Mashed Sweet Potato

My second cooked dish from my "not going to make it difficult" Thanksgiving meal.  Apologies as the photos don't do this dish justice. A trick I've learn over the summer to make mashed potatoes (and similar dishes) is to whip air into it. It gives it that fluffy consistency. So handing a hand mixer really comes in handy. I use evaporated milk instead of the usual milk or cream. It still gave it a nice consistency. Of course some good ol' butter. Luckily, I have an old trusty hand mixer, so combining everything and adding air to make it deliciously fluffy.  Mix it for several minutes, not forgetting to season and some salt and pepper. As much as i love the original mashed potato, this is a great alternative. Add some gravy on top, which is totally optional. Yet the taste of the sweet potato a lone is enough to satisfy.

serve 2-4

Mashed Sweet Potato

2 extra large sweet potato
6 Tbsp unsalted butter (room temp)
5 oz evaporated milk
4 Tbsp sour cream (optional)
salt
pepper

Peel the sweet potatoes and boil them in a pot of water until the potatoes are cook to fork tender. If the sweet potatoes are large, you may cut them in the halve or quarters for faster cooking time.

Using a fork or a masher, mash the potatoes thoroughly. (small bit are okay.)

Using a hand mixer, on a low setting, mix in the evaporated milk until fully incorporated. The cut the butter into pieces and also incorporate them slowly. Season with some salt and pepper. Mix for roughly 5 minutes be sure to scrape the sides of the bowl until a slightly fluffy consistency.

Serve warm.

Thanksgiving Dish #1 - Mashed Sweet Potatoes

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and weekend that followed full of family, friends and, of course, full of good eats.  I'm thankful for so many things in my life in all aspects if it...you, the reader, included. :) The weekend was well spent. With belly fulls of yum yums. 

As always I like to do things simple. I don't like to fuss around too much in the kitchen especially during the holidays. But this was a good excuse for me to spent some time in the kitchen. I've been pretty busy with work related things that I haven't been able to cook as much as I would like. I did enjoy the several hours I spent making this meal and I'm happy with how it all turned out. With a little smoke alarm going off. No worries. Nothing major. I just think my smoke alarm is jealous for not being able to eat the delicious food on the table. So, it's a dinner for two. I always have the trouble of sometimes cooking too much or too little. No matter how much you calculate it. It's never exact.  But I think I did pretty well fine this year. 

First up, sweet potato. No thanksgiving should go without sweet potato in some form. I chose to mash them up instead of serving the traditional mashed potatoes and serve it along with the chicken gravy, which I will post that recipe with the roast chicken. I first steamed rather than boiling them and I used evaporated milk instead of heavy cream to make it smooth along with a couple pats on butter and shredded mozzarella cheese. Delicious! Smooth and creamy.


Serves 2-3

Mashed Sweet Potatoes

3 medium to large sweet potatoes 

1/3 c evaporated milk

2 Tbsp unsalted butter

pepper

1/3 c shredded mozzarella

Steam the sweet potatoes until fork tender.   Once cooked, cool the sweet potatoes before handling and remove the skin. Then place them in a small pot and mash the sweet potatoes thorough. Turn the heat to a medium flame Add the butter, evaporated milk. Stir until combined and the butter has melted. Then add the mozzarella and stir once again until cheese has melted. Season with a a little pepper. Keep warm until ready to serve. 

Sweet Potato Croquette with Yogurt Sauce [Revisited]

Today's the day of another production. 12 hours on set. Early morning call time. The culmination of all the stress from the last month and half comes down to today. The actual shooting of the project. The thing with preproduction is that unexpected things can always happen. I've had my fair share of those on this project. I've had many of what I like to call "Producer's Headache." But it comes with the territory, which I'm totally used to. After today, I can rest a little more that I did a week ago. 

I'm revisiting a recipe I posted last year, when guest posted on My Life and Food Encounters. But haven't really shared here on B + B yet. It's a really tasty yummy little appetizer. The first time I made these, I had a couple sweet potatoes that needed to be eaten. I decided to have a little fun an turn them into a finger food. Eating with your hands is good.  I mixed in some panko to help it retain its shape. I paired it with a Greek Style yogurt sauce. I remember a friend of mine making it once when she served it with some roast chicken and I figured it would go great with the croquette. I couldn't stop popping these in my mouth. Yum!!

Sweet Potato Croquette with Yogurt Sauce

2-3 Cooked and Mashed Sweet Potato
1/2 c panko crumbs
salt
pepper

Yogurt Sauce:
2 Tbsp greek plain yogurt
2 Tbsp chopped parsley
1 tsp water

To cook the sweet potato:
Peel and cube the sweet potato. Put them into some boiling water and cook until tender. Drain and cool them down witn running cold water. Mash them in a bowl.


Preheat your oven to 375˚F

When the sweet potatoes are mashed, mix in the panko crumbs and season with a little salt.

Take 2 Tbsp of the mashed sweet potato and with your hands form into a ball.

Place them on parchment paper lined baking sheet and baked for 12-15 min.

While they bake, mix together the ingredients for the sauce and set aside until ready to serve.

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.

Sweet Potato Buttermilk Biscuits

Don't you just love it when you get inspired by the most random thing. Sometimes when I'm writing at night, I have the TV on or some music or both. I need to have a little noise in the background to concentrate. This one particular night, Diner's Drive-In's and Dives was on Food Network and it showcased this place that did sweet potato biscuits. I wrote it down on a little post-it and stuck it on my desk along with the 100 other post-its scattered about. I'm a post-it fiend. It kinda sad really. I need a better way to put down reminders and other scribbles.

I took my regular buttermilk biscuit recipe and just added the some mashed sweet potato. I didn't make any modifications to it. Sorry about the cross-section pic. I accidentally smushed it while I was breaking it in half. Soft, chewy and yes, they really do look orange.

Make 9-10 biscuits.


Sweet Potato Buttermilk Biscuits

3/4 c Cooked and Mashed Sweet Potato (roughly 1 medium)
2 c flour (plus extra for dusting)
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp Sugar
1 Tbsp Baking Powder
2/3 c Buttermilk
1/3 unsalted butter


Note: if you want to buy a whole carton of buttermilk, simply add 1 Tbsp lemon juice or vinegar to 1 c milk and let it stand for a least 10min.

Peel and cut the sweet potato into cubes and place them in to some boiling water. Cook them until tender. Cool them off in some cold running water, then mash. Set aside 2/3 c for the sweet potato.

Preheat your oven to 425˚F

Combine flour, salt, sugar and baking powder in a bowl. Cut in the butter until it resembles crumbs. Add in the mashed sweet potato and the buttermilk. Mix it all together until it forms a dough ball.

Turn the dough out onto a well-floured surface and knead a few time. Roll out the dough to 1/2-thick. And cut into 9 or 10 round biscuits.

Place them on a parchment paper lined baking sheet and bake for roughly 10-13 min.

Baked Parmesan Sweet Potato Fries

I was in a french fry kind of mood. So today and tomorrow will be about fries because I decided to make two types the other day due to my indecision on what to cook. Both are baked meaning they are healthier, tastier and oh-so-delicious!!! Here's the first one. Baked Parmesan Sweet Potato Fries. I already did a herb version of these, so I decided to change it up and and make them thinner.

Can you hear them? They're calling out "eat me, eeeeeat me" (in a haunting voice). Sweet potatoes and cheese, I think is another winning combination right there. Besides, who doesn't like sweet potatoes? I hope there's no one out there who doesn't like them. That would make me sad. You don't want to make Little J sad. (*inserts tear-drop and puppy dog face*)

I had cut them 1/4-inch thick rather than 1/2-inch. You can peel them or leave the skins, its your choice. I coated them with some olive oil and grated parmesan cheese before baking and when they come out, they have a bit of a crisp cheese crust as well as a soft center. After baking, I tossed them in more cheese. You can never have enough cheese is what I say.

Serves 2



Baked Parmesan Sweet Potato Fries

2 medium Sweet Potatoes (peeled optional)
1 c grated parmesan cheese
olive oil
salt


Preheat you oven 450˚F

Cut the Sweet potatoes into 1/4-inch sticks.

In a bowl, toss them in a drizzle of olive oil. Then pour in 2/3 of the parmesan and a seasoning of salt, again toss well to coat each stick.

Place the fries on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

Bake for 30 min. Toss them every 10 min to give an even browning.

Sweet Potato Cakes

Course #2 - The Appetizer

This is a little something my mom had made up. The first time I tried it, I was bit hesitant, but I ended up liking it so much that I decided to add it to our meal. You'd think it's a cake or cookie or some other baked goodie, yet it's a sweet potato and a handy snack as well.




Sweet Potato Cakes

1 large white sweet potato
1/4 c sugar
2 Tbsp Butter
2 c Panko crumbs

Preheat oven 350˚F

Cut the sweet potato into medium portions and place into a large pot. Add in enough water, just enough to cover it and bring to a boil. When the water is boiling turn down the heat and let it simmer for roughly 15 min or until fully cooked. It's like making mashed potatoes. To test if the potato is done, poke it with a fork or knife and it should easily pierce through with no little to no resistance.

When the potatoes are ready, dump the water out and let cool for 5-10 min.

Remove the skins then mash the the potato. You may use a food processor or potato ricer. Add in the sugar and butter. Mix thoroughly. Next divide into 6 equal portions and shape into palm-sized cookie forms.

Then coat the potato cookies with the panko crumbs. Place on baking sheet.

Bake for roughly 45 min or until of a golden hash-brown color.

It will have a nice crispy crust and soft chewy center.

Baked Sweet Potato Fries

Made a nice filling dinner the other night. 4 dishes, 4 recipes and this is the first.


Baked Sweet Potato Fries

2 Medium Sized Sweet Potatoes (cut into sticks)
3 Tbsp Olive Oil
2 Tbps Paprika
1 Tbps Dry Basil
1 Tbps Dry Oregano
1 Tbps Dry Parsley


(I used a few other herbs into the mix, but this should suffice. I gotta keep some secrets. :-P)


Preheat oven 400˚F

Combine basil, oregano, parsley, Rosemary in a small bowl and mix.

Place sweet potato sticks in a large zip-lock bag or in a large bowl. Drizzle in olive oil and herb mix in the bag and mix coating the sticks evenly. If using a bowl toss the sticks with your hand or some tongs.

Place the sticks on a baking sheet and bake for 30 min. About half way through flip the fries over to give them even cooking.

Then serve. I used a brown sandwich bag. I cut down along the 4 corners about inch after where that little bump on the front it. Fold the flaps inward creating a barrier for the bag to keep the outer layer from getting any oil residue.

Enjoy!