Granny Ruby’s Sweet Potato Casserole
Alex George
(Peach’s Hot Chicken)
My best memories of growing up in rural Tennessee are centred around family and food. The best meal of the week was definitely Sunday afternoon lunch. After church, the adults would sit at Granny’s table while all us kids had our own miniature table complete with small chairs, plastic cups, and plates. The sweet potato casserole was a thing of beauty. Not a dessert by definition, but a sweet treat — and topped with marshmallows! No wonder it was always the kid’s favourite!
Serves 4-6
Cook time: 55 min
2 large orange kūmara (approx. 1.2kg)
250g butter, softened
50g brown sugar
100g chopped pecans or walnuts
1 tbsp maple syrup
½ tsp cinnamon
Pinch of nutmeg
Salt to taste
White mini marshmallows, or marshmallows cut in half, to top
Preheat the oven to 180°C.
Peel and cut kūmara into 5cm chunks (approximately) and place in a pot of water with 1 tsp salt.
Boil on stovetop until kūmara is tender and soft for mashing, about 20-25 min. Strain.
Mash the kūmara. You can use a masher, a mixer, a ricer or a food mill. Add butter, brown sugar, half of the nuts, maple syrup, cinnamon and nutmeg while mashing. Mix everything until it’s all together and then taste. Adjust the seasoning to your preference, keeping in mind that you will make it sweeter with the topping.
Put the kūmara mixture into a baking dish and top in the following order with: the remaining nuts, a LIGHT drizzle of maple syrup and marshmallows across the entire top.
Bake in an oven at 180°C for 15-20 min. You want the marshmallows to begin to caramelise and soften, but not burn.
Serve and enjoy!
Alex George grew up in a rural farming community in Tennessee. He moved to Aotearoa after meeting his Kiwi wife Olivia back in the States. Together, they started Peach’s Hot Chicken in 2017. It was originally a food truck serving authentic Nashville hot chicken all around Tāmaki Makaurau. In 2019 they parked their truck and opened up a shop in Panmure.