Recipes Desserts Pies Sweet Potato Pie Sweet-Potato Meringue Pie 5.0 (1,579) Add your rating & review This sweet-potato pie looks like a pumpkin pie, but the filling is actually made with sweet potato. Slideshow: More Delicious Pies and Tarts Plus: Ultimate Thanksgiving Guide By Andrew Carmellini Andrew Carmellini F&W Star Chef » See All F&W Chef Superstars Though he’s won tremendous acclaim for his modern Italian dishes at New York’s Locanda Verde, F&W Best New Chef 2000 Andrew Carmellini is fascinated by traditional American cooking, which he explores at his restaurant The Dutch and in his book American Flavor. Here, his number one entertaining tip, his favorite cookbook and the basic technic everyone should master. What’s one great entertaining tip? Pour heavily. What’s your most requested recipe, the one dish you’re most known for? The rabbit potpie at The Dutch, the sheep’s milk ricotta at Locanda Verde. What’s your favorite cookbook of all time?La Méthode, by Jacques Pépin, the first cookbook I was ever given. What’s the best cheap cooking gadget?Vegetable peeler. One technique everyone should know? How to use heat and fire correctly is elemental.2000 Best New Chef Bio Why Because while working in the French style of the restaurant's owner, Daniel Boulud, he has forged a culinary identity all his own. Born Cleveland, 1971. Education Culinary Institute of America, Hyde Park, NY. Experience Le Cirque 2000 and Lespinasse in New York City. First thing prepared Tossed salad with vegetables from his family's backyard garden. How he got into cooking "I was a very hyperactive kid. My mom says cooking was the only thing that would calm me down." What he'd be if he weren't a chef A guitarist in a rock band. "I've been playing guitar since I was six." A request he said no to Grilled skate. "It's difficult to grill skate." Strangest food eaten Baby loofah (a gourd whose fibrous skeleton is commonly used as a bath sponge) with mushrooms and preserved sea scallops at Ping's Seafood in Queens, in New York City. Favorite food books "I have a lot of out-of-print reference books on plants, flowers and vegetables." How he gets to work Bicycle. Least favorite food Sea urchin. A frustration The sudden rise in food allergies. "I wonder why that is?" Favorite wine "The monster reds. I had a 1971 Ridge Montebello recently that was so good it was almost a meal." Won Best New Chef at: Café Boulud, New York City Food & Wine's Editorial Guidelines Updated on November 22, 2019 Print Rate It Share Share Tweet Pin Email Photo: © Tina Rupp Active Time: 1 hrs Total Time: 2 hrs 30 mins Yield: 8 to 10 Ingredients Crust 1 cup (4 ounces) pecan halves 11 whole graham crackers, broken 4 teaspoons minced fresh ginger 2 tablespoons dark brown sugar 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted Filling and Topping Four 8-ounce sweet potatoes 1/2 cup dark brown sugar 3 large eggs 2 tablespoons bourbon 1/2 cup heavy cream 1 cup granulated sugar 1/3 cup water 3 large egg whites Pinch of salt 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract Directions Preheat the oven to 325°. In a pie plate, toast the pecans for about 10 minutes, until fragrant and browned. Let the nuts cool completely. In a food processor, combine the pecans, graham crackers, ginger, brown sugar, salt and cinnamon; pulse until crumbs form. Add the butter and process until incorporated. Press the crumbs evenly into a 9- or 10-inch pie plate. Bake the crust for about 25 minutes, until lightly browned and fragrant. Using a rubber spatula, press down the crust and let cool completely. Wipe out the processor. Prick the sweet potatoes all over with a fork and cook in a microwave at high power for 10 minutes, until just softened. Transfer the sweet potatoes to the oven and roast for about 10 minutes longer, until soft. Let cool, then scrape out the flesh; you should have about 2 1/4 cups. Transfer the sweet potato to the food processor and puree until smooth. Add the brown sugar, eggs and bourbon and process until blended. Add the heavy cream and process until incorporated. Pour the filling into the crust and bake for about 50 minutes, until set and the top looks dry; cover the crust edges with foil if they darken. Let the pie cool completely. Preheat the broiler. In a small saucepan, combine the granulated sugar and water and bring to a boil. Cook over high heat without stirring until a candy thermometer inserted in the syrup registers 240°, about 5 minutes. Meanwhile, in the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the whisk, beat the egg whites with the salt until soft peaks form. With the machine on, carefully drizzle in the hot syrup and beat at high speed until the whites are stiff, glossy and warm to the touch, about 5 minutes. Beat in the vanilla. Mound the meringue over the sweet potato filling, swirling it decoratively. Broil the pie 4 to 6 inches from the heat for about 30 seconds, until the meringue is lightly browned. Cut the pie into wedges and serve. Make Ahead The pie can be refrigerated overnight. Rate it Print