Sweet Potatoes: the Topic

[gfweb]

sweet potato, bacon, onion and white pot hash

[Corinna]

I just made a sweet potato soup that turned out really nicely.

Three medium sweet potatoes cut into chunks, tossed in olive oil and roasted for about an hour. A medium onion diced and a couple garlic cloves minced, sauteed in the mean time, along with one chipotle in adobe with a little of the sauce (two was too much!) Add the roasted sweet potato and some stock, simmering for a while, then puree to desired to consistency. Delightful when served with a drizzle of cream and butternut squash seed oil.

Got better the next day!

[Jaymes]

The only way I like sweet potatoes combined with sugar is in a straight-ahead sweet potato pie.

Some years back, I had a good friend named Gayle. She and her husband, Bo, were from the deep south - Mississippi, I think. Our husbands worked together in the same organization, so we often saw one another at various social gatherings. One year, at one such gathering, just before Thanksgiving, it was announced that the sign-up sheet was coming around and that everyone should write down what they would bring to the upcoming Thanksgiving potluck. Gayle and I were sitting down chatting, across the room from where the sheet was being started. She stopped in mid-sentence, said loudly, "I'll bring the pumpkin pie," dashed across the room, grabbed the list, and wrote "pumpkin pie" beside her name. Several weeks passed, and now it was time to plan the Christmas party. This time, when the sign-up sheet reached her, someone else had already volunteered to bring the pumpkin pie. Gayle immediately went to find the other woman. "If you don't mind, I'd really like to bring the pumpkin pie," she said. "I've got a recipe I just really like. Is there something else you could bring?" And the adjustment was made.

Honestly, I didn't think all that much about it. Just that Gayle must have had, as she said, a recipe she really liked.

But after a year went by, and plans were being made for the next holiday potluck, when the same thing happened again, it piqued my curiosity.

"I can't help but wonder," I asked her, "what is it with you and pumpkin pie."

"Well," she said, "I'll tell you, but you have to promise me you won't tell anyone else. The truth is that I really hate pumpkin pie. I don't know exactly why. Maybe it's the texture. And it gives me heartburn. I'm not sure what it is, but I really can't stand it. And I learned years ago that I can just take sweet potato pie, which I like a whole lot better, and nobody ever knows the difference."

_________________

Edited December 13, 2010 by Jaymes (log)

[blue_dolphin]

A search pulled up a few sweet potato topics with this being most recently active (...um, almost 10 years ago 🙃) so I'll put this here.  

Sweet Potato and Ricotta “Cookies” from Vij’s Indian: Our Stories, Spices and Cherished.  I found the recipe online here. 

Sweet potatoes are cut in 1/4" thick slices, tossed with chile powder, salt & oil, then pan fried and finally sandwiched with a mix of ricotta, garlic, cumin, fennugreek leaves and cayenne

The ones in the back got pan fried per the recipe while the others got roasted in the CSO - convect bake, 425°F, 15 min, turning midway.  The latter resulted in a little more shrinkage but is much easier and, I think, easier to control.  Pan frying took a lot longer than the recipe indicated to get the potatoes tender and I had a hard time getting the temp right to allow them to cook through but not burn. 

I found the Indian-leaning spice mixture in the ricotta to be unexpected but delicious with the sweet potatoes.

I can imagine taking this in different directions and it's nice to have another non-bread canapé base to put into the mix, whether they are sandwiched as here or use them as the base for open-faced canapés 

 

[kayb]

Just had a baked sweet potato for lunch. This sounds like a great idea. I'd go with the CSO bake, too.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

6 hours ago, kayb said:

Just had a baked sweet potato for lunch. This sounds like a great idea. I'd go with the CSO bake, too.

 

I do mine in the CSO but wrapped in foil.

 

[heidih]

2 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

I do mine in the CSO but wrapped in foil.

 

 

So you do not enjoy a crunchy skin? Your potatoes look like they have a lovely more textural skin. Can not eat one without thinking of Jane Fonda - her sweet treat during her diet guru days.  

[JoNorvelleWalker]

3 minutes ago, heidih said:

 

So you do not enjoy a crunchy skin? Your potatoes look like they have a lovely more textural skin. Can not eat one without thinking of Jane Fonda - her sweet treat during her diet guru days.  

 

Potatoes, crunchy skin.  Sweet potatoes, buttery smooth flesh.  No butter needed.

 

[Katie Meadow]

For the last six months we have adjusted to larger shopping hauls, less often. With a little fill in for fruit, tomatoes and so on we usually stretch our major shopping events to two weeks. Sweet potatoes are an excellent "end of days" food; just as good two weeks after they were purchased. But I do need lots of butter and salt to be happy.

[rotuts]

I like SP's , but in the past rarely got them unless

 

"" Turkey Dinner "" was on the menu.

 

I baked in the CSO the other evening :  400 F Steam , 40 minutes

 

skin was very crunchy , but I was way disappointed in the ' flesh "  :

 

it was watery and seemed way over cooked.  the potato also ' leaked ' while baking

 

even though I gave it several jabs w a knife to keep it from exploding

 

this SP had a light skin , but deep yellow orange flesh.

 

there are SP here that have darker skin , almost orange , but I cant say if

 

the flesh is dark orange or a much lighter color.   I know Ive gotten Sp's in the past

 

the had lighter flesh , but prefer the darker flesh.

 

so :  

 

I have two more SP's of the same variety .    Im thinking 350 F steam , 30 min

 

then check w a knife ?

 

P.S.:  here is a fair color rendition of the SP's involved.  although the cutting board

 

has a fair amout of orange/yellow in it , these are what the SP's look like :

 

 

I was mistaken thinking the skin was lighter colored.  the flesh is dark orange

 

there might be a version in buy markets w lighter skin, but I cant recall

 

and I rarely go to the market , and only on Blitz Speed , no warping or

 

dilly dallying.

 

P.P.S.:  one last thought :  what about slicing in 1/2, lengthwise 

 

and baking 350 ro 30 min , bake-steam CSO ?

 

or even , scacre-blue !  conventi0onal bake ?

 

looking for crisp skin , some firmness lest in the flesh , not watery .

 

many thanks.

Edited September 24, 2020 by rotuts (log)

[blue_dolphin]

1 hour ago, rotuts said:

looking for crisp skin , some firmness lest in the flesh , not watery .

 

You might try Alison Roman's method for Smashed Sweet Potatoes.  Roast first (no steam, I use the CSO on convect bake @ 400°F), then smash them a bit with your hand to flatten and pan-fry them in a bit of butter and olive oil to crisp them up.

Her accompaniments of sour cream + lime + salt (~ crema), caramelized maple syrup and buckwheat groats for crunch are excellent but I've used the general twice-cook method with various toppings, or none.  

Kind of handy as you can roast ahead, store in the fridge and then just smash & reheat at mealtime.

 

Here, I posted about making Alison's recipe.  In this case, I cut the potatoes in half before roasting and just flattened them a bit instead of completely smashing. 

I did something similar here, except that I reheated the roasted sweet potato on the Phillips Avance grill instead of pan-frying. 

 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

2 hours ago, rotuts said:

I like SP's , but in the past rarely got them unless

 

"" Turkey Dinner "" was on the menu.

 

I baked in the CSO the other evening :  400 F Steam , 40 minutes

 

skin was very crunchy , but I was way disappointed in the ' flesh "  :

 

it was watery and seemed way over cooked.  the potato also ' leaked ' while baking

 

even though I gave it several jabs w a knife to keep it from exploding

 

this SP had a light skin , but deep yellow orange flesh.

 

there are SP here that have darker skin , almost orange , but I cant say if

 

the flesh is dark orange or a much lighter color.   I know Ive gotten Sp's in the past

 

the had lighter flesh , but prefer the darker flesh.

 

so :  

 

I have two more SP's of the same variety .    Im thinking 350 F steam , 30 min

 

then check w a knife ?

 

P.S.:  here is a fair color rendition of the SP's involved.  although the cutting board

 

has a fair amout of orange/yellow in it , these are what the SP's look like :

 

 

I was mistaken thinking the skin was lighter colored.  the flesh is dark orange

 

there might be a version in buy markets w lighter skin, but I cant recall

 

and I rarely go to the market , and only on Blitz Speed , no warping or

 

dilly dallying.

 

P.P.S.:  one last thought :  what about slicing in 1/2, lengthwise 

 

and baking 350 ro 30 min , bake-steam CSO ?

 

or even , scacre-blue !  conventi0onal bake ?

 

looking for crisp skin , some firmness lest in the flesh , not watery .

 

many thanks.

 

Try 275F for three hours, wrapped in foil.  (I do it in CSO.)  The skin won't be crispy but the flesh will not be watery.  No need prick or stab.

 

[Nancy in Pátzcuaro]

I'm late to this rodeo, but I wanted to comment about Andie's post describing the sweet potato ("camote" in Spanish) vendor's technique of spearing a camote, dusting it with sugar and then toasting it to melt the sugar. Sounds yummy. I have heard camote vendors all over México--I say "heard" because they use a small wagon with a wood fire roasting the camotes, which produces steam that he uses to announce his presence. There's a whistle on the chimney and when he gets to a neighborhood he opens a valve to activate the whistle. You can hear it for blocks! There is even a scene in "Roma" of a guy on the street with the same set-up. The camotes are served with a generous drizzle of sweetened condensed milk. I've heard this unmistakable sound in México City (Condessa), Guanajuato, Queretaro and here in Pátzcuaro.

 

This is the beginning of the season for camotes. We have 3 colors--orange, white, and god help us, purple. We tried one of the purple ones, and other than the bright color we thought it was forgettable. Not much flavor, oddly enough. But the mercado is full of big piles of camotes. They're available year round but are especially abundant in the fall.

[shain]

If you never tried it - try drizzling a baked sweet potato with some tahini (not tahini sauce, pure tahini), a bit of salt. Thyme or chili are optional.

Coconut cream is also a nice topping.

[heidih]

Guanajuato - quite envious. Such a beautiful old city - been to the "kissing alley"?  The ones I get here are mostly orange, sweet, and need nothing but perhaps a bit of fresh cheese like Ethiopian  buttermilk - made like ricotta. A tang is needed.The white/yellow tend to be more dry here - which is fine just different. The Japanese purple guys - deceptive with cute color and not so exciting flavor. More dense and starchy than a potato but I could be botanically mixing them up.