Sweet Potato

Excellent Ingredient of the Week
Sweet potatoes are a delicious item when prepared right. For me, that means in baked in the oven, then split in half and eaten with a chunk of butter while watching the 4:00 movie which hopefully is an Elvis beach extravaganza. That’s the way me and my mom used to roll when I came home from school as a teenager. As an adult (and I use that term loosely), I like to make baked sweet potato planks and dip them in chipolte ketchup. I think they should never meet marshmallows under any circumstance. But what else do we know about the sweet potato? Let's use the google...

The sweet potato is a tuberous root vegetable belonging to the same family of plants as the morning glory. It's a particularly popular food crop in the south, and you'll find it in markets all over the US. Sweet potatoes are native to Central America. They are considered a staple in many countries and have been cultivated in Southern states since the 16th century. Nutritionally, sweet potatoes are an excellent source of vitamin A and a good source of potassium and vitamin C, B6, riboflavin, copper, pantothetic acid and folic acid.

Sweet potatoes come in two main varieties here in the States. One has a golden skin with creamy white flesh and a crumbly texture. The other has a copper skin with an orange flesh that is sweet and soft. Americans have been calling the orange-fleshed variety of sweet potatoes "yams" since colonial times when Africans saw familiarities in them to the tuberous variety. The USDA decided to label them as "yams" to differentiate the two varieties. Both varieties of sweet potato, including "yams" can be widely found in supermarket.

Yams are native to Africa and Asia and other tropical regions. Yams are starchy tubers that have an almost black bark-like skin and white, purple or reddish flesh and come in many varieties. The tubers can be as small as regular potatoes or grow upwards of five feet long.The word yam comes from an African word, which means "to eat." The yam holds great importance as a foodstuff because it keeps for a long time in storage. Real Yams can be found in international markets, such as those that specialize in Caribbean foods.

Here is a great unusual sweet potato recipe.

Sautéed Sweet Potatoes and Spinach

Ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 large sweet potatoes
1 1/2 teaspoons curry powder
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup red onion
1 1/2 pounds spinach
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
Coarse salt and ground pepper

Procedure
Heat olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Cut sweet potatoes into cubes; cook, stirring, until starting to soften, 8 to 10 minutes. Add curry powder. Cook 1 minute. Add water and chopped red onion. Cook, stirring, until water evaporates and potatoes are tender and browned, about 10 minutes. Transfer to a bowl. In the same skillet, cook spinach in two batches, adding second batch when first wilts, 2 minutes. Drain; add to potatoes.Stir in balsamic vinegar; season with coarse salt and ground pepper.

Senegalese Peanut Stew with Spinach and Sweet Potato

Low-Cal But Still Lovely
I love anything with peanut butter in it. Yes, it's crazy high in calories, but the strong flavor goes far without using that much, so this soup is worth the calories. I found this recipe on the Weight Watchers website. Each 1 cup portion is 5 points for those who care. This recipe makes 6 portions.

Ingredients
2 medium onions chopped
1 medium green pepper chopped
1/2 pound sweet potato, peeled and chopped into 1/2 inch cubes
2 medium carrots, peeled and sliced thin
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons fresh ginger root, minced
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
4 cups vegetable broth
6 tablespoons creamy peanut butter
8 cups fresh spinach, stems removed chopped and packed to measure

Procedure
Coat a large saucepan with cooking spray and set over medium heat. Add onions and peppers and cook, stirring often, 3-5 minutes until softened. Stir in the sweet potato, carrots and garlic and cook 2 minutes more. Next add the ginger, cloves, salt, and cayenne and cook 1 minute more. Now pour in the veggie broth and bring to a boil, scraping up any brown bits that have stuck to the bottom of the pan so they mix into the soup. Add the peanut butter. Cover, reduce heat to a simmer, and cook about 30 minutes until sweet potatoes are tender. Now add the spinach, stirring occasionally for 10 minutes. Be careful once you add the peanut butter, as the soup will separate if you cook it at too high heat.

Ask Rula: Sweet Potato Chips

Ask Rula: Recipe of the Week
Yes, this is a tricky issue. But this recipe works. These chips are best the day they are made but are still delicious for up to 2 days when stored in an airtight container at room temperature.

Ingredients
4 teaspoons vegetable oil
1 1/2 pounds sweet potatoes, cut into 1/8-inch rounds
2 teaspoons distilled white vinegar
1 1/4 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Procedure
Heat the oven to 450°F and arrange the racks in the upper and lower third. Coat 2 baking sheets with 1 teaspoon of the oil each; set aside. Place sweet potatoes in a large bowl, drizzle with vinegar and remaining vegetable oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and toss to coat. Evenly divide potatoes between the prepared baking sheets, spreading in a single layer. Bake, rotating the pans halfway through, until the chips are browned and the edges are crisp, about 25 minutes.

The trick to make them extra crispy is after you've cut the potato, soak the pieces in cold water for 20-30 minutes before continuing. Drain well and pat dry.

Sweet Potato Flan with Sesame Tuiles

Seasonal Recipe of the Week
I love sweet potatoes in any form. When I was a kid, I used to call Bernice — my amazing mother — from school, and she would put 2 sweet potatoes in the oven 1 hour before I arrived home, and we would have a sweet potato snack together when I got off the bus. No wonder I'm on Weight Watchers now! This is a recipe from Debra Madison’s classic cookbook Local Flavors for a sweet potato flan with warm molasses topped with sesame tuiles. It's a great side dish to any meal or a vegetarian entrée, you pick!

Ingredients for flan
Unsalted butter to coat the 6 ramekins
2 cups whole milk
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 vanilla bean halved lengthwise
3/4 pound of sweet potatoes flesh (baked till tender or steamed and then skin removed)
2 eggs
1 egg yolk
Drizzle of warm molasses or chestnut honey
Sesame tuiles (recipe below)

Procedure
Preheat oven to 325. Lightly butter 6 4-ounce ramekins. Bring the milk, sugar, and vanilla bean to a boil and then turn off heat. Take out vanilla bean and scrape vanilla seeds from pod back into the milk, let stand for 15 minutes to infuse flavors. Take your 3/4 of a pound of sweet potato pulp and puree with eggs and yolk. This will seem a bit sticky. Add milk and process till well blended. Pour liquid into ramekins and bake in a bain Marie filled with boiling water, which extends halfway up the pan. Bake for about 45 minutes, or until mixture seems jiggly. Let cool in water bath. Run a knife around outer edge and turn onto small plates. Top with either warm molasses or warm honey and one of these swell sesame tuiles.

Ingredients for tuiles
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 egg whites
Pinch salt
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon roasted sesame oil
1/3 cup A.P. flour
1/2 cup toasted white Sesame seeds

Procedure
Preheat oven to 375. Cover 2 baking sheets with parchment. Melt butter and set aside to cool. Whisk egg whites with salt and sugar until foamy. Then whisk in sesame oil, and flour. Stir in melted butter and sesame seeds. Drop a heaping tablespoon of batter onto sheet pan, leaving 3 inches between cookies, and spread into a very thin circle. Bake for 6-8 minutes, or until lightly browned around the edges. Turn pans in oven midway through baking. Slide a spatula under tuiles and carefully lift them up and drape over a rolling pin to get them to have a nice curl. They harden as they cool. Bake one pan at a time.

Sweet Potato Pie

The Altitude Adjustment Section
Sweet potato pie is a Southern favorite. Here is a great recipe, from “The New Basics Cookbook” by Julee Rosso and Sheila Lukins of Silver Palate fame, with some great fresh flavors. Yes, it brings me back to my southern roots!

Ingredients
2 1/2 cups flaked sweet coconut
1/3 cup melted unsalted butter
2 cups cooked sweet potatoes
3 eggs lightly beaten
1/2 cup sour cream
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom

Procedure
Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Combine coconut and melted butter in a small bowl. Press mixture into into the bottom and up the sides of a 9 inch pie plate. Bake in oven till golden brown — about 15 minutes. Remove crust from oven and raise oven temperature to 350. Puree all the rest of the ingredients in the food processor till smooth. Scrape mixture into crust and smooth top. Bake in oven 30 minutes or until top looks dry and a knife inserted in pie comes out clean. This makes 8 portions. Whipped cream couldn’t hurt!

Sweet Potato and Tangerine Casserole

Seasonal Recipe of the Week
Why are some foods sexy? Oranges aren’t sexy, but tangerines sure are. So when I saw this recipe for Tangerine Sweet Potato Casserole, I had to share it. It’s from the New York Times Cookbook, one of my all-time favorites. Here is the recipe:

Ingredients
2 pounds (about 6 medium) sweet potatoes, roasted in the oven and peeled
1/4 cup melted butter
6 tablespoons brown sugar, firmly packed
3 tablespoons dark rum
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 tangerines
2 tablespoons chopped pecans

Procedure
Preheat oven to 375. Roast sweet potatoes till tender 45-60 minutes. Put sweet potato pulp in large bowl and whip it with 2 tablespoons of the butter, 4 tablespoons of the sugar, the rum and the salt. Peel all 4 tangerines, remove all pith — it's bitter! On 2 of the tangerines, cut the sections in half and remove any seeds. Fold into sweet potatoes. Put mixture into buttered 2 quart casserole dish. Arrange the tangerine sections of the remaining two tangerines on top of casserole. Combine remaining sugar, butter, and pecans. Sprinkle over top of casserole and bake 30 minutes. Not only does it taste great, but it smells great as well. Try it!

Peanut Butter Pumpkin Soup

Seasonal Recipe of the Week
So I was wandering through my cookbooks last night, and I came across this great recipe for Peanut Butter Pumpkin soup from The New Basics, by Julee Rosso and Sheila Lukins of Silver Palate fame. I forgot about this one, but reading it reminded me, and I think I started to salivate. So here is the recipe for 8 portions.

Ingredients
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
4 cups canned pumpkin
2 cups cooked sweet potato puree
1 cup smooth peanut butter
6 cups chicken stock or veg stock
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons chopped chives for garnish
2 tablespoons sour cream for garnish

Procedure
Melt butter in a large pot over medium heat. Stir in pumpkin, sweet potatoes, and peanut butter. Add chicken stock, pepper, and salt. Stir till smooth. Reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Serve garnished with sour cream and chopped chives.