Scalloped Yams and Parsnips

Serves about 10-12

No one will guess what the middle layers (parsnips) are.  This is really a delicious dish full of good nutrients and though tasting very rich, is really quite light on the belly.  This is a perfect dish to accompany your plentiful Thanksgiving fare. It’s also an overnight dish so that makes it a bit easier for the cook making the big day fixings on Thanksgiving Day.

3 ½ lbs. yams

1 ½ lbs. parsnips

1 orange

1/3 C. brown sugar divided in 2 parts

4 oz. (1 cube)  unsalted butter divided in 2 parts

2 tsp. grated nutmeg

S&P

2 C. boiling water

2 Tblsp. honey

Pam spray 9 X 12 baking dish or 10” round pyrex

Preheat oven to 400

1. Peel yams and parsnips and slice in ¼ inch thick slices. Roughly divide the yams in 3 parts and the parsnips in 2 parts to make layering easy.
2. Zest 1 orange and after juice it. Then take the remainder of  the orange and place in a blender with a splash of water if necessary. Blend on liquidize and use half or more for this dish.
3. Put in a dish the orange zest; put in a dish the pulverized pulp;  put  ½ of the brown sugar and the 2 oz. (1/2 a cube) of the sweet butter in a microwave dish, micro a minute or so  and then put in the nutmeg, and S&P to taste. These ingredients will be sprinkled over your five layers.
4. Make 3 layers of yams with 2 layers of parsnips in between sprinkling on each layer the mixture ingredients listed in #3.
5. Mix together orange juice, some more pulverized pulp if any is left, and the 2 C. of boiling water and pour over yams and parsnips. If you wish you can add 1 heaping Tblsp. of honey to this mixture.
6. Cover the baking dish tightly with foil and bake in the upper third of a 400 degree oven for 20 minutes.  Reduce the heat to 350 degrees and bake 20 minutes more.
7.  Put in frig. overnight.
8. The next day remove dish from frig. and heat in microwave the other ½ of the brown sugar, 2 Tblsp. honey, and the other 2 oz (1/2 a cube). of butter and pour over top of dish.
9.  Let dish get to room temp and place in a 375 degree oven for approximately 20 minutes or when more of the liquid is absorbed and the top is brown.  To decorate even more, you can sprinkle a bit of cranberry sauce on top.