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This simple, light version of the candied whipped sweet potatoes we encounter around the holidays is a side dish for everyday. We’ve dispensed with the frozen orange juice concentrate, the burnt marshmallow, the vanilla extract, and most of the sugar and butter, but trust us: there’s nothing ascetic about these glazed sweet potatoes. They’re a celebration of sweet potatoes’ essential minerally, earthy flavor. They go particularly well with a curry-flavored main dish, such as a country captain, or with a fresh roasted ham of wild boar, if you’re really entertaining the sweet potato spirit.

2 pounds sweet potatoes (about 3 medium potatoes)

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

2 tablespoons dark brown sugar

½ cup fresh lemon juice (from about 3 lemons)

⅛ teaspoon ground cinnamon

⅛ teaspoon kosher salt

1 Heat the oven to 325°F.

2 Peel the sweet potatoes and cut them into 1-inch-thick slices. Grease a 9-x-13-inch baking dish with the butter. Arrange the sweet potato disks in a single layer in the pan. Mix the brown sugar, lemon juice, cinnamon, and salt in a small bowl, and pour the glaze mixture evenly over the potatoes.

3 Cover the baking dish with aluminum foil, and bake until the potatoes are fork-tender, about 45 minutes. Remove the foil and cook for about 5 more minutes, until the glaze has thickened and become syrupy. Serve immediately. (The glazed sweet potatoes can be cooked in advance, stored in the refrigerator, and reheated in a warm oven.)

garnish it rich

•••

With dollops of sour cream whipped with curry powder or garam masala and kosher salt to taste.

PIMENTO-CHEESE POTATO GRATIN

serves 6 • TIME: 10 minutes preparation, 35 minutes cooking

Pimento cheese, sometimes called the South’s “house pâté,” is a simple cheese spread made with extra-sharp cheddar, mayonnaise, and diced roasted red peppers. It’s a very mildly peppery blend straight from the midcentury, and it’s delicious on celery sticks, sandwiches, and hamburgers.

We hosted two parties, one in New York and one in Charleston, for our first book (which contains two recipes for “P.C.”). For the New York shindig, we booked a crack team of four kitchen-savvy transplanted southerners, and we all pitched in to make 1,800 pimento-cheese tea sandwiches over the course of two days.

All 1,800 sandwiches disappeared in the first twenty minutes of the party (that’s 90 per minute!). One editor at a major food magazine was spotted with a stack of six in her hand, and later, wrapping more in napkins to stuff in her purse.

This recipe hit like a thunderclap—why not juice up a gratin with the peppery double hit of sweet roasted peppers and hot crushed red chile? We went into the test kitchen and developed this casserole that has dethroned our macaroni and cheese for the title of favorite cheesy dish in the house!

3 teaspoons salt, plus more to taste

1½ pounds Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and sliced into ¼-inch-thick rounds

¾ cup heavy cream

3 shallots, finely diced (scant ½ cup)

¼ teaspoon crushed dried red chile flakes

½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

One 9-ounce jar roasted red peppers or piquillo peppers, with their liquid

8 ounces extra-sharp cheddar cheese, coarsely grated (about 2 cups)

1 Heat the oven to 375°F, with racks positioned in the middle and the top third of the oven.

2 In a 3- to 4-quart stockpot, bring 2 quarts water and 2 teaspoons of the salt to a boil. Add the potatoes and cook for 10 minutes. Then drain, and set them aside.

3 Combine the cream, shallots, chile flakes, remaining 1 teaspoon salt, the black pepper, and 2 tablespoons of the liquid from the jar of roasted peppers in a small saucepan. Bring to a simmer and cook until the chile flakes have begun to stain the cream, about 2 minutes. Add half of the cheese and stir until it melts, about 1 minute. Remove the pan from the heat.

4 Layer roughly a third of the potatoes in a 6-cup baking dish, overlapping them slightly so that they