Baked Sweet Potato (0 Star)

I have expressed my love for sweet potatoes on this blog before (and my mock snobbery--it's obvious when I'm joking, right? Right?). This sweet potato love matured and deepened when I lived in Hawaii. It was there that I tried my first baked sweet potato. It was served to me by a family with about ten scrawny kids living in a tiny, humble home. It was a very small half of a sweet potato that had been grown in the family garden. I was blown away by the creamy, bright orange, buttery, sweetness. I devoured it and looked around hoping for more, but it was obvious that my small half was a generous offering.

Another family in Hawaii served me a sweet potato, the likes of which I had never known existed. It was a small, skinny tuber, about the diameter of a medium sized carrot. It had been peeled, boiled, sliced into discs and served with butter. The most amazing thing about it was the gorgeous purple color. The color reminded me of purple gumdrops. Again I was blown away by the buttery sweetness--and the color!



I dream about those Hawaiian sweet potatoes. I have even grown my own sweet potatoes, hoping to replicate them, but the results were worse than yams. (Were they yams? The catalog said "Georgia Jets" and called them sweet potatoes.) If you read this post, you know how I feel about yams.

Then, this week when I went shopping I noticed that the sweet potatoes looked a little different than the typical sweet potatoes that I've seen around here. The skin was a deep purple. Normally the sweet potato skin color is closer to the color of regular baking potatoes. With visions of my Hawaiian sweet potatoes, I immediately snatched up a half dozen or so. Eagerly, I went home and baked one up and took a bite. Ahhh, lovely, lovely sweet potato! It was obviously not the same kind as the ones that I had in Hawaii--the flesh was not purple or bright orange--but it's flavor did come closer than any other sweet potato I've had. (Or at least closer to my memory of them...that was kind of a long time ago, sad to say.) What a creamy, buttery, sweet dream.







If you want to try especially good sweet potatoes, go to Buy Low and get some right now! If you are not familiar with it, Buy Low is right next to Cafe Rio, and close to Olive Garden and Movies 8. And be sure the sign says "sweet potatoes" not "yams"!

To prepare a baked sweet potato, bake the same as you would a regular baked potato and slather with plenty of butter.

Candied Sweet Potatoes

There are two types of people in this world--those who like sweet potatoes, and those who don't. I feel sorry for the little lives of those who don't. I have assisted some to see the light. Maybe this post will help others.

To begin with, I must make sure that there is no confusion regarding yams and sweet potatoes. Yams are not sweet potatoes. If anyone tries to tell you otherwise, run the other direction. Yams = yuck. Sweet potatoes = fabulousness. In the store, if the sign says "yams" they are not sweet potatoes, they are yams. Do not touch them. If the sign says sweet potatoes, they are sweet potatoes. Buy them. Got it?

Candied sweet potatoes are my signature Thanksgiving dish. Mainly because everybody else thinks they don't like them and no one wants to eat them, let alone make them. But I love them and I must have them so I always make them for Thanksgiving. However, I have found that usually people think they don't like them because what they have had in the past and didn't like were actually yams. And if they were mashed up yams, the dislike will probably be even more intense. But in my family, while initially my sweet potatoes were eyed with mistrust and possibly revulsion, they are now a very popular dish. In fact, my sweet potatoes reached another milestone this year. My Dad, who is notorious for his picky eating, accidentally ate my sweet potatoes, not knowing what they were. His verdict was, "They weren't horrible." Coming from my Dad, that is a huge compliment.

Candied sweet potatoes are one of those dishes that is very similar to dessert but is served with dinner. I really like that kind of dish. This is why, as you may notice, there is a sea of toasted marshmallows on top. Toasted marshmallows are an excellent compliment to sweet potatoes. As are brown sugar, butter, and nuts. Give them a try--you may find out that they aren't horrible.







I never measure, so these are guesstimates. It's all to taste, anyway.

Candied Sweet Potatoes

about 3 lbs sweet potatoes (not yams!)
2-4 Tablespoons cold butter
1/4-1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
1/2-1 cup mini marshmallows

Boil the sweet potatoes whole and unpeeled in a saucepan for about 15-20 minutes or until tender all the way through. Test with a fork. When done, rinse potatoes in cold water until cool enough to handle.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 1 1/2 quart baking dish.

Peel the sweet potatoes and slice into 1/4-1/2 inch thick discs. Spread a layer of about 1/3 of the potatoes in the bottom of the baking dish. Sprinkle 1/3 of the nuts over the potatoes. Cut little slices of the butter and dot the potatoes and nuts. Sprinkle a Tablespoon or two of brown sugar on top. Repeat the layers so that you have three layers of sweet potatoes, nuts, butter, and sugar.

Cover the baking dish with a lid or foil and bake for 20-30 minutes, until sugar is caramelized. Remove dish from the oven, remove the lid or foil, and sprinkle the top with the marshmallows. Increase the oven heat to 450 degrees and brown the marshmallows for 2 minutes or until puffed up and golden. Check frequently to avoid burning. Serve immediately.

Grilled Vegetable Salad (0 Star)

My pictures aren't the greatest but this salad was amazing. There were a lot of steps so it was a tad intensive to make (for me, maybe not for you expert cooks out there) but very much worth it. I'm posting the recipe here because I made some minor changes such as decreasing the red wine vinegar because I didn't want that flavor so strong and omitting the 6 tablespoons of olive oil in the dressing because everything was already coated in plenty of oil, I thought. I was very happy with the results. The flavors in this salad are fantastic together. I doubled it and took it to a barbecue this weekend and forgot to force it upon my children--um, I mean, allow them to sample it--so I don't know if they liked it, but I seriously doubt it.

Grilled Vegetable Salad

Several tablespoons grape seed, coconut, or olive oil
2 small sweet potatoes, peeled and sliced into 1/4-inch rounds (Sweet potatoes, NOT yams! Sweet potatoes = yum, yams = not so yum.)
3 small zucchini, sliced lengthwise into 1/4-inch strips
3 slices uncooked bacon
1 small leek, trimmed, scrubbed and chopped, about 1/2 cup (I used 1 medium yellow onion because I forgot to buy leeks and it was still great.)
1 cup frozen corn
3 ounces fresh baby spinach (a couple of handfuls)
2 T red wine or balsamic vinegar
1 T fresh chopped rosemary (or 1 tsp dried)
1 T chopped fresh oregano (or 1 tsp dried)
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup fresh Parmesan cheese (shavings or shredded)

Preheat BBQ grill or stove-top grill pan to medium-high heat. Brush oil over grates and on both sides of the sliced sweet potato and zucchini. (I put the cut up veggies in a bowl with several tablespoons of olive oil and stirred to coat.) Place on hot grill and cook until tender, flipping once halfway through, cooking about 10-15 minutes. (Mine were done at about 4-6 minutes total; 2-3 minutes per side.) The sweet potato may take a bit longer than the zucchini, but be sure to remove it from the grill before it gets too soft to pick up in one piece. (There should be some pretty grill lines on the vegetables but they should not be blackened too much. Otherwise the zucchini will get mushy and the sweet potato gets a bitter taste when blackened.) Set aside to cool, then chop into 1/2-inch pieces.

Meanwhile, cook bacon (whole or chopped, whatever you prefer) in a medium skillet over medium heat until crisp. Remove bacon from the pan and leave about a Tablespoon or so of the bacon fat in the pan. Add chopped leeks (or onion) to the skillet and saute over medium heat for about 5 minutes or until they soften. Add frozen corn to the skillet and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, 4-5 minutes until corn is thawed and golden brown spots begin to appear. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly.

In a large salad bowl combine all of the warm, cooked vegetables (grilled and sauteed), the bacon (chopped), vinegar, rosemary, oregano, and Parmesan shavings. Mix until everything is coated in the oil and vinegar and let it sit for about 10 minutes to allow the spinach to wilt. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Makes about 6 servings.

Nat's Notes:

1. Leeks are notorious for being gritty between layers. The best way to prep them is to first trim them, then chop them, then throw the chopped leek into a bowl full of cool water. Swish the leeks around and let it sit for a couple minutes to allow the sand to sink to the bottom of the bowl. Remove washed leeks with a skimmer/spider or slotted spoon.
2. Make sure the sweet potatoes are about 1/4-inch thick. If they're too thick, they won't cook through before the outsides get too black, and if they're too thin, they won't stay in one piece when you take them off the grill. They may have a slight bite to them, but they're still good that way.

For better pictures and the original recipe, go here.