BLAT and Chipotle-Ancho Lime Sweet Potatoes

to accompany our easy stand-by dinner, the BLAT (think BLT and add avocado), i made the most amazing sweet potatoes.  If i don't write it down, i will never forgive myself.  They are a little spicy and very tangy!

Ancho-Chipotle Lime Sweet Potatoes

1 dried chipotle pepper, stemmed and seeded
1 dried ancho chili, stemmed and seeded
2 tsp cumin seed
1 tsp kosher salt
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 limes
~1/3 cup olive oil
3 medium sweet potatoes, peeled, and diced evenly
1 medium sweet onion

pre-heat oven to 375

in a dry skillet over medium high heat, toast the chili peppers, turning once until toasty and pliable, and the cumin seeds, until fragrant and beginning to brown.  grind in coffee mill with salt.

in a small bowl, combine 1/2 pepper powder, garlic, juice of one lime, and equal amount olive oil
spread sweet potatoes and onion on lined baking sheet or large baking dish.  mix dressing and toss with potatoes/onion.  If more is needed, mix more pepper powder, lime juice, and olive oil and repeat.

bake in oven, stirring every 10 minutes until edges are chewy-sweet (40-60 minutes depending on size of chunks).

serve over a bed of arugula is desired.

Boxty Party! - Roasted Succotash and Caprese Salad

Gruber and his roommate, Mark were making boxties and chicken wings last night. I wanted to bring some veggies to the table, so I made Caprese Salad, featured in a previous blog post, and Roasted Vegetable Succotash. I melded a few different recipes I found together to create the succotash I envisioned. Here is the recipe I came up with:

Roasted Vegetable Succotash

2 small/medium or 1 large sweet potato, peeled and cut into 1/2" cubes

1 medium red onion, diced

1 red bell pepper, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 thyme sprigs

1 oregano sprig

scant 1/4 cup olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

4 ears corn, kernels removed from cob

1 cup shelled edamame

3 tbsp basil

3 tbsp parsley

1 lemon, juiced

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Mix sweet potato, onion, pepper, garlic, thyme, and oregano on rimmed baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil until coated and sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. Roast in oven for 45 minutes until sweet potato is tender; stir every 10 minutes.

Add corn and edamame to baking sheet and roast for another 5-10 minutes, until corn is roasted and sweet.

Remove from oven. Transfer ingredients to serving bowl. Mix in lemon juice, parsley, and basil. Taste and add seasoning if needed.

This smelled delicious while cooking! It tasted delicious too! The garlic added a lot of flavor to the sweet potato. I would consider added some red pepper flakes at the beginning of the roasting step, and adding spinach at the end and roast/stir until wilted. Alex thought it was fine how it was and said I would ruin it with those additions. I didn't think it was a big hit at the party, but when it came time to leave, the bowl was empty! Gruber was able to taste the caprese salad and loved it. I left the remainder for him and he enjoyed it for breakfast the next day.

Easter Dinner

Taren made lamb and Ann and Buzz brought scalloped potatoes and greens. Greens turned out to be asparagus with sesame oil and broccoli with almonds. I brought the following

Mac and Two Cheeses with Caramelized Onions

My favorite mac and cheese recipe (probably the goat cheese). I doubled the recipe. I substituted onions for the shallots($$) and added oven dried tomatoes before baking in the oven. It turned out a bit dry, I would add more cheese sauce or less pasta next time.

The Oven-Dried Tomato recipe I got from Jack Bishop's book, The Complete Vegetarian Cookbook. It is probably the recipe I use most often from this book. They may be time consuming, and one needs to plan ahead, but they are super delicious and packed with flavor! I never use sun-dried tomatoes anymore! The recipe and intro are as follows:

Oven-Dried Tomatoes

Makes 1 1/2 cups

Oven-dried tomatoes are quite different from sun-dried ones. Sun-dried tomatoes, even those packed in olive oil, tend to be a bit leathery and have a strong, sometimes harsh flavor. Oven-drying removes much but not all of the moisture, so the tomato halves become very wrinkled but still have some juice in them. The tomatoes can be marinated in olive oil, herbs and/or hot red pepper flakes. If packed in olive oil and refrigerated, they will last about a week.

10 medium plum tomatoes (about 2 lbs)

1/2 tsp of salt

1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees F. Set a large cross-woven wire rack over a large baking sheet. trim a thin slice from the stem end of each tomato to remove the core. Slice the tomatoes in half lengthwise. Place them cut side up on the rack and sprinkle with salt.

2. Place the baking sheet in the oven. Oven-dry the tomatoes until they are wrinkled and greatly reduced in size, 6 to 7 hours. Do not dry them completely; some moisture should remain.

3. Remove the baking sheet from the oven and cool the tomatoes completely. Transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate. (Dried tomatoes can be refrigerated for several days. Bring the tomatoes to room temperature before using.)

I used 3 lbs of tomatoes and then quartered them once dried and cooled for the mac and cheese. I also use them in my dijon alfredo pasta and any other recipe i might use sun-dried tomatoes.

Eggplant Salad with Basil Dressing
This turned out delicious! I layered some roasted peppers with the eggplant when I plated. This added nice color contrast and sweet flavor. Next time I might take a reviewer's advice and add some crumbled goat cheese on top and serve with a crusty bread for a main course.

Here is the recipe with all my modifications:

Ingredients:

• 
  
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 1 garlic clove, chopped and mashed to a paste with 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup packed fresh basil leaves, washed well and spun dry
• 2 large eggplants (about 1 1/2 pounds each), cut crosswise into 1/2-inch-thick slices
• 3 bell peppers (i used one red, one yellow, and one orange), cut in half through core, cored and seeded (can substitute jarred roasted peppers)
• 1/4 cup pine nuts, toasted

Preparation:

Preheat broiler.

In a blender, blend oil, lemon juice, mustard, garlic paste, and half of basil until smooth.

Arrange bell pepper halves on cookie sheet and place under broiler until skin is charred, about 15 minutes. Place in covered bowl or paper bag and allow to steam and cool. Peel skin from peppers and cut into strips.

Arrange eggplant slices in a single layer on cookie sheets. Reserve 1/4 cup dressing. Brush eggplant slices with remaining dressing on both sides. Broil about 4 inches from heat until golden, 8 to 10 minutes. Turn slices and broil until golden, 5 to 7 minutes more. Transfer eggplant slices to a plate to cool and broil remaining eggplant slices in same manner.

Arrange eggplant, bell pepper strips, and remaining basil on a platter. Drizzle salad with reserved dressing and sprinkle with pine nuts.

Orange Molasses Sweet Potatoes

For these I used only 2 lbs of sweet potatoes but made the normal amount of orange molasses sauce. They turned out pretty mushy but when i reheated in Taren's oven at 350 for about 30 minutes, they got nice and chewy and caramelized.

Chocolate Strawberry Tart with Walnut Crust
This turned out very rich and delicious! It definitely didn't need 2 pints of strawberries to top tart with! Only about a cup or 2. I would use more jam next time and would like to add a peanut butter layer.

and I made Strawberry Jam from scratch.

Alex brought Deviled Eggs

The recipe is from my mom, who I think got it from my aunt. Per my request, Alex doubled the mustard and used the low end of the horseradish. I am not a huge horseradish fan but these are ok with the extra mustard.

Oven-Fried Chicken with Pineapple Salsa and Potato Salad

Even though I've been on a healthy kick, I have been craving fried chicken! This low-oil version looked like a good candidate.

Spicy Oven-Fried Chicken

I forgot to make the marinade the night before so it did not marinade as long as I had intended. I used the Cholula Chipotle hot sauce because I am obsessed with it. It is unclear what they intended for the onions. I followed the recipe and sliced them (maybe i will make onion rings - oh so healthy!) but they were just in the way when I was trying to find chicken strips to bread. I think the chicken strips were smaller than what the recipe intended, as some of the chicken strips were dried out after baking. Also several stuck to the baking sheet, so I would lightly grease next time to prevent losing breading. It was a mediocre dish, I am not sure if I would make again. Alex and Kelly made a different fried chicken (real-fried, NOT part of my diet atm) that was a lot more flavorful.

To dip the chicken fingers in, I decided to make a pineapple roasted poblano salsa.

Pineapple Roasted Poblano Salsa

This turned out very tasty. I blended in blender for a few seconds to give it more of a dip quality. I also added two roasted red jalapenos alex picked up from the nex since poblanos have no spice. It definitely got some heat. I think it is delicious as a salsa, but not necessarily for a chicken tenders dip.

To accompany fried chicken, I chose a mayo-free potato salad. It had sweet and regular potatoes, so I figured the more variety and color, more nutritious. Kelly requested mashed potatoes, but I just couldn't justify nutritional benefits.

Yam and Russet Potato Salad

I decided to forgo the bacon (I considered turkey bacon, but decided with the chicken, we didn't need any extra protein and fat) and I substituted mustard greens for spinach (as other reviewers did) since we had spinach in the fridge and since I have never seen mustard greens at the grocery. The marinade turned out very honey-mustard, but not as spicy as I hoped. I think the olive oil flavor was a bit overwhelming. Next time I might sub for a more mild tasting oil, grapeseed oil perhaps? When I steamed the potatoes for the recommended time, I thought I had steamed through, but discovered at dinner that many were not quite cooked through all the way. Also, the spinach did not wilt like I had hoped. Next time, I will make sure to cook the potatoes through and maybe throw the spinach on the steamer in order to wilt a bit.