Sweet potatoes - favorite (or unfavorite) recipes

Just looked at the video, basically what I already do, including the fennel, except for the fresh herbs. - oh, wait, he adds vinegar whereas I've been adding smidges of oil. I'll try that. Looks like balsamic..

Herbs are pretty pricey, but this year I'm drying sage, thyme, and rosemary in a cool dry place - miss my marjoram, oregano, mint, chives, savory, tarragon that I had going back in Venice. But, I'll plant more herbs next year...

2 medium-size sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1½- to 2-inch chunks,
1 cup water
¼ teaspoon Chef Paul Prudhomme’s Vegetable Magic®
¼ cup granulated sugar
¼ cup packed light brown sugar
4 tablespoons unsalted butter,in all
1½ teaspoons vanilla extract
Juice and grated rind from 1/8 lemon

In a 1-quart saucepan, combine the potatoes, water Vegetable Magic,® sugars, 2 tablespoons of the butter, the vanilla, and the lemon juice and rind. Cover and cook over medium heat for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Uncover and cook until the potatoes are fork tender, about 10 minutes. Add the remaining butter and stir until completely melted. Cook, uncovered, until the sauce is thick, about 2 minutes more.

Just did this. Good stuff. Tasty, easy as hell. Thanks, rog.

Good Eat's Alton Brown has an episode devoted to the sweet potato.





Recipes featured in this episode:
- Sweet Potato Waffles
- Sweet Potato Pie
- Chipotle Smashed Sweet Potatoes.

I love Alton. We need a topic on him.

I discovered he has a channel on youtube and has uploaded more than 100 of his Good Eats episodes. I've been working my way through them for the past month or so. As I find one that relates to a topic here I've been embedding them.

He might be a welcome addition to the Ask the Cooks topic since he does most of his measuring by weight and that is more universal for cooks in other countries.

I just read a Mark Bittman column on sweet potatoes, including (links to the side) some recipes for Sweet Potato Gratin with Ginger and Orange Zest, Savory Free Form Sweet Potato Tart, and Stir Fried Sweet Potatoes with Brown Butter and Sage --
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/19/dining/19mini.html?ref=dining



And then, in the Bitten blog, a recipe for Sweet Potato Pancakes -
Sweet Potato Pancake

mmmmmm, pancake...

I just noticed that pan with the pancake is sitting on railroad tile... used to have that in my kitchen. It was hard, indeed impossible, to find more of that exact RR tile.

I'm a purist when it comes to sweet potatoes. I bake them just like a baked potato. They get all caramelly and yummy. Then just butter, salt & pepper.

The Louisiana Sweet Potato Commission and the North Carolina Sweet Potato Commission have some good recipes:

http://www.sweetpotato.org/

http://www.ncsweetpotatoes.com/

Mmmm, their soup recipe sounds great!

http://www.ncsweetpotatoes.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=24&Itemid=62

Sweet Potato Rosemary Soup

This creamy, savory soup is rich in broth and fresh herbs. It's the perfect dish to warm a cold winter's night.


1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 sweet potatoes (6-8 ounces each)
2 carrots
2 cloves garlic, minced
5 cups chicken or vegetable stock
1 tablespoon fresh chopped rosemary
1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
2 large Granny Smith apples
1/2 cup heavy cream
Salt and white pepper

In a large soup pot heat oil. Sautee onion 5 minutes or until softened. Peel and cut sweet potatoes and carrots into 2-inch pieces and add to pot with garlic. Cook 2 minutes more. Stir in stock and fresh herbs. Peel, core and cut apples into 2-inch pieces; add to soup and bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer 15-20 minutes until vegetables are tender when pierced with a fork. Using a food processor or blender, puree mixture in batches. Stir in cream. Season to taste with salt and white pepper.

Makes 6 to 8 servings.

Wow, we hit the jackpot! Dozens and dozens of recipes for all types of sweet potato dishes.

http://www.sweetpotato.org/recipes/recipe/235

i like sweet potatoes added to any kind of soup - but no TURNIPS ! PLEASE !!

Does it have Feasting on Asphalt recipes, too?

A good friend of mine gave Alton a tattoo in the season finale of season one, I think it was. (Not sure of which episode, sure of the tattoo.)

Reading all of this and thinking. We're having friends over for thanksgiving and I'm doing a traditional slash boring spread -- turkey, dressing, gravy, cranberry nut bread, cranberry sauce. Friends are bringing a salad and "squash with curry apples stuffing." I want to make one more interesting thing, maybe of the green vegetable variety, not sure. May do something more interesting with potatoes. I love roasting but I do that all the time. (I do potatoes plus whatever I have, often carrots, often garlic cloves, looks a lot like the Jamie Oliver pic.) Any ideas? (Sorry if this is too off-topic -- a yam dish plus a squash + apple dish would be redundant, no?)

off topic :

i ask for a stirfry at least once a week (sometimes have purchased the ingredients already - i am smart !) :
usually : sweet yellow or orange peppers , LOTS of musrooms , some chinese greens - prefer baby bok choy , zucchini - dash of chutney and a spoonful of apricot jam - butter and olive oil : STIR ! READY !
had it today with matzoball soup .

Just did a search for it and they don't have the full episodes, just an occasional short clip now and then.


Here's the link for his Good Eats episodes:

http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=LikeTheHat&view=videos

And here's a short Asphalt clip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwz8i6HZs5c

Watching that one reminded me a lot of the Loose Meat sandwich place that Roseanne's sitcom family owned.

Snort, just as my enthusiasm was beginning to wane. I saw a soup recipe in the NYT? today and failed, failed, failed to post about it.

Still, I mostly like sweet padadas, my childhood pronunciation, and will check out that link.

You could kill 'em with the brussel sprouts, good brussel sprouts. (Sell the brussel sprouts thread, no link right now).

Me, I'd do something like sauteed red swiss chard, including chopped stems, stems cooking a bit first, in olive oil, w/garlic, w/chili pepper, maybe sneaking in an anchovy or two. at the start along with the garlic and chili pepper.
A dish that would be avoided by most, except for the one or two for whom it changed their lives...

People who avoid the least bit of bitter will avoid it as will anchovy haters, and chili avoidants. Oh, and garlic runners.

(The smushed anchovies are basically salt substitutes..)

On the other hand..

a cold fennel dish? fennel and pears?

spinaci fiorentino? a simple ital spinach dish, routinely delicious

marinated green beans?



(excuse me, that was "see" the brussel sprouts thread)