Flashback Friday - Sweet Potato Panna Cotta

This post originally appeared on Minxeats.com on May 6, 2015.

I'm a fan of sweet potatoes, but Mr Minx is not. I really hate having to prepare two different starches with dinner if he doesn't want any of my sweet potatoes, because of course he won't go without. So I normally don't buy them at all, and only eat them around Thanksgiving, or if I can get one as a side dish in a restaurant. But we sometimes get sweet potatoes in our shipment from Washington's Green Grocer, and then I have to be inventive. I've incorporated sweet potatoes into snack cake, scones, hummus, and spaetzle, all quite successfully. And now I've used them in panna cotta.

I saw it somewhere online, perhaps a restaurant review or blog: sweet potato panna cotta with toasted marshmallow. I had sweet potatoes, and I had nice homemade vanilla marshmallows (well, not homemade by me, but by Nikki of Mallow Crunchies), and it just struck me as something I wanted to eat. And as something I could feed to my husband.

We ate the panna cotta both refrigerated and frozen. The latter is a lot like the Indian ice cream, kulfi, especially with a dose of cardamom. The former works best with the marshmallow, but both need the crunchy, burnt sugar bitterness of the pumpkin seed brittle, which also adds texture to the creamy richness.

Sweet Potato Panna Cotta (adapted from Christina Tosi)

2 teaspoons unflavored powdered gelatin
2 tablespoons water
1 cup mashed sweet potatoes
1 cup milk
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons heavy cream
1/4 cup sweetened condensed milk
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Pinch of salt
Release spray
1/2 cup pumpkin seeds
1/2 cup sugar
Marshmallows, preferably homemade

Sprinkle the gelatin over the water in a microwave-safe bowl. Let stand 3 minutes, until softened.

In a blender, combine the potatoes with the milk, cream, condensed milk, sugar, spices, and pinch of salt.

Warm the gelatin mixture in the microwave for 10-15 seconds, until melted. Add to the blender and blend well to combine.

Pour sweet potato mixture into a loaf pan sprayed well with release spray. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or until set.

While panna cotta is setting, make the brittle. Prepare a baking sheet with a piece of parchment paper and set aside. Pour the pumpkin seeds into a small skillet and toast over medium heat, shaking the pan regularly, until the seeds puff up. Remove from pan and set aside. Pour the sugar into the pan with a few tablespoons of water. Cook the sugar over medium heat until it melts and then starts to turn light amber around the edges. Stir in the pumpkin seeds and cook the mixture, stirring regularly, until the sugar turns medium brown. It will smoke; open a window. Once sugar is browned and is just starting to smell burnt, remove from heat and pour onto prepared parchment. Spread brittle slightly with a wooden spoon, then set aside to cool. Once cool, break into large shards.

If you're using homemade marshmallow, cut them into long fingers. Place a few on a piece of aluminum foil and brulee with a creme brulee torch. (If using store-bought marshmallows, line up 2-3 of them and brulee.) Cut chilled panna cotta into similarly-sized rectangles. Top each one with a piece of bruleed marshmallow and a shard of brittle.

Posted on Minxeats.com.

Lamb, Sweet Potatoes, and Yogurt

This meal came on the same weekend as the avocado and shrimp thing I posted a couple weeks back. In addition to the avocados we had in the house, we had a couple of sweet potatoes. Mr Minx isn't particularly fond of sweet elements in an entree course (with exceptions) but I thought if I spiced up the potatoes with some harissa and added a little smoked paprika, he might not notice the sweetness so much.

I also wanted to use up the Greek yogurt I bought for the avocado dish. A fairly recent issue of Martha Stewart Living (whatever one was on our coffee table) just so happened to have a recipe for lamb meatballs with yogurt sauce. I was going to make lamb meatballs anyway, and didn't use her recipe, but I did adapt the yogurt sauce. It's rather plain, but is a nice tangy foil to the spicy meat and potatoes. Adding a bit of pomegranate molasses to sauteed onions (which I added to the dish because we had a ton of onions taking up precious room in our tiny kitchen) added still more tang, and another layer of somewhat exotic flavors.

A quarter cup of cilantro and 4 tablespoons of mint might seem excessive, but don't skimp! Lamb has a powerful flavor and fewer herbs means that you won't be able to taste them. Plus, they're green, and green is good for you. :)

Lamb Meatballs with Spiced Sweet Potato Puree and Yogurt Sauce

For the meatballs:
1 lb ground lamb
1/4 cup minced cilantro
1 clove garlic, minced
4 tablespoons minced mint
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/8 teaspoon ground pepper
Pinch cinnamon

For potatoes:
2 medium sweet potatoes
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/2 - 1 teaspoon dry harissa spices
1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
Salt

For onions:
1 medium onion, sliced
3 teaspoons oil
Salt
2 teaspoons pomegranate molasses

For sauce:
1 cup plain whole milk Greek yogurt
1 egg yolk
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1/2 cup chicken stock
Salt and pepper

To serve:
Crushed pistachios
Cilantro
Chives and chive blossoms, if you can get them

To make meatballs: Mix ingredients well. Refrigerate meat for an hour or so to allow flavors to meld. Form golfball-sized meatballs. Heat a non-stick skillet and add the meatballs. Cook, turning regularly, until crusty and brown on all sides, about 12-15 minutes. Ground lamb gives off a lot of fat while cooking, so you might want to cover the pan to prevent splatters. Drain on paper towel-lined plates.

To make potatoes: Peel sweet potatoes and cut into rough 1" chunks. Place in a saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil and cook until potatoes are very soft, about 12 minutes. Drain water from pan and mash potatoes, adding olive oil and spices. Add salt to taste and keep warm until ready to use.

To make onions: Cook the onions in the oil with a pinch of salt over medium heat until very soft, about 20 minutes. Stir in molasses and set aside.

To make sauce: Whisk together egg yolk and yogurt. In a microwave safe bowl (I used a 2 cup pyrex measuring cup), whisk cornstarch into chicken stock. Microwave on high for 1 minute, whisk again, then heat for an additional minute, or until thickened. Slowly dribble in the yogurt mixture while continuing to mix. Once fully combined, return to the microwave and cook for another 2 minutes, in 30 second bursts, whisking well between each. Season with salt and pepper and keep warm until ready to serve.

To serve: Mound some of the sweet potato mash on a plate. Top with a portion of the onions and a few of the meatballs. Sprinkle with pistachios, cilantro, and chives, and garnish with a chive blossom.

Serves 2-4.



Posted on Minxeats.com.

Not Quite Nashville Hot Chicken in a Biscuit

There's this thing called Hot Chicken that is popping up here and there, even in Baltimore (at least at KFC). This specialty of Nashville, Tennessee is typically marinated in spices, breaded, fried, and then coated in a cayenne-rich paste or oil. It's red in color and definitely hot.

Spicy hot food releases endorphins, feel-good chemicals that make us want more. At least, those who can tolerate heat. Some people are just crazy with the amount of capsaicin they are willing to ingest. Us, not so much. While we enjoy hot foods, we're not "chileheads" by any stretch of the imagination. So while I did spice up this fried chicken a bit, it's still quite enjoyable by all and sundry. If you are a chilehead, feel free to add more cayenne to the chicken coating and to the sauce. Hell, add it to the biscuit, if you want.

Really, though, this post is more about making dinner with what we had on hand rather than going along with a food fad. I've been really lazy recently, not thinking ahead about what we're going to eat when it's my turn to cook (the weekend). And when Saturday comes, I'm digging through the freezer, hoping we have some good raw materials to work with. Thankfully, we usually do. This time, we had packages of boneless skinless chicken thighs. We also had three sweet potatoes hanging around (Mr Minx doesn't like them particularly) and a bulb of fennel that I had purchased on impulse the week before. I've made hash before with those same ingredients (and it was pretty good) but I hate repeating myself. I thought I could hide one of the sweet potatoes in a batch of biscuits, and fried chicken seemed like a good thing to put in one of those biscuits. With slaw on top, using fennel rather than the typical cabbage.

I have a somewhat embarrassing confession to make: I was a fried chicken virgin until the middle of last year. Oh, I've eaten my fair share over the years, but I'd never cooked it before. I was afraid of making a greasy mess while stinking up the house and ending up with either burnt or raw chicken. Last year, we wrote a book about Maryland cuisine and including a version of Maryland fried chicken was a must. At long last, it was time to get over my fear of frying. I purchased a cast iron skillet.

Maryland fried chicken is shallow-fried, then steamed. It's just as crispy-coated and moistly delicious as deep-fried chicken, only it's not nearly as messy. Or smelly. Once I figured out the proper cooking times (a lot of published recipes don't allow nearly enough time for the coating to brown) and got the technique down, I felt like a chicken frying pro. It was easy, and results were delicious.

If you're a novice, try my recipe. If you don't want spicy chicken, just put some salt and pepper in the flour. Don't worry about buttermilk soaks or egg washes or anything else. Just seasoned flour, chicken, and hot oil. And a cast iron skillet.

Spicy Chicken Biscuit Sandwich with Fennel Slaw
BTW, I used to love those crackers, Chicken in a Biskit, even though they don't taste like chicken nor particularly like biscuits.

For the biscuits:
1 large sweet potato
1/3 cup half and half, plus more
1 3/4 cups AP flour, plus more
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons of cold salted butter, cut into small pieces
Melted butter for brushing tops

For the fennel slaw:
1 large bulb fennel
2 tablespoons finely chopped chives (can use whatever onion you prefer)
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 tablespoon unseasoned rice wine vinegar
1-2 teaspoons agave syrup or superfine sugar
Salt and pepper to taste

For the chicken:
6 boneless, skinless, chicken thighs, cut in half
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 - 1 1/2 teaspoons ground black pepper
1/2 - 1 teaspoon cayenne
Fat for frying (lard or vegetable oil, or a combo of the two)

For the sauce:
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
2 or more tablespoons of your favorite hot sauce
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
Pinch salt

To make the biscuits: Peel the potato and cut into 1" chunks. Place in a pan and add water to cover. Bring to a boil over high heat, then turn down to a simmer. Cook for 10-15 minutes, until potatoes are tender. Drain pot and mash potatoes. Pack mashed potato into a measuring cup. You should have one cup of sweet potato. If you have more, eat the rest. Set aside to cool.

Preheat oven to 450°F.

Once sweet potatoes are cool, add the 1/3 cup of half and half to them and stir to combine. Combine the 1 3/4 cups of flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl, stirring well with a fork. Add the butter and combine with your fingers, a pastry blender, or two knives, until mixture resembles coarse meal. Gently fold in the sweet potato, adding a dribble more half and half if the dough seems too stiff, a pinch more flour if it seems too wet.

Flour your hands well and grab small handfuls of the dough. Gently roll into a ball, then flatten into a fat disc. Place discs on a parchment-lined baking sheet--touching if you want soft sides, not touching if you like crispier biscuits. You should be able to get between 9 and 12 biscuits, depending on how big you make them. Brush tops with a little melted butter. Place in preheated oven and bake for 12-18 minutes (depending on how many you made; bigger biscuits need more time), until light golden brown and firm to the touch. Remove biscuits to a wire rack until ready to serve.

To make slaw: You can do this while the sweet potato is boiling. Cut stalks off of bulb, retaining some of the fronds. Rinse well and cut off any discolored bits on the outermost layer. Cut the bulb in half and make a triangular cut at the bottom to cut away the core. Grate the fennel with a hand grater or a food processor. Remove fennel to a large bowl; chop the fronds and add to the rest of the fennel. Add the chives.

In another bowl, combine the mayo, rice wine, and agave syrup or sugar (more or less depending on how sweet you like your slaw). Season with salt and white pepper to taste. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.

To make chicken: Combine flour with salt and peppers in a plastic zip-top bag. Place the chicken pieces in the bag, one at a time, and shake to coat with flour. Place coated chicken on a plate to rest.

Heat 1/4-inch of fat in a large, heavy-bottomed, frying pan (a cast iron skillet is ideal) over medium-high heat. Put the chicken pieces in the hot fat and cook for about five minutes without disturbing them, until crusty and browned on the bottoms; turn each piece and cook for an additional 5 minutes. Turn the chicken over again, cover the pan partway, turn the heat down to medium, and allow the chicken to steam for 8-10 minutes. A meat thermometer stuck into the meatiest part of the chicken should read no less than 165°F. Remove the cover and cook an additional couple minutes on both sides if it hasn’t browned to your liking.

Drain chicken on paper towel-lined plates. Salt and pepper pieces as soon as they come out of the pan.

To make sauce: combine all ingredients in a small bowl. Refrigerate until ready to use.

To serve: Split biscuits with a fork. Top with a piece of chicken, a dollop of sauce, then a big spoonful of the slaw. Close biscuit and eat. Repeat.



Posted on Minxeats.com.

Book Review - Superfood Sandwiches

Recently I received a review copy of a new cookbook by fellow food blogger, Katie Chudy,
Superfood Sandwiches: Crafting Nutritious Sandwiches with Superfoods for Every Meal and Occasion. The cover photo (caramelized endive and fennel sandwich with gorgonzola dolce found on page 87) attracted me with its colors and textures, and I was hoping to find more of the same inside.

I was not disappointed.

Chudy, who co-owns a personal chef/catering company, The Skinny Beet, with her husband and is also a professional food photographer, understands that a sandwich can be a versatile meal. It doesn't have to mean turkey on white with mayo. (Not that there's anything wrong with that.) She also understands that a sandwich can (and should) be full of both flavor and nutrition. So each recipe in Superfood Sandwiches is packed with superfood ingredients (like kale, avocado, mushrooms, beans, chia seeds, honey, or eggs).

I love that she starts off with basic parts; bread recipes like Parmesan kale bread and condiments like smoky and spicy red pepper pesto or chipotle black bean spread. Then come the sandwiches, and every recipe is new and interesting. There are those that feature exotic flavors, like the Thai take on Elvis' favorite peanut butter and banana sandwich, and a sandwich with Moroccan kale and ratatouille. There are also more simple flavor profiles, like in the spring-like sandwich featuring edamame, peas, and lemon pepper ricotta cheese.

While many of the sandwiches are vegetarian (sweet potato felafel, edamame fried rice burger), there are plenty of meaty options as well, utilizing turkey, salmon, and pork tenderloin. The only problem with this book is deciding which sandwich to try first.

We've tried three recipes (so far); the mushroom, walnut, and brie sandwich was first. A simple combo of sauteed portobellos, lightly candied walnuts, and brie cheese, this sandwich was hearty and filling. The Asian sloppy Joes were next. They were good, but even better when doctored up a bit to have some of the sweetness of a traditional sloppy joe. We added organic ketchup and some brown sugar to the eggplant and cut back on the soy sauce. Terrific, and an easy lunch sandwich ingredient for the work week. The fish sauce, which some folks might consider optional, really makes the dish.

We also tried the tarragon salmon cakes with orange avocado walnut salsa (to which I added a handful of home-grown cherry tomatoes, because we had a ton). Pretty tasty, and even better without the bread. (I see recipes as guidelines, not laws. You should, too, if you are confident in the kitchen.)

It's a good book with good recipes. Go buy it.

* Any products in this post that are mentioned by name may have been provided to Minxeats by the manufacturer. However, all opinions belong to Minxeats. Amazon links earn me $! Please buy!



Posted on Minxeats.com.

Dining In New York, May 2015, Part 1

It had been a year since I'd sniffed and eaten my way around New York, and high time I did it again. So I made arrangements to go up one Friday morning to check out as many restaurants and perfume counters I could squeeze into a quick 30 hours.

I planned to begin my scented tour in upper midtown, so I wanted to eat lunch in that neighborhood. Quality Meats is on 58th Street, just down the street from Bergdorf's. Despite being primarily a steakhouse, they had a number of interesting chopped salads on their luncheon menu. The salad varieties included classic, green goddess, roasted beet, Mediterranean, and Eastern (pan-Asian), all of which could be topped with one's choice from a list of proteins. I went with the roasted beet salad (baby beets, radicchio, frisee, arugula, and toasted walnut vinaigrette) with seared yellowfin tuna.

Arrestingly plated, the large portion of bitter greens and beets was topped with perfectly cooked tuna. While the salad itself could have used both more dressing and more seasoning (thankfully there was a tiny salt cellar on the table), I thought the tuna was nicely seasoned and appreciated the subtle hint of cumin.

I also tried a side of the restaurant's signature corn creme brulee. I had originally also planned to order ice cream for dessert, but the brulee was sweet enough to stand in for that course. Extremely rich and creamy, the generously-portioned custard was more cream than egg, and the burnt sugar topping added a pleasant bitterness.

Much later that evening, I found myself wandering through the West Village. Not having made a dinner reservation left my choices wide open...or as wide open as they can be at 7pm on a bustling Friday night. I remembered enjoying Harold Dieterle's Kin Shop on my last trip to NY; at that time Mr Minx and I sampled several outstanding items. A quick check of my OpenTable app revealed that the next available reservation wasn't until 10:30pm. Undeterred, I walked up 6th Avenue anyway to try my luck. I scored a seat at the bar where I enjoyed a fragrant Siamese Smash (Heaven Hill bourbon, calamansi, yuzu, lemon bitters, & thai basil) while perusing the menu.

I ended up ordering two appetizers. The first was a steamed peekytoe crab & spicy pork crepe in a coconut broth with chili oil and fresh herbs. The light rice flour crepe was wrapped around a sausage-like cylinder of pork and crab and set atop a gorgeous broth redolent of coconut and fish sauce. A side order of sticky rice was employed to soak up all of the delicious juices.

A special of crispy lamb ribs with a crab dipping sauce served as my entree. The four ribs were small but meaty, lightly crisp on the outside and tender on the inside. They were lightly seasoned, but when eaten with a bit of everything else on the plate--sauce, herbs, pickled onions--the flavor shone.

I find that eating alone at a bar can often be amusing. First I got a laugh from a guy showing off his brand new Apple watch...which refused to work in the restaurant. Money well spent. When he left, he was replaced by a Latino man with a very heavy accent. He seemed to think that Kin Shop was a garden variety Thai restaurant and that he could get pad Thai with chicken. If he couldn't get pad Thai with chicken, could he get something else with chicken? If he had examined the menu at all, rather than playing with his phone, he would have seen there was not a single chicken dish on the menu. Equally amusing was that the bartender, who doubled as our waiter, insisted that not only could he not get pad Thai with chicken, he could not get pad Thai. But pad Thai (with shrimp) was clearly available. (Perhaps not so clearly, as it was spelled "phat" Thai on the menu.)

After dinner, I walked in search of gelato. There are actually many places to get gelato in the neighborhood, but all of them had a line out to there. I stepped into Cones, on Bleecker Street, and opted for Argentine-style ice cream--helado--instead. Similar to gelato in that it has a lower fat and calorie count than American ice cream, helado is still decadently creamy. I enjoyed two flavors, sweet potato studded with bits of brie cheese, and corn, both richly sweet.

For sure, my sniffing adventures weren't nearly as satisfying as my eating adventures on this particular day.









Posted on Minxeats.com.

Sweet Potato Panna Cotta

I'm a fan of sweet potatoes, but Mr Minx is not. I really hate having to prepare two different starches with dinner if he doesn't want any of my sweet potatoes, because of course he won't go without. So I normally don't buy them at all, and only eat them around Thanksgiving, or if I can get one as a side dish in a restaurant. But we sometimes get sweet potatoes in our shipment from Washington's Green Grocer, and then I have to be inventive. I've incorporated sweet potatoes into snack cake, scones, hummus, and spaetzle, all quite successfully. And now I've used them in panna cotta.

I saw it somewhere online, perhaps a restaurant review or blog: sweet potato panna cotta with toasted marshmallow. I had sweet potatoes, and I had nice homemade vanilla marshmallows (well, not homemade by me, but by Nikki of Mallow Crunchies), and it just struck me as something I wanted to eat. And as something I could feed to my husband.

We ate the panna cotta both refrigerated and frozen. The latter is a lot like the Indian ice cream, kulfi, especially with a dose of cardamom. The former works best with the marshmallow, but both need the crunchy, burnt sugar bitterness of the pumpkin seed brittle, which also adds texture to the creamy richness.

Sweet Potato Panna Cotta (adapted from Christina Tosi)

2 teaspoons unflavored powdered gelatin
2 tablespoons water
1 cup mashed sweet potatoes
1 cup milk
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons heavy cream
1/4 cup sweetened condensed milk
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Pinch of salt
Release spray
1/2 cup pumpkin seeds
1/2 cup sugar
Marshmallows, preferably homemade

Sprinkle the gelatin over the water in a microwave-safe bowl. Let stand 3 minutes, until softened.

In a blender, combine the potatoes with the milk, cream, condensed milk, sugar, spices, and pinch of salt.

Warm the gelatin mixture in the microwave for 10-15 seconds, until melted. Add to the blender and blend well to combine.

Pour sweet potato mixture into a loaf pan sprayed well with release spray. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or until set.

While panna cotta is setting, make the brittle. Prepare a baking sheet with a piece of parchment paper and set aside. Pour the pumpkin seeds into a small skillet and toast over medium heat, shaking the pan regularly, until the seeds puff up. Remove from pan and set aside. Pour the sugar into the pan with a few tablespoons of water. Cook the sugar over medium heat until it melts and then starts to turn light amber around the edges. Stir in the pumpkin seeds and cook the mixture, stirring regularly, until the sugar turns medium brown. It will smoke; open a window. Once sugar is browned and is just starting to smell burnt, remove from heat and pour onto prepared parchment. Spread brittle slightly with a wooden spoon, then set aside to cool. Once cool, break into large shards.

If you're using homemade marshmallow, cut them into long fingers. Place a few on a piece of aluminum foil and brulee with a creme brulee torch. (If using store-bought marshmallows, line up 2-3 of them and brulee.) Cut chilled panna cotta into similarly-sized rectangles. Top each one with a piece of bruleed marshmallow and a shard of brittle.

Posted on Minxeats.com.

Savory Sweet Potato Biscones and Pimento Cheese

A recent delivery from our produce delivery service (it's not really a CSA, so I shouldn't call it that) left us with three mammoth sweet potatoes. Mr Minx isn't really a fan of the tuber, so I have to find creative ways to use them up. My sweet potato spaetzle were a hit, as was the super-moist sweet potato snack cake. He even enjoyed the sweet potato and black-eyed pea hummus I made a couple years back, and he's not a fan of the beans, either. This time, I decided to try sweet potato biscuits or scones, something that I could use as a sandwich bread.

I definitely didn't want the scones to be sweet, so didn't use any sugar. Instead, I leaned heavily toward the savory spectrum by adding chopped scallions and jalapeno pepper.

Ham biscuits are a classic, but I find that some biscuits are just too thick and dense to wrap around meat and cheese. Plus, they usually crumble into chunks after a few bites. I made mine thinner and somewhat lighter. They are somewhere between a biscuit and a scone, a biscone, and are easily fork split to accommodate a filling.

My filling of choice was pimento cheese and ham. Or more accurately, Canadian bacon. The rounds of bacon were the perfect size for the biscones, and matched nicely with the savory cheese topping.

Sweet Potato Biscones with Pimento Cheese

For the biscones:
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons baking powder
5 tablespoons cold butter, cut into small pieces
1 cup cold mashed sweet potato
1/2 cup milk
2 scallions, minced finely
1 jalapeno pepper, minced

For the pimento cheese:
4 ounces of extra sharp cheddar cheese
Scant 1/4 cup mayonnaise (I used Duke's)
1 tablespoon minced jalapeno pepper
2 tablespoons chopped roasted red pepper

Canadian bacon or ham, optional

Make the biscones: Preheat oven to 425°F.

Combine the flour, salt, and baking powder in a large bowl. Rub the butter in with your fingers until the flour looks like coarse meal. Combine the sweet potato and milk and stir into the flour mixture until mostly combined; then add the scallions and jalapeno and mix until completely combined and veg are fairly evenly distributed.

Flour your hands and pat dough out to about 1/2" thick on a flour-coated board. Use a floured glass or biscuit cutter to cut out rounds. Place on a greased baking sheet and bake for 15-18 minutes, until lightly browned. Cool on a wire rack.

Makes 12-16 biscones, depending on how big a cutter you use.

Make the pimento cheese: Grate the cheddar into a bowl. Stir in the mayo and peppers. Beat well with a fork until the cheese starts to break apart and integrate with the mayo. (You could also whiz it in a food processor, but I didn't think it was worth dragging it out and getting it dirty for such a small amount.) Refrigerate until ready to use.

Fork split the biscones, smear with pimento cheese and top with a slice or two of Canadian bacon. Sliced tomato is nice, too. Eat.

Posted on Minxeats.com.

Spiced Sweet Potato Snack Cake

Now that the holidays have been over for a while, it's time to resume our monthly stitch 'n' bitch meetings. Every month my girls and I get together to work on knitting projects and to talk about life. All of the meetings so far have been at my house, so I have been supplying the snacks. Usually, there is one savory snack in the form of a dip of some sort, and a sweet treat. The sweet is usually a bar cookie or brownie, and I try to make sure I do something completely different every month.

I keep wanting to make a blondie that comes out with a chewy texture. Seems that the only way to do that is to make bar cookies with a Toll House cookie-type batter. Dry additions are ok, but adding wet stuff, like pumpkin or shredded carrots, changes the texture completely. But I do it anyway. I suppose it doesn't matter that the texture isn't exactly what I want--the end result of all of my various experiments has still been delicious.

I almost ended up with something close to what I was looking for last month. Lots of butter + sugar and not so much flour should make a rich, chewy, vanilla "brownie" sort of snack. But then I found that container of mashed sweet potato in the fridge, left over from something I had made earlier in the week. It was completely unseasoned, and would go to waste otherwise, so it went into the batter, too. I also tossed in the last of a bag of Heath bar chips and some pecans. For flavoring, I was lazy--hey, it was Friday night, after a looong week--so instead of measuring out individual spices, I just tossed in some instant chai mix.

The end result was pretty damn good. While not exactly chewy, the sweet potato-enriched bars were super moist, lightly spiced, with little surprises of nuts and buttery toffee bits. Great served a room temperature, but simply smashing served warm with a dollop of ice cream on top.

These might be a good way to sneak some nutritious vegetables into an item the kids will eat, too.

Spiced Sweet Potato Snack Cake

1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1 cup dark brown sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup mashed sweet potato
1 cup all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons instant chai tea mix
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup toffee bits
1 cup pecans, coarsely chopped
Powdered sugar, for garnish (optional)

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 9" square baking pan.

Cream together the butter and sugar. Add the eggs one at a time. Stir in the vanilla and sweet potato.

Mix together the flour, chai mix, and salt. Stir into the butter/sugar mixture until well combined. Stir in the toffee bits and pecans. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 25-30 minutes, or until just a few moist crumbs cling to an inserted toothpick.

Cool completely in the pan before cutting into bars. Sprinkle a little powdered sugar on top to add a bit of contrast to the shades of mid-brown.



Posted on Minxeats.com.

Sweet Potato Hummus

I am a horrible, mean-spirited, and cruel person. But you knew that already.

My husband hates strongly dislikes sweet potatoes. And after eating the hoppin' john I made for good luck in the new year, he's decided that he hates is not fond of black-eyed peas, either. Mostly their funky rotted vegetable smell. Meanwhile, I love both, farty fragrance and all, and decided to make hummus with them.

If hubby didn't like it - more for me! Bwahahahahaha!

Hummus makes a terrific snack or lunch, with some carrot sticks or pita or even tortilla chips. It's pretty filling, and if its not made with a ton of oil, relatively lean. And when the nutritional power of a sweet potato is added, hummus is good for you, too. 200g of sweet potato offers 65% of the RDA of Vitamin C, and 769% of Vitamin A. The tortilla chips, not so much. But tasty! Especially the Toasted Sweet Potato ones (Bachman brand) we bought recently, which were a perfect pairing, emphasizing the sweet potato flavor.

Even Mr Minx had to admit that the combination of sweet potato and black-eyed peas was pretty darn good, although it was hard for him to come right out and say it. Especially since his mouth was full of hummus.

Sweet Potato Hummus

1 medium sweet potato (about 1.5 cups cooked pulp)
1 15-oz can black-eyed peas, drained and rinsed
3 tablespoons tahini
1 large clove regular garlic or 5 cloves black garlic, crushed
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1/4 cup lemon juice (+ more to taste)
1/2 teaspoon ground chipotle pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon salt + more to taste
extra virgin olive oil

Poke holes all over the sweet potato with a fork. Put potato on a microwave-safe plate and nuke for 8-10 minutes, until tender. Allow to cool, then remove skin.

Put the black-eyed peas in a food processor with the tahini, garlic, brown sugar, lemon juice, spices, salt, and about 2 tablespoons of the olive oil. Pulse until the mixture forms a relatively smooth puree. Add the sweet potato and pulse into a smooth puree, thinning with a bit of water if it seems too thick. Taste for seasoning and add more lemon juice and/or salt, if needed.

Serve in a bowl, top with a drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkle of fresh parsley.

Posted on Minxeats.com.

Rocco's Off His Rocker

So the latest food travesty to come from the mind of Rocco DiSpirito is "No-Yolk Deviled Eggs." How does he make deviled eggs without using yolks, you ask? By substituting them with another completely unrelated ingredient.

Sweet potatoes.

Yes, you read that correctly. Sweet potatoes. No doubt chosen because the color of their flesh is slightly reminiscent to that of egg yolks. What a brilliant guy, that Rocco! So what happens to the actual yolks that came with the eggs? According to the recipe, you throw them away.

Because money grows on trees.

Anyhoo...I just happened to have some cooked sweet potato in my fridge, so I decided to try Rocco's recipe. I hard-boiled two eggs, one to DiSpirito-ize (because I doubted I could stomach more than one) and one to make more conventionally (using the yolks from both eggs - egg yolks being one of the few foods that naturally contain vitamin D).

Rocco's eggs in front, real deviled eggs in back.

I used the same ingredients in both variations - mustard, smoked paprika, cornichons, parsley, scallions - plus mayo in the "normal" version. And I'm going to admit...the sweet potato-stuffed eggs weren't terrible. I usually add chopped sweet pickle to my deviled eggs, so I can see how sweet potato + sour pickle have vaguely the same flavor characteristics; I definitely missed the sweet component in the standard version. The smoked paprika and mustard helped to mask the sweet potato flavor somewhat, but overall the texture was just not right. It was too light. And yes, it was a bit too sweet.

Mr Minx's reaction before wiping his tongue with his napkin: "Blargh! It tastes like sweet potato!"

While not the disaster that Rocco's black bean brownies were, these sweet potato deviled eggs are still not recommended. First of all, they are completely wasteful. Second, by my way of thinking, if you can't limit yourself to one or two pieces of real deviled egg, the best advice is to not eat them at all. They are a party or picnic snack, and not a main course. But since I mention "party snack," I have to think that unless you're throwing a party for Rocco's fawning sycophants, or skinny silicone-plumped Hollywood-types, people are going to think they're too weird to eat. And the Hollywood-types are going to want to add a tablespoon of caviar to the top of each one so there goes the whole low fat thing.

I've eaten worse, but I still don't think that outlandish food substitutions are the way to go. Just eat less.

(If you decide you must make this recipe, please don't throw your yolks in the trash - put them outside to feed wild birds.)