Supper Salad: Roasted Sweet Potato and Orange Salad

This salad combines so many flavors that I love, and includes ingredients that provide a lot of nutrients. The recipe makes a lot, too! My husband and I have been eating this one all week. (I have all of the pieces refrigerated separately and toss together individual servings for us each night.)

If you're looking for a filling, yet light, entrée salad, this one will do the trick (perfect for a warm summer night!). I roasted the onions along with the sweet potatoes, and recommend doing the same if you can't handle a lot of raw onions. Roasting brings out the sweetness of the onions and also flavors them with rosemary and garlic.

Roasted Sweet Potato and Orange Salad
(From Cooking Light, December, 2005)
Ingredients
Salad:
1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
2 teaspoons olive oil
3 garlic cloves, unpeeled and crushed
1 1/2 pounds peeled sweet potato, cut into 3/4-inch pieces
3 cups orange sections (about 6 oranges)
1/2 cup vertically sliced red onion
3 tablespoons pine nuts, toasted
1 (6-ounce) bag prewashed baby spinach

Dressing:
3 tablespoons fresh orange juice
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon stone-ground mustard
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1 tablespoon honey
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 garlic clove, minced

Preparation
Preheat oven to 400°F.

To prepare salad, combine first 4 ingredients (Kate also roasted the onions), tossing well. Place potato mixture on a jelly-roll pan lined with parchment paper. Bake at 400°F for 40 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from oven; cool. Discard garlic. Combine potato mixture, orange sections, onion, pine nuts, and spinach in a large bowl.

To prepare dressing, combine orange juice and remaining ingredients in a small bowl, stirring well with a whisk. Drizzle dressing over salad; toss gently to coat.

Superbowl Sunday: Sweet Potato & Black Bean Chili

It is Superbowl Sunday, and the first one in several years that we are not watching the commercials game at my sister’s house. After a weekend packed full of obligations and chores, we needed a few hours at home this evening to get our wits about us before beginning another long week. (Okay, I needed a few hours at home and my husband was kind enough to find contentment in watching the game from our own couch.)

My sister usually makes a chili and a fish stew to serve for her party guests during the Superbowl, followed by fondue or another fun dessert. My husband and I just finished off my second batch of Cioppino, so I opted to make some chili for us to eat tonight. A few weeks ago I found a recipe online for a vegetarian chili that calls for black beans and sweet potatoes – two of my favorite foods (that fortunately pair so well together, like in Sweet Potato & Black Bean Burritos).

I made this yesterday, and completed it today by stirring in the cilantro and garnishing with some cheese, sour cream, and diced avocado. The recipe is quite simple, and you can feel free to adjust the seasonings to your own taste buds (the chipotle powder will make it smoky and spicy!). The recipe states that it serves two, so I doubled it. I wound up with a good amount that will last us into the week. I hope that your Superbowl Sunday was filled with some good eats, regardless of where you happened to be!

Sweet Potato & Black Bean Chili
(From Eating Well)
Serves 2
Ingredients
2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 small onion, finely diced
1 small sweet potato, peeled and diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon chili powder
2 teaspoons ground cumin
¼ teaspoon ground chipotle chile (Chipotle peppers are dried, smoked jalapeno peppers. Ground chipotle can be found in the specialty spice section of most supermarkets.)
1/8 teaspoon salt, or to taste
1 1/3 cups water
1 (15-ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 cup canned diced tomatoes
2 teaspoons lime juice
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

Directions
Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion and potato and cook, stirring often, until the onion is slightly softened, about 4 minutes. Add garlic, chili powder, cumin, chipotle and salt and cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add water, bring to a simmer, cover, reduce heat to maintain a gentle simmer and cook until the potato is tender, 10 to 12 minutes. Add beans, tomatoes and lime juice; increase heat to high and return to a simmer, stirring often. Reduce heat to maintain a simmer and cook until slightly reduced, about 4 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in cilantro.

Holiday Hors d'oeuvre: Harvest Sweet Potato Pecan Pie Tarts

I promised myself I would post these before the holidays. If you are looking for something for your guests to nibble on before Thanksgiving dinner is ready – these are it! They are also a perfect hors d’oeuvre for any fall or winter gathering, especially for a holiday party. I think it was my sister who first introduced our family to this recipe several years ago, and it quickly became a permanent fixture for our family holiday gatherings.

The recipe calls for cooked sweet potato. I like to roast mine in the oven. Not only does roasting the sweet potato caramelize it, but it also sends a nice aroma throughout your house. (Prick the sweet potatoes with a knife in several places and bake at 400°F in a small baking pan until very tender, about 1 to 1 ½ hours.) If you’re pressed for time, you could always cook it in the microwave. (Pierce each sweet potato a few times with a fork, place in a pie plate with two tablespoons of water, cover loosely with wax paper, and microwave on high for 5 minutes or until tender.) They are so good!

Harvest Sweet Potato Pecan Pie Tarts
(From Cooking Light, November, 2005)
Ingredients
1 cup mashed cooked sweet potato
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup chopped toasted pecans
1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon dark corn syrup
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg white
2 (2.1-ounce) packages mini phyllo shells (such as Athens)

Directions
Preheat oven to 350°F.

Combine sweet potato, granulated sugar, cinnamon, and salt, stirring well.

Combine pecans, brown sugar, syrup, vanilla, and egg white, stirring well.

Spoon about 1 teaspoon sweet potato mixture into each phyllo shell, spreading to edges. Spoon about 1/2 teaspoon pecan mixture over sweet potato mixture. Place filled shells on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake at 350°F for 20 minutes. Cool completely on a wire rack.

Celebrity Sighting: Sweet Potato and Black Bean Burritos

A perk of living in New York City is all of the celebrity sightings that you happen upon during your everyday routine. My husband and I used to keep a list of everyone we ran into in the street, in stores, at work, in church… you name it! After a few years, the conversation turned into, “who haven’t we seen?” I remember the first movie/television set I saw in the city. I had been working in NYC for only a couple weeks, and saw a film crew set up on my way to work. I thought to myself, “How can I go to work now? I need to stay and watch the production all day!” I made it to work, and the awe that I had from my first film set encounter quickly turned into, “Get out of way, I have to get to work!!” (For the record, Law & Order loved to film on the streets I used to walk from our apartment to work.)

Back in February of 2004, my husband and I had spent a typical Saturday afternoon in Central Park, and then wandered over to the then-newly constructed Time Warner Center for a smoothy from Jamba Juice. We stopped in Williams-Sonoma to see what was new, and we happened upon a celebrity chef encounter! Sara Moulton was signing copies of her latest book. I immediately used my cell phone to call my mom to see if she wanted a copy. And even though she already had one, I received the go-ahead to purchase another copy and get it autographed for her. Sara Moulton was so friendly, and my husband and I engaged in conversation with her about restaurants in a college town that we had all previously lived in.

This recipe is one of my favorite Sara Moulton recipes, and one that we even discussed with her. It is an excellent entrée if you are looking to please both vegetarians and meat-eaters. Based on my experience, it freezes pretty well too, if you want to make a lot and save some for future lunches or dinners. The black bean spread is so excellent on it’s own, I have made it to put in quesadillas. You could use that part of the recipe for any other dish that needs black bean spread. The cumin and the chili powder work wonderfully with the black beans! Garnish these with your favorite fixings! (I regularly use cheese, salsa, sour cream, and cilantro.)

Sweet Potato and Black Bean Burritos
(From Sara Moulton Cooks at Home, slightly modified)
Ingredients
2 sweet potatoes, about 10 oz. each
2 tablespoons olive oil
cooking spray
1 onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
½ teaspoon cumin
½ teaspoon chili powder
1 (15 oz.) can black beans, rinsed and drained
½ cup vegetable stock
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
Ten 6-inch flour tortillas (wheat tortillas will work, too)
2-3 green onions, white part only, thinly sliced
I cup Monterrey Jack cheese, shredded
Optional: Shredded romaine, sour cream, salsa, pickled Jalapenos, grated Cheddar cheese, chopped cilantro, etc.

Directions
Preheat oven to 400°F. Prick potatoes with a knife in several places and bake in a small baking pan until very tender, about 1 to 1 ½ hours.

Meanwhile, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring often, until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute longer. Stir in the cumin and chili powder and cook for 1 minute. Add the beans and vegetable stock, cover, and cook until the beans are very soft and the flavors have blended, about 5 minutes. Use a fork or potato masher to coarsely mash the beans. Season with salt and pepper. You should have about 1 ½ cups.

Remove the potatoes from the oven and cool. (Keep the oven at the same temperature.) When the potatoes are cool enough handle, halve and scoop out the flesh. Place the flesh in a small bowl and use a fork to mash coarse. Discard the skins. Add the nutmeg and season with salt and pepper. You should have 1 ½ to 2 cups.

Spread the tortillas with roughly equal amounts of the bean mixture. Tops with equal amounts of the potato puree. Sprinkle on equal amounts of cheese and green onions. Roll the tortillas into cylinders and arrange, seam side down, on a baking sheet (large enough to hold the burritos in one flat layer). Spray the tops with cooking spray.

For a soft burrito, cover with foil and bake until warmed through, about 20 minutes. Bake uncovered for a crisper burrito. Arrange the garnishes attractively in bowls and let diners garnish their own burritos.

Note: I bake my burritos covered with foil for 15 minutes. I then remove the foil and bake them for another 5 minutes. I then top the burritos with cheddar cheese (or other Mexican or Taco cheese blend), and bake for 1 minute, until cheese melts.

Two-for-One: Roasted Winter Vegetables & Soup, with Kate’s Toasted Baguette with Gruyere

I love making soups year-round, but the root vegetables of fall and winter give way for making soups with a thick consistency, and adding nothing more than a little seasoning and broth. Roasting the vegetables caramelizes them, making them soft enough to quickly puree with some broth. I make soups with all different variations of root vegetables, and this Ina Garten recipe combines them all.

This recipe is really a two-for-one. The first part leaves you with a colorful and delicious side dish of roasted vegetables. You can leave them as is to serve along with an entrée , or puree them into a soup. This is a great soup to make in the cooler months of the year, but for some reason I also find myself craving this soup in the spring with a light salad.

This evening we ate this soup with a variation on a grilled cheese. The crusty baguette and gooey cheese are a great compliment to the warm hearty soup, and I like to dip pieces of the bread into my soup bowl. The splash of chardonnay on the baguette is a nice touch that adds another layer of flavor, and freshly ground black pepper adds a little kick.

Her recipe calls for chicken stock, however I use vegetable stock. I puree the soup with an immersion blender in the stock pot, rather than transferring to a food processor.

Roasted Winter Vegetables & Soup
(From Barefoot Contessa Family Style)

Roasted Vegetables:
Ingredients
1 pound carrots, peeled
1 pound parsnips, peeled
1 large sweet potato, peeled
1 small butternut squash (about 2 pounds), peeled and seeded
3 tablespoons good olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Directions
Preheat the oven to 425° F degrees.

Cut the carrots, parsnips, sweet potato, and butternut squash in 1- to 1 1/4-inch cubes. All the vegetables will shrink while baking, so don't cut them too small.

Place all the cut vegetables in a single layer on 2 sheet pans. Drizzle them with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Toss well. Bake for 25 to 35 minutes, until all the vegetables are tender, turning once with a metal spatula.

Sprinkle with parsley, season to taste, and serve hot.

Roasted Vegetable Soup:
Ingredients
3 to 4 cups vegetable stock
1 quart Roasted Winter Vegetables (see recipe above)
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions
In a large saucepan, heat 3 cups of vegetable stock. In 2 batches, coarsely puree the roasted vegetables and the vegetable stock in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade. Pour the soup back into the pot and season, to taste. Thin with more vegetable stock and reheat. The soup should be thick but not like a vegetable puree, so add more vegetable stock and/or water until it's the consistency you like.


Kate’s Toasted Baguette with Gruyere
Ingredients
1 French baguette
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
4 tablespoons white wine (like chardonnay)
1 cup gruyere, grated
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Directions
Preheat oven to 350° F degrees.

Slice baguette into thirds, and then slice each section in half horizontally. Place baguette slices on a large baking sheet, cut side up. Drizzle bread with extra virgin olive oil. Bake in oven for approximately 6-8 minutes, until bread is crispy. Remove from oven.

Splash white wine over baguettes, sprinkle with gruyere, and season with freshly ground black pepper. Turn broiler on high, and toast baguettes until cheese is melted and bread is toasted (approximately 2-4 minutes). Serve immediately.