Lavender isn't the only edible plant I grow in my gardens. I also grow other herbs, vegetables and fruits too. You probably guessed I love gardening, but I also love cooking. So I am always looking for ways to incorporate what I grow in the gardens into various recipes. From time to time here I will post recipes I have tried using ingredients grown locally or grown right here in my gardens. As we all know home grown produce always tastes much better than store bought. The best reason I can think of is that the ingredients we get from our gardens or those that are grown locally are fresher. A great place to find local farmers in your area growing sustainably grown products is Local Harvest. Please check this organization out, they are a great resource and are doing a wonderful service for their members and for the public who wish to support their local economy and farmers.Now you are probably wondering what bourbon has to do with gardening? Well there could be a lot of reasons, as I am sure many could attest to.
But in this case, I was searching for a recipe to bring to a local dinner group I belong to, when I remembered having some delicious Bourbon Yams at a Ventura County Potters Guild ceramics workshop I attended recently. Since yams are in season in the winter, I wanted to try making Bourbon Yams to bring to the dinner group. Here is the recipe for bourbon yams.8 yams
2 cups dark brown sugar
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup bourbon
1/4 lb butter
3/4 cup pecans - chopped
Brown the pecans in a small amount of butter in a skillet and set aside.
Boil the yams for 12 minutes with water just covering them and drain immediately and put in cold water with ice added to stop the cooking process. After they are cool, peel and slice them.
In a large saucepan, melt the butter, add the brown sugar and cook till slightly thick. Then add the bourbon and heavy cream and blend together. Add in the sliced yams and mix around to coat them with the sauce. Then add in the pecans and mix around to distribute the nuts.
Put into a greased glass pan 13 x 9 and bake for 25 minutes at 375 (put a tin foil covered baking sheet underneath to catch anything that might bubble over.
I hope you enjoy these yams as much as I did. If you have any recipes to recommend, please feel free to recommend them to me.
