Green Eggs and Yam

In my quest to use up a boatload of sweet potatoes, I asked my daughter, Taylor, how she would like them prepared. Taylor wanted me to make sweet potato hash browns, but I was afraid that they wouldn’t get very crunchy unless I added a few things. What I finally ended up making looked more like a sweet potato pancake (in fact, I imagine you could just sub the flour for some matzo meal and you would have a nice sweet potato pancake for Passover). Then, because I wanted to make more of a meal out of it, I topped one of the pancakes with an egg. I now had Yam and Eggs. Hee Hee. But wait! St. Patrick’s Day is coming up! Let me bring out my inner Dr. Seuss and present to you the final (and green!) creation:

Green Eggs and Yam

6 Sweet Potato Pancakes
6 poached eggs (not sure how to poach an egg? Click here: How to Poach an Egg
1/4  cup prepared pesto

Simply place a poached egg on the top of each sweet potato pancake and spoon a teaspoon or two of  pesto over the top of each one. Don't like pesto? Spoon a little creamed spinach over the top of the eggs. Delish!

Sweet Potato Pancakes:
Printable Recipe

1 large sweet potato, peeled and shredded (about 4 cups)
½ cup grated sweet onion
1 egg, slightly beaten
¼ cup all purpose flour (add more flour if the mixture is too wet)
½ teaspoon paprika
¼ to ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
½ teaspoon salt

Vegetable oil for frying

Stir together all of the ingredients (except the vegetable oil) until well-blended.

Heat oil (about ½ cup, or enough to cover the bottom of the pan) in a large skillet on high until hot, but not smoking. Reduce the heat to medium/high and drop sweet potato mixture into the pan by ¼ cups (about 3 pancakes per pan; don’t overcrowd). Flatten each pancake slightly with a spatula and fry until browned and crisp on the bottom, about 2 to 3 minutes. Turn pancakes and repeat. If the pancakes start to brown too quickly, turn down the heat to medium. Remove from pan to a paper towel lined plate. Keep warm in a 200 degree oven, if desired. Salt to taste.

As you can see, I still haven't graduated to a food processor. If anyone from Kichenaid is reading this, I would be more than happy to review a model for you..... ;)

These are tasty little things all on their own. I had to pull a few away from my husband, so that I could top them with the eggs.

I tried to turn the eggs green by putting some spinach leaves in the water with the eggs, but it didn't work....I'll have to pay more attention to how they did it on Food Network.

The pesto on this is really good, but I'm thinking I would like the creamed spinach just as well. I will definately make these again.

Sweet Potato Bruschetta

I’ve mentioned before that my daughter has become a vegetarian. I’m afraid that at this point she really means it. No. More. Meat. While that may be fine for her, her mother is having a difficult time of it. What? No bacon? No burgers? While I may not embrace her choice, I do support the decision and I certainly want to be able to provide some tasty snacks, so I’ve been honing in on some of the foods that she does enjoy. This week, I’m experimenting with the lovely sweet potato.

The sweet potato is the ugly duckling of the vegetable world. This strange looking tuber actually transforms into some beautiful, not to mention tasty, food. Not only that, it provides some serious nutrition….this is a root vegetable that qualifies as an excellent source of vitamin A (in the form of beta-carotene), a very good source of vitamin C and manganese, and a good source of copper, dietary fiber, vitamin B6, potassium and iron. And did you know that a yam is really just a sweet potato with a different name? I like just saying the word yam. So now that we have a great tasting, fun sounding veggie, what do we make with it? Hmmm. How about a Sweet Potato Bruschetta?

I’m not sure of the exact moment that I thought of making a Bruschetta out of my sweet potato. It may well have been a dream. Or, I may have thought of it as I passed a really nice baguette display in the grocery store. At any rate, this is what I came up with:

Sweet Potato Bruschetta

Printable Recipe

1 French baguette, cut into 1/2” slices

Extra virgin olive oil

1 cut clove of garlic

1 recipe Sweet Potato Chutney*

Begin by toasting the baguette slices. I do this by placing them on a large cookie sheet and putting them in a 400 degree oven for a few minutes, until they are nicely browned. Remove them from the oven and drizzle a bit of olive oil on each slice and then rub each slice with the cut clove of garlic. Then, simply top each slice with a spoonful of the Sweet Potato Chutney.

I cheated this time and just used a flavored dipping oil. See the red pepper at the bottom? It gave the oil just a bit of a kick.

Sweet Potato Chutney:

2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 large, sweet onion, chopped
1 large sweet potato, cubed
1/2 (about 3 cups) of a fresh pineapple, cubed
1 sweet red pepper, chopped
1/4 cup white vinegar
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger (or I found this stuff in a tube that looks like pureed fresh ginger--yum! use a teaspoon)
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cardamom
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon curry
a pinch of salt

Heat the oil in a medium sized saucepan over medium/high heat. Add the crushed red pepper and the chopped onions and saute for about 5 minutes. Reduce the heat to low and cook the onions until soft and just starting to brown, about 15 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients to the saucepan, stirring well. Cook over medium heat until the liquids boil down and the sweet potatoes are tender, about 30 minutes. Cool to room temperature.

Doesn't this picture just shout beta-carotene? 

The truth is, you can use this chutney on about anything. I tried it on grilled salmon and I also caught my daughter just eating it straight from the bowl....

Since I bought a boatload of these tasty tubers, stay tuned for more sweet potato adventures. Yam and eggs, anyone? Yamburgers? Hot Yam and Cheese? Yambalaya? I love that word.....

My Favorite Coffee Cake

People sometimes ask me how I come up with a recipe. For the most part, the answer is pretty simple.....I tinker. I simply take an existing recipe and make it my own. The rule is that you have to make at least 3 major changes (and change the title) to make the recipe yours. The coffee cake recipe that I'm going to present to you today, is not my own. It is, however, an example of a recipe that is very adaptable--it is very easy to swap out ingredients and make an entirely different cake.

First, let's take a look at the basic recipe. Truthfully, I'm not sure who to give credit* to for this one as it's been in the family for years. Even in its original form, it is a very popular cake....cinnamony, moist, sweet, portable....you get the picture. Here is the recipe:

My Favorite Coffee Cake

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

Cake:
4 eggs
3/4 cup oil
3/4 cup water
1 tsp vanilla
1 tablespoon butter flavoring
1 envelope Dream Whip
1 pkg yellow cake mix (no pudding in the mix---use Duncan Hines)
1 (small) package instant vanilla or butterscotch pudding

Topping:
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts (optional)

Glaze:
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon butter flavoring

Grease and flour and oblong angel food cake pan. (or use a regular tube/bundt pan or two regular loaf pans and adjust baking time)

In a large mixing bowl, combine all of the cake ingredients. Beat a low speed for 30 seconds to combine, then beat at med/high speed for 6 minutes.

Pour 1/2 the batter into the prepared pan. Sprinkle with 1/2 of the topping mixture. Pour in remaining batter and sprinkle with remaining topping. Cut through the batter with a knife to swirl in the topping. Bake 50-60 minutes or until a tester comes out clean. Cool for at least 10 minutes in the pan before removing. Drizzle with glaze, if desired.

Here's where I started changing things around with this batch. I blended together 1/4 cup softened butter with 2 tablespoons flour, 1/2 cup of brown sugar and a teaspoon of cinnamon. You can see in some of the pictures where this mixture might have been a bit heavy---it didn't swirl nicely and settled near the bottom. But it was very tasty and I would make it this way again!

I took a few liberties again with the glaze. Since I'm not a huge fan of raw powdered sugar, I made a very easy penuche glaze.

You can see just how easy and versatile this recipe is---swap out chocolate cake for the yellow, chocolate pudding mix for the vanilla, and use some Oreo crumbs and mini chocolate chips for the middle. Or use the Butterscotch pudding and swirl in some chocolate syrup. Let your taste buds be your guide.....

*My sister just informed me of the origins of this wonderful treat. Apparently, it is known as "That" Coffee Cake or "Shiva" Cake and is a very popular recipe belonging to Temple Israel in Minneapolis. They even take orders for this stuff....see, and now you can make it at home. :)  She also wanted to pass along that this cake, made in its original form, tastes great toasted and smeared with butter.