Tangy Mashed Sweet Potatoes
Adapted from The New Purity Cookbook: The Complete Guide to Canadian Cooking, 1975. The recipe calls for canned sweet potatoes, but if you just can't stomach them (as I can't) three smallish boiled sweet potatoes seemed to work just fine.

1 (19 oz) can sweet potatoes, drained
2 Tbs orange marmalade
1 Tbs soft butter or margarine
Pinch of pepper

Preheat oven to 350. Grease a small casserole dish. Beat all ingredients together and pour into dish. Bake for about 15 or 20 minutes.