Mashed Baked Sweet Potato with Aioli

I was trying to make sweet potato fries, but what I ended up with a smashed mess. I made the fries the same way I always do by seasoning with some olive oil, salt, pepper, paprika. Then I added some shredded cheese into the mix and that's when it took another direction. As I baked the fries, the cheese melted and cooked faster than the sweet potatoes, just to the point when the cheese became crispies. So in a last ditch effort to salvage what I had on the baking sheet, I decided to mash them. They were slightly soft and the consistency was just right for them. I added a little bit more shredded cheese and...voila! Baked mashed sweet potatoes.

For the "gravy" I made a simple aioli. I know you wouldn't find it paired together, but I've been known to pair sauces and condiments with dishes that don't really match. Some of you readers probably do the same thing. I also had some leftover egg yolks that I needed to use up. I was tempted to make a hollandaise sauce, but I didn't want to lug out another pan to clean, so I opted for a simple aioli. Again, this is something you wouldn't necessarily see paired with mashed sweet potatoes, usually you'd find them with meats and certain vegetables.

This is going to sounds totally weird, but they taste really great together. They really do. I dare not lie. You're just going to have to try this for yourself to see what I'm talking about.

Serves 2

Mashed Baked Sweet Potatoes with Aioli

3 small sweet potato (peeled and cut into strips)
extra virgin olive oil
salt
pepper
paprika
1 c shredded cheese
aioli (recipe below)

Preheat oven to 375˚F

Season the sweet potatoes with a drizzle of olive oil and seasoned with salt, pepper and paprika. Mix well to combine. Then add half the shredded cheese and mix.

Place the sweet potatoes onto a foil-lined baking sheet and bake for 15-20 minutes. The sweet potatoes should be soft and cheese melted.

Remove the sweet potatoes from the baking pan and mash with in a bowl. Mix in the remaining cheese.

Serve with the aioli.

Aioli
1 large garlic clove - crushed
2 egg yolks
juice of half lime
salt
pepper
1-2 Tbsp Extra virgin olive oil
2 Tbsp horseradish mustard

Whisk together the garlic and olive oil. Whisk in the egg yolks. Continually whisking add the lime juice and horseradish mustard. Season with some salt and pepper to taste.

Baked Kabocha

I know two kabocha recipes in a row. But I couldn't let this sit and wait. Call me pumpkin head, if you want, because I'm crazy for the stuff. It's been cracked open and it's whispering "eat me." "Sure thing," I happily reply. I've been seeing a lot of roasted pumpkins and squashes lately. A couple examples over at Girlichef (here) and For the Love of Cooking (here). I've decided to jump on the bandwagon. Why, you ask? Well because I want to and I had the other half kabocha from when I made that kabocha bread in the fridge giving me the puppy dog eyes.

This is one really simple. I quartered the remaining kabocha and generously spread some butter on the top and gave it a nice generous sprinkle of some brown sugar. Baked it until it was tender. That's all there is too it. Nothing else to do but sit and wait. Fee free to change up the brown sugar for spices and herbs of your choice. But for my version the sweet melted syrupy sugar with bites of pumpkin a simple awesome weeknight dinner. Yummy!

Serves 4

Roasted Kabocha

1 medium kabocha (deseeded and quartered)
butter
brown sugar

Preheat your oven to 400˚F

Spread a good about of butter on the flesh of the kabocha and sprinkle a generous helping of brown sugar on top.

Place on a baking sheet and bake until tender. roughly 45-60 minutes.

Kabocha Bread

Tis the season for pumpkins of many kinds. So many pumpkin recipes that I can't get enough of. I had gotten another kabocha from the farmers market and I already have another one waiting patiently and eagerly to be used. Well suffice to day, I was clueless as to what I wanted to make with it. But I wanted my pumpkin!!

For this one I adapted by banana bread recipe once again and added some pureed kabocha to the mix as well as ground cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg. I also replaced half of the granulated sugar with brown sugar. Awesome delicious pumpkin bread with almond slices that's perfectly fit for the season. You know I just realized that the recipe is pretty adaptable to almost anything you can put into it.

Makes 1 loaf

Kabocha Bread

1/2c granulated sugar
1/2 c brown sugar
1/2 c unsalted butter (softened)
2 eggs
1/4 tsp salt
2 c flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 c sliced almonds
1 c pureed kabocha or canned pumpkin puree

--
To puree fresh kabocha or pumpkin:
Cut the kabocha/pumkin in half or quarters. Place on a plate in the microwave for 5 minutes, just to get the flesh tender. Then scoop the flesh skin and add into the food processor or blender. Grind until a "mashed" consistency.

You may also you a masher or potato ricer as well.

--

Preheat oven to 375 ˚F

Sift together flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger, baking soda, salt. Set aside.

Cream together both sugars and butter. Beat in each egg. Slowly mix the flour mixture.

Then add the kabocha and almonds. Combine well.

Put the batter in a lightly greased loaf pan. Baked for 45-50 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

Let the loaf rest for 10 minutes before removing from the pan.

Production Eats - No. 7

I decided to start numbering them. I think I've overused "This week in..." Besides, this is turning into a series the more I work on sets. So Here's #7.

This week I had worked on three shows. Heroes, Parks and Recreations, and The Forgotten. The first two were short days, so there wasn't any meals for that. I did have a nice tasty Chinese Chicken Salad with Teriyaki dressing from TJ's. After we were released early from Parks and Recreations. I love the ready made meals from there.

An upside from working the first two, I was happy to work in a scene with Amy Poehler on Parks and Recs. I've been a fan since she was on Upright Citizens Brigade. The latter show, The Forgotten, stars Christian Slater. *heart fluttering* Amazingly enough he still looks the same after 20 years. Remember Heathers, Pump Up the Volume, Billie Jean? Anyway, onto the food.

First, some mixed greens with kidney beans, garbonzo beans and peppers. The dressing was a vinaigrette on some kind. I couldn't really make put what it was, but the heat from the peppers helped give the salad a nice little kick to it.

The main dish

Clock wise from top: Angel hair pasta with pesto, a meatball with marinara sauce, sauteed veggies, a dinner roll, spaghetti, chicken cacciatore with mushrooms.

I enjoyed the meatball and angel hair pasta. I'm a sucker for pesto, so that was a given that I would like it. The dinner rolls was alright though it tasted a bit mushy, so I sandwiched it with the meatball I did enjoy the mushrooms from the chicken cacciatore, too. Overall is was an average meal nothing special.

Also, this past Tuesday I attended a small birthday dinner for a good friend of mine. The celebration was at Fuddruckers in Burbank, CA. It's a chain to restaurants that sort of reminds me of a T.G.I.F in decor with memorabellia stuck to the walls and games area for the kiddies. It's a place where you order you burger and side or whatever you prefer. They cook the meat the way you like it and you basically put in whatever condiment you want to your liking from the condiment bar. Simple.

I had a crispy chicken sandwich with some American cheddar on top. I piled on some tomato slices pickles and lettuce. I ordered the meal so mine came with a side of thick cut fries that i dipped in some honey mustard sauce. That thing was huge! Luckily, I had saved up my appetite for that night, so I had no problem finishing off my meal.

A few others had ordered the ostrich burger, a regular beef cheeseburgers, and veggies burgers.

To end off the night, we headed off to Yogurtland just down the street and had ourselves some froyo (frozen yogurt) for dessert. I always get the plain tart flavor because I like to taste the toppings when I mix them in. My toppings for the night: some fresh strawberries and granola topped with an animal cracker cookie. I didn't want to over do it as I was already stuffed from dinner. Seeing good friends and having good conversations. All in all it was a fun time.

Lastly for your enjoyment I give you little toy robots walking aimlessly. It was a "sci-fi"-theme kind of night.

Roasted Balsamic Brussels Sprouts

I was lucky I didn't grow up in a household where my mom put the fear of brussels sprout in me. I welcomed veggies at a young age. Though, I didn't always eat them as I should have. I preferred the unhealthy stuff over the healthy. At last now, I try to get as much vegetable as I can. I also never really got why kids disliked them. I look at them now and I see that they're cute little things. They're baby cabbages.

I decided to cook them in a simple way. Roasted. Well, also be cause I was clueless as to how else I can cook them. Roasting veggies seems like an obvious choice. Plus, I also like the way roasted veggies taste. It was a win-win situation on my part. Tossed in some extra virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar and salt. and lightly sprinkled some shredded cheese on top to garnish. Again super simple, yet oh-so-delicious.

So eat up on those brussels sprouts. There's nothing to be afraid of.

Serves 2-3

Roasted Balsamic Brussels Sprouts

1 lb brussels sprouts (cleaned and halved)
extra virgin olive oil
balsamic vinegar
salt & pepper


Preheat your oven 450˚F

Combine the the halved brussels sprouts in a generous drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar and season with salt and pepper. Toss together until all the brussels sprouts have been coated.

Place onto a baking sheet and roast for 25 minutes.

Vegetarian Egg Benedict

I decided to cook a little brunch on a Saturday. It's been a while since I've done that really. Usually I just have myself a nice piece of toast with a little bit of butter or nutella or a bowl of cereal with a splash of milk. But on this particular day I decided to make some special for myself. There wasn't any special occasion. It was a lovely day out and that called for a nice simple meal. A lazy Saturday

This is actually the first time I've poached an egg myself. Usually when I have it, it's other people who've made it for me. I looked on the web on various "how-to" I alsao didn't have many eggs, so I couldn't afford to mess up many times. I still have to work on my poaching skills, but I'm happy with the way the eggs turned out. I like my yolks slightly runny. I've got to practice a bit more on getting the egg to stay in shape.

I got a little lazy to make a hollandaise sauce. After stressing out over poaching eggs, making a sauce wasn't an option for me. It was a lazy Saturday remember? No room for stressing out. So I opted for a simple honey-mustard sauce instead. Toasted a couple slices of bread and topped it with some slices of avocado, tomato and the poached eggs. Drizzled some of the honey mustard sauce and devoured the whole thing.

Makes 2 open-faced sandwiches

Vegetarian Eggs Benedict

2 eggs
2 tsp white vinegar
water
2 large slices of sourdough bread
1 small tomato - sliced
1 small avocado - sliced
ricotta cheese
Juice of half lemon
salt and pepper

Honey Mustard Sauce
2-3 Tbsp Dijon Mustard
2 Tbsp Honey
1 tsp lemon juice

Toast the bread in the oven or toaster oven.

Combine the ingredients for the honey-mustard sauce and set aside. Toss the acovado slices in some lemon juice to keep it from browning.

Fill a skillet halfway with water. Add the vinegar. Bring the water to a slow boil.
The best way to add the egg into the water is to crack them into a small bowl, that way you can remove any shell that may tag along for the ride.  Slowly add the egg and reduce the heat to a simmer. For for roughly 3 minutes until the egg whites have set and the yolk remains soft. Cook a little longer for harder yolks.

Remove the egg with a slotted spoon and place on a paper towel to drain.

Assemble the sandwich:
Spread some ricotta cheese on each slice of bread. Top with some slices of tomato then avocado. Top with one of the poached eggs. Season with a tiny pinch of salt and pepper. Drizzle a generous helping of the honey mustard sauce on top.

Choco Lemon Madeleine Muffins

How about a little basket of muffin goodness to start your day off right? I remember Heavenly Housewife, of From Donuts to Delirium, posting about madeleine cookies. Oh how I love those shell-shaped cookies. I commented about I wish I could make them, but I didn't have a the mold pan. She responded by suggesting using a muffin pan. My dahhhhling HH, you a genius!! Why I didn't think of that before I have no idea? A solution was staring at me right in the face and yet, I couldn't see it.

The original recipe came from a cookbook my mom had given me as a gift one Christmas called  Williams-Sonoma Foods of the World, Paris. The recipe was called Madaleines Au Citron or Lemon Madeleines. I enjoy a madeleine cookie every now and then maybe with a cup of tea or coffee. I've sometimes get a tub of them from Costco, whenever I shop there.

For this one, I changed it up a bit by adding a bit of cocoa powder to the recipe. I don't have a madeleine cookie mold, so in came the mini muffin pan. Though, a madeleine pan would be nice to have. (Note to self: add to kitchen wish list) Takes only several minutes to bake and it's super good with a hint of lemon flavor. You have one, you can't resist and must have another.

 Makes 12-16 muffins.

Choco Lemon Madeleine Muffins
adapted from Williams-Sonoma Foods of the World, Paris

2 eggs
1/2 c granulated sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
1/2 c flour
1 Tbsp cocoa powder
1 tsp lemon zest
1/4 c unsalted butter - melted
powdered sugar (optional)

Preheat your oven to 375˚F

Baste your muffin pan with some of the melted butter and dust the molds with some flour and pat off the excess.

Sift together the flour, cocoa and salt.

Cream together the melted butter and sugar. Then add each egg beating after each one. Followed by the vanilla extract and almond extract.

Slowly add the flour mixture and combine.  Then fold in the lemon zest.

Divide the batter evenly among the molds and bake for 10-12 minutes. Let it cool for 10 minutes from removing from molds.

Dusting with some powdered sugar is optional.