November 25th, 2011 / comments
Last November, on the Friday after Thanksgiving, I opened the fridge to get a slice of lemon for my morning cup of tea and was overwhelmed by bowls, containers and aluminum foil wrapped packets of leftovers. Charles had been in charge of clean up the night before and, with the help of a couple of other non-cooks, had done a splendid job but the overstuffed fridge needed immediate attention.
The turkey carcass was precariously perched on a jug of gravy and a bowl half filled with roasted cranberry sauce. Mashed sweet potatoes flavored with chipotle peppers and mashed white potatoes rested side by side in one container and a forlorn slice of pumpkin pie wrapped in plastic sat on a small bowl of gingered whipped cream. After I found the lemon for my tea, I began to deal with the wealth of leftovers by topping the piece of pie with the whipped cream and eating it.
I made run-of-the-mill turkey sandwiches dinner-worthy by making sandwich rolls with the leftover sweet potatoes. These yeast rolls are not difficult to make but need to rise twice before baking so I got started as soon as I’d read the paper and emptied the dishwasher. Here’s how I made them:[/donotprint] … read more
July 20th, 2010 / comments
June 3rd, 2010 / comments
Last weekend, I bought red garnet yams at the market and made sweet potato salad for a potluck picnic.
The purple of the skin and the bright orange of the potato made me think of India and so I added curry powder to the dressing. Here’s how I made it: … read more
November 15th, 2009 / comments
Sweet potato salad is another way to add this healthy vegetable to your diet and is great alternative to white potato salad.
It’s easy to transport and eaten at room temperature – a terrific addition to a potluck supper. Here’s how I made it:
… read more
November 13th, 2009 / Comments
Not wanting a cauldron of boiling oil in my kitchen. I made oven-fried sweet potatoes. Here’s how I did it: … read more
November 11th, 2009 / Comments
I had already perfected growing salt crystals on a chunk of coal and was confident that a leafy, green sweet potato plant would be more warmly received by my family than the garish blue and orange, ammonia scented salt crystals had been.
Sprouting the sweet potato was easy. I used three toothpicks to suspend a sweet potato, pointed end down, in an empty pickle jar and added enough water to cover about a third of the sweet potato. Then I put the jar in a dark closet. Roots appeared in less than a week and I brought the sweet potato out to meet my family. The jar sat on the kitchen table and it wasn’t long until it sprouted and the table was graced with heart shaped leaves on tangled green vines. In the dark days of winter, the sweet potato vine was a reminder of the promise of spring.
The sweet potato is a tropical plant that has been grown in South America for more than five thousand years. It is used in Japanese tempura, the edible leaves and vines are steamed and served with soy sauce and garlic in Taiwan, and sweet potato starch is used to produce Korean cellophane noodles.
Ranked number one in nutrition by the Center for Science in the Public Interest, sweet potatoes can be baked, boiled, fried or steamed, and seasoned in a variety of ways. I put sweet potatoes on the table, in a serving bowl rather than sprouting in a jar, at least once a week and hope you will be inspired to do the same without falling into that nutritional black hole of marshmallow and brown sugar.
Smoky sweet potatoes offer a welcome contrast to traditional Thanksgiving fare. Here’s how I did it:
