Sweet Potato Hummus

Hummus and I... have never gotten along.  I keep trying hummus because it always sounds like a good idea.  But it never, ever lived up to my expectations.  I tried different brands, different styles, and all with the same result.  Utter disappointment.  However, I spotted this recipe in a friend's cookbook and decided to give it a shot.  Again.  And, miraculously, I loved it!

I really shouldn't be surprised because I love sweet potato in just about everything - marshmallows, soup, tacos, biscuits, etc.  And now I can add hummus to that list - hooray!

Light snack or fun appetizer for a party, and it's healthy.  Oh, and it makes a LOT, so plenty to share with friends!

Sweet Potato Hummus
(from Power Foods)
Makes 4 cups

1 lb. sweet potatoes (about 2)
1 can (15 oz.) chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1/4 cup lemon juice (from 1-2 lemons)
1/4 cup tahini (sesame seed paste)
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
Paprika, for garnish

Steam the sweet potatoes with your preferred method.  Some options:
1) Microwave: Wash and pat dry your potatoes.  Poke potatoes a few times on each 'side' for the steam to escape.  Microwave until soft, rotating them every few minutes for even cooking. When done, scoop out the inside and discard the peel.
OR
2) Peel and cut potatoes into 1 inch pieces.  Fill a large pot with 2 inches of water; set a steamer basket (or colander) inside pot, and bring water to a boil.  Add potatoes, reduce heat to a simmer, cover, and cook until potatoes are tender, 10 to 12 minutes.

Transfer potatoes to a food processor.  Add chickpeas, lemon juice, tahini, oil, cumin, and garlic.  Puree until smooth, about 1 minute; thin with up to 2 Tbsp of water (I used about 3 teaspoons).  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Let cool; refrigerate for up to 1 week in an airtight container.  Garnish with paprika before serving.  Serve with favorite pita chips and/or veggies.

Enjoy!

Sweet Potato Marshmallows

This time of year means lots of holiday parties, which gives me many opportunities to bake and cook to my heart's content.  Last year, at our neighbor's party I brought Oatmeal Stout Marshmallows, which were quite a hit.  This year, a different spin - sweet potato marshmallows.

Now, I can't take the credit for coming up with the flavor.  That would be my friend, Chut, who incidentally, taught me how to make marshmallows in the first place.  However, it's definitely a favorite of mine.

A holiday flavor, reminiscent of sweet potato casserole, of course.  But this is a delicate, velvety treat without any of the trouble of a goopy casserole.  If you're not necessarily a fan of eating the marshmallows straight, it works well in hot chocolate (it actually was really good, despite what you might think of the flavor).

I also tried something new for the 'shapes' of the marshmallows.  Typically I'd spread them in a prepared, shallow pan and then cut them with a pizza cutter.  It works fine, and is definitely a 'rustic' look.  This time, I put the marshmallow in a Ziploc bag, cut off a corner, and piped a few rows of it so I'd just have to 'slice' them instead of cutting out squares.  It made for more uniform marshmallows and was quite a bit easier and an easy cleanup.  The perfection of technique continues!

The recipe below is actually a halved recipe of the original.  But unless you have an army to feed, I'd stick with the smaller amount, as a little goes a long way with these treats.

Sweet Potato Marshmallows
(Chut's recipe)

Cold mixture:
1/4 cup water
1 packet of gelatin
Pour water in stand mixer bowl, and sprinkle the packet of gelatin on top and let sit while you work on the syrup.

Flavoring:
1/4 cup, rounded, of sweet potato puree (I used canned, unsweetened puree, but if you were ambitious, I'm sure you could make your own)
1/4 tsp cinnamon (or to taste)
Pinch nutmeg

Syrup:
3/4 cup granulated white sugar
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1/4 cup hot water
Combine into saucepan over medium-high heat.  Cook until it reaches 240 degrees (soft-ball stage).  It took roughly 10 minutes on medium-high heat.  Remove from heat and pour slowly into stand mixer, with whisk attachment, and whip at high speed until it's opaque,  no longer runny, and at least doubled in volume, and is much stiffer, about 10-15 minutes.  In the beginning of the whipping of this, add the sweet potato puree and spices.

While it's whipping, put parchment paper on a cookie sheet, and lightly spray with cooking spray, and lightly sprinkle cornstarch on it.  After marshmallow is done whipping, scoop into large Ziploc bag and cut off corner.  Pipe straight rows (it was about 4 of them for me), and sprinkle cornstarch over it and let sit for at least and hour or two to completely set.

A pizza cutter works GREAT to cut the mallows, and coat all sides of mallows with cornstarch to keep from sticking all over everything.

Enjoy!

Black Bean & Sweet Potato Tacos with Swiss Chard Pesto

I know you might be thinking, "That sounds like a weird combination of ingredients."  Stay with me on this, you won't regret it.  You want to try new things, right?  I've made a black bean and sweet potato burrito before, which was good, but this is way better!  Roasting the sweet potatoes is tasty and very appealing to the eye (always a plus).  And the addition of the swiss chard pesto is very unique and adds an interesting flair.

Also, you can adjust the spiciness level to whatever you prefer.  The boyfriend and I differ on this a bit, although we both have a similar Midwestern background.  I'm a wimp.  It's sad.  I try and try to enjoy more spice, but alas, I cannot.  I can't taste anything past the fire.  So I'm the perpetual "1 star/mild" girl at restaurants.  However, the boyfriend's multi-year stint in Colorado has served his taste buds well and he loves medium-hot cuisine.  Yay for him, but it does require some finesse in our shared cooking.

This pesto isn't too terribly spicy, as written.  The swiss chard absorbs a fair amount of any kick, so if you like it spicy, add in more, and taste, taste, taste!

This recipe is also a snap to put together, which is always welcome, of course.  I will admit that the boyfriend was a bit wary (even if he won't say so), and wasn't as excited as I was to try this recipe.  BUT, you can't argue with results, and the result was that we ate it all.

Tasty.  Easy.  Affordable.  Healthy.  Pretty.  It's a... quintuple threat.

Black Bean & Sweet Potato Tacos with Swiss Chard Pesto
(from the Bev Cooks blog)
Makes 4-6 individual tacos, with lots of leftover pesto, so make more potatoes and beans, or freeze the pesto!


Pesto:
1 bunch swiss chard, cut into chunks
1 jalapeno, roughly chopped, seeds removed
3 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
2 Tbsp. green hot sauce

1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Salt & pepper to taste

Sweet Potatoes:
1 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
1 large sweet potato, peeled and cut into a small/medium dice
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp chili powder
Salt & pepper

Black Beans:
1 (14.5 oz) can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp garlic salt

8 white corn or flour tortillas
1/3rd cup queso fresco, crumbled
1 avocado, diced
lime and cilantro for garnish

Preheat your oven to 400.

On a rimmed baking sheet toss the diced sweet potato with the oil, 1 tsp chili powder, 1 tsp cumin, a pinch of coarse salt and pepper. Roast for 30 minutes.

In the meantime, toss the swiss chard, jalapeno, garlic, and hot sauce into a food processor. Season with salt and pepper. Start pulsing. With the motor running, pour the oil into the processor in a thin stream, until you have pesto. Taste and adjust seasoning as desired.

Toss the beans into a small sauce pan and season with the remaining cumin, chili powder and garlic salt. Heat through, 5 minutes.

On a small grill or skillet, warm the tortillas.

Assemble: tortilla, sweet potatoes, beans. Dollop with a good 2 Tbs. of swiss chard pesto. Sprinkle on the diced avocado, queso fresco, a good spritz of lime and a few cilantro leaves.

Enjoy!

Sweet Potato and Rosemary Soup with Apple and Cheese Biscuits

Earlier this week, I was looking at some of the produce in my kitchen and there was an overabundance of sweet potatoes.  Hmmm... What to do with them?  Something new and different.  Poking around on the interwebs, I found this recipe on The Food Network, from Giada De Laurentis - Creamy Sweet Potato and Rosemary Soup.  It had a short list of ingredients, and was simple - all the makings of something tasty that really allows the ingredients shine.  Perfect.

You might have picked up on my recent obsession with biscuits.  But, is that really such a bad thing?  I think not!  Bring on the flaky, buttery goodness!  I do really enjoy a biscuit with my soup (if you hadn't noticed), so that was a natural pairing.  But I wanted to add something for a flavor to compliment the soup.  Hmmm... I really liked the local Beecher's Cheese I added last time.  What else though?  Apple!  It always pairs well with sweet potatoes.  I wasn't sure if the apple would affect the leavening or flakiness at all, but I was curious to try this idea out.  I did some research for any existing recipes, but didn't find any like I had imagined.  Great chance to test my hypothesis of awesomeness, and I'm pleased to report that it turned out well.  All the flavors in the biscuit are extremely subtle and just give you a hint and a pleasing aftertaste, but don't overwhelm the buttery and flaky biscuit.

All in all, an easy and tasty meal.  There was only one slight mishap involving the pureeing of the soup... (or user error, if you will.)  I don't yet have an immersion blender in my kitchen, so I had to utilize a regular blender.  I ladled in a small batch in the blender and it blended with no problem, and then I poured it out into another large bowl.  I ladled in a bit more this time, and pressed the button - bam!  The boyfriend and kitties came to investigate the noise and found me cursing and orange goop splattered everywhere.  Oops.  Learning experience!  (Or more motivation to get an immersion blender)

Despite my little lesson, the soup and biscuits turned out beautifully and I adore the flavors.  This will definitely be on my soup standards list!

Creamy Sweet Potato and Rosemary Soup
(from Giada De Laurentis - Food Network)
4-6 servings (1.5-2 cup serving size)


3 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
3 tablespoons olive oil
3 large or 6 small shallots, thinly sliced
2 to 3 cloves garlic, minced
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 pounds (about 2 to 3) sweet potatoes, peeled, trimmed and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
2 (6-inch long) stems fresh rosemary
6 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1/2 cup mascarpone cheese, at room temperature
3 tablespoons maple syrup

Edit 2/9/14: To make it really easy, peel the sweet potatoes and then shred them in your food processor.  It's fast, easy, and cooks quicker!

In an 8-quart stockpot, melt the butter and oil together over medium-high heat. Add the shallots and garlic. Season with salt and pepper and cook until soft, about 3 to 4 minutes. Add the sweet potatoes, rosemary and chicken broth. Bring the mixture to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer until the sweet potatoes are very tender, about 20 to 25 minutes. Turn off the heat and remove the rosemary stems (leave the leaves). Using an immersion blender, blend the mixture until smooth and thick. If you don't have an immersion blender, you may puree it by ladling, in small batches, into a food processor or blender.  If using this method, be careful with the hot liquid in the blender as the top may blast off!

Whisk in the mascarpone cheese and maple syrup until smooth. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Keep the soup warm over low heat until ready to serve.

Apple and Cheese Biscuits
(adapted from Cook's Country)
~12 biscuits

8 Tbsp (1 stick) unsalted butter
4 Tbsp lard (or shortening)
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 apple, peeled, and grated
lemon juice
1/2 cup grated Beecher's (or cheddar, or other cheese of choice)
1 1/4 cups buttermilk OR substitute (Stir 1 Tbsp + 3/4 tsp lemon juice or white vinegar into 1 1/4 cups milk. Let stand at room temp for 10 minutes until thickened)

Cut butter and lard into 1/2 inch pieces and refrigerate until chilled.

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 450 degrees.  Line baking sheet with parchment paper.  Whisk dry ingredients in large bowl.  Peel apple and grate (on large whole box grater) into a bowl.  Sprinkle with lemon juice, to prevent browning.  Then drain apples in fine-mesh strainer/sieve set over bowl.  Press liquid from the apples, to avoid soggy biscuits!

Cut in chilled butter and lard with pastry cutter until the mixture is coarse and butter is the size of small peas.  Stir in grated apple and grated cheese.

Stir in buttermilk until just combined.  Turn dough onto lightly floured surface and knead briefly, 8 - 10 times, to form a smooth cohesive ball.  Cover with plastic wrap (or wax paper or parchment paper) and roll to 3/4 inch thick.  Using biscuit (or cookie) cutter dipped in flour, cut out shapes and arrange upside down on prepared baking sheet.  Gently gather scraps and re-roll to 3/4 inch thick to cut remaining biscuits and place on baking sheet.

Bake until biscuits begin to rise, about 5 minutes, then rotate pan and reduce oven temperature to 400 degrees.  Baking until golden brown, 10 - 12 minutes more.  Transfer to wire rack and let cool 5 minutes.

Enjoy!

Maple-Chili Glazed Pork Medallions with Sweet Potato Biscuits and Cranberry Relish

The boyfriend and I decided a home-made date night was in order.  It started off with a typical favorite of ours - Eating Well's Maple-Chili Glazed Pork Medallions.  Normally I'd make mashed sweet potatoes with it, but I had been itching to try Smitten Kitchen's Sweet Potato Biscuits, no problem.

And then, while at the grocery store, the boyfriend said something about cranberries and I thought, "Ooo, I'll make my mom's Cranberry Relish!"  Brilliant plan, really.  And then we had a local Riesling to go with it.  The result?  Epic.

A perfect pairing.  Honestly.  I'll rarely suggest a full meal, but this is one to try!

Maple-Chili Glazed Pork Medallions
(Eating Well)
~ 4 servings

1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground chipotle pepper
1 pound pork tenderloin, trimmed and cut crosswise into 1-inch-thick medallions
2 teaspoons canola oil
1/4 cup apple cider
1 tablespoon maple syrup
1 teaspoon cider vinegar

Mix chili powder and salt in a small bowl. Sprinkle over both sides of pork.
Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the pork and cook until golden. Add cider, syrup and vinegar to the pan. Bring to a boil, scraping up any browned bits. Reduce the heat to medium and cook, turning the pork occasionally to coat, until the sauce is reduced to a thick glaze. Serve the pork drizzled with the glaze.

Sweet Potato Biscuits
(Smitten Kitchen - no marshmallows)
Makes 12 to 14 2-inch biscuits

3/4 cup fresh sweet potato puree or can of sweet potato puree (I got organic, so there was NO additional sweeteners, etc)
1/3 cup (79 ml) buttermilk
2 cups (250 grams) all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon (15 grams) baking powder
3 tablespoons (38 grams) granulated sugar
1 teaspoon ground (2 grams) cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon (2 grams) table salt
5 tablespoons (71 grams) unsalted butter, cold


Preheat oven to 400°F.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside. Whisk 3/4 cup  sweet potato puree with buttermilk until smoothly combined. Keep nearby.

In the bottom of a large, wide-ish bowl, whisk flours, baking powder, sugar, spices and salt together. If you have a pastry blender, add the butter and use the blender to cut the butter into the flour mixture until the biggest pieces are the size of small peas. If you don’t have a pastry blender, cut the butter into small pieces with a knife and work the butter into the flour mixture with your fingertips until the mixture resembles a coarse meal.

Continue by adding the sweet potato mixture and stir and break it up until the mixture is in big, soft chunks. Get your hands in the bowl and gently knead the dough into an even mass, using as few motions as possible (and thus, warming the dough as little as possible.).

Roll or pat dough out on a floured counter to a 1-inch thickness. Dip a 2-inch biscuit cutter in flour then form biscuits by cutting straight down and not twisting — this will help give your biscuits the maximum rise. Bake biscuits on prepared sheet for 13 to 15 minutes, until puffed and slightly golden on top. Cool on rack and enjoy as soon as possible.

Cranberry Relish
(My mom's recipe!)

1 bag fresh cranberries
1 navel orange
1 cup sugar (or, to taste)

Zest the whole orange into a small bowl.  Then peel, and pull out segments.  Pour whole bag of cranberries, orange zest, and orange segments into food processor and... process until there are no big chunks of anything.  Since oranges and cranberries can be sweeter or more tart, I'd start with 1/2 cup of sugar, and add from there.  Process until sugar is fully incorporated.  The original recipe called for more sugar, but 1 cup was enough for us.  It will be a bright flavor, but it's a great contrast to the other foods.  And it is a Thanksgiving and Christmas traditional food in our house!

Enjoy!