For this week’s Black and White Wednesday I am featuring Sweet Potato Casserole. BWW is a weekly culinary event hosted by Susan from The Well Seasoned Cook. Although many people don’t believe B&W photography has a place in the food world, Susan is busily proving them wrong.
B&W food photos can set a mood or make food look more dramatic. As an example, I think the steam in the photo above is more pronounced in the B&W version compared to the colored version (photo further down in post), what do you think? Um, I also noticed that the reflection of my striped shirt is more pronounced…hehe, oops. Thanks Susan for encouraging me to explore the world of B&W and drawing my attention to things that may have gone unnoticed.
Sweet potatoes are accepted with mixed feelings in this house. As a family who generally prefers savory versus sweet, sweet potatoes find themselves sitting on the fence here. Typically our preference is roasted with onion, or spiked with a bold spice like cumin. In other words, something that down places the sweet side of these tubers.
You can imagine our horror when we have a big pan of sweet potatoes baked in some sweet buttery syrup and/or topped with marshmallows that ooze all their sweetness over the cooked potatoes placed in front of us. Blech (sorry to all of you sweet, sweet potato lovers). Actually, the Baby boy does not like sweet potatoes in any fashion, but that hardly counts.
In order to satisfy even the extended family that expects sweet, sweet potatoes at Thanksgiving, I needed a recipe that would bridge the gap. I found that recipe in a Better Homes and Garden Magazine in October 1997 and I’ve been making an adaptation of it ever since.
This recipe still leans toward the sweeter side which is a wonderful compliment to all the savory dishes put out on Thanksgiving, but it’s not cloyingly sweet. Orange zest and juice provide a fresh acidic contrast and helps cuts the sweetness down. Pecans in the crumble crust, give a nice nutty flavor and texture.
Bonus posting: a pictorial tutorial (rhyme was not intended). Sweet potatoes may not be our favorite but they are beautiful.
Start off by assembling and prepping the ingredients. Try to keep the sweet potatoes relatively the same size so that they finish cooking about the same time.
Put the beaten egg, orange zest, butter, vanilla (not pictured) and evaporated milk into a large bowl. The evaporated milk gives the dish a wonderful silky richness but milk can be substituted.
To test if your sweet potatoes are done, remove one piece and break it apart with a fork. It should break apart easily. Add the drained cooked sweet potatoes to the mixture in the bowl.
You can break up the potatoes with a wooden spoon but I like to use a mixer on a low setting. Once the potatoes are broken down and mixed, add the orange juice. Mix on high until the potatoes are smooth.
(Below is the the steaming mashed sweet potatoes that I converted to B&W)
Put the sweet potato mixture into a greased casserole pan. I like to use a bread pan for two reasons: I like the topping to potato ratio and it takes up less space (very important since oven square footage is so important on Thanksgiving).
Prep the crumble top ingredients.
Blend the sugar and flour, then cut in the butter. Stir in the chopped pecans.
Cover the sweet potato mixture with all of the crumble top mixture. Decorate with pecan halves if desired.
Bake at 350F for 25 minutes (perfect while the turkey is resting!)
1 1/2 to 2 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup evaporated milk
1 egg, beaten
Zest of 1 orange
3 tablespoons butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup fresh orange juice
Topping:
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup flour
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup pecan pieces
Pecan halves for garnish (optional)
Preheat oven to 350°F. In a a large pot, add sweet potatoes and fill with water until the potatoes are just covered. Bring to a boil, turn heat down and gently boil until potatoes are fork tender, about 15 minutes. In a large bowl add: beaten egg, sugar, evaporated milk, orange zest, 3 tablespoons of butter and vanilla.
Add cooked and drained sweet potatoes to the large bowl and break up the sweet potatoes with a wooden spoon or a mixer on low speed. Add the orange juice and mix until combined and potatoes are smooth. Put sweet potato mixture into a greased 9 x 5 loaf pan.
For the crumb topping, mix brown sugar and flour, cut in the 2 tablespoons of butter then stir in the pecan pieces. cover the sweet potato casserole completely with the crumb topping. Decorate with pecan halves if desired. Bake for 25 minutes.
Source: Better Homes and Garden’s Magazine, October 1997
When it comes to cooking, I pretty much just cook the everyday stuff. The typical American hodge podge, melting pot of meals. I cook Mexican/TexMex but don’t make my own tortillas. I cook Italian but I don’t make my own pasta. I cook French but don’t make fancy pastries. I cook German but don’t make my own sauerkraut. I cook this and that but I tend to shy away from things that I perceive complicated/above my skill level. In other words I’m a chicken in the kitchen (and kinda lazy too).
(Pictured are all teas that I have in my pantry, including the roses. The roses are a tea that I purchased in Chinatown, San Francisco.)
Which is why I’ve avoided Daring Kitchen’s Daring Cook’s Challenges. Till now. It’s time that I stopped reading them on other blogs and started doing them myself. I’m a commitment gal, if I sign-up to do something or promise to do something I do it (unless it’s too myself, read: diet and exercise). I know myself and I knew if I signed up for a challenge, I would attempt it regardless of how chicken I might feel about it.
This is my first month and my first challenge comes from Sarah from Simply Cooked. She was our November Daring Cooks’ hostess and she challenged us to create something truly unique in both taste and technique! We learned how to cook using tea with recipes from Tea Cookbook by Tonia George and The New Tea Book by Sara Perry.
Talk about an interesting first challenge! Sarah provided us recipes for Chinese Tea Eggs, Green Tea Soup and Beef stew (made with Rooibos tea). I was absolutely fascinated with the Chinese Tea Eggs. The seeped eggs were so unique looking, they reminded me of a stained glass. I had great success making them, it was really quite simple. I was amazed at how subtle the tea flavor was and how the Chinese 5-spice really shined through. I could have easily gobbled all of them.
I wanted to make the Green Tea Soup also but my family isn’t too keen on tofu. Soup was still on my mind, I remembered I had made a fresh Miki Soup several months ago that we all loved. I took the basis of that recipe and turned a traditional Filipino soup into a Chinese/Filipino fusion. The basis for my broth was ginger tea that I simmered with chicken and shrimp shells. Bok Choy was used for color and crunch, fish sauce was added to intensify the flavor. The finishing touch, was of course, a Chinese Tea Egg quarter.
I thought that something crunchy would be a nice accompaniment, well actually I had some left over wonton wrappers that I needed to use… a crunchy side was still a great idea. Here’s where I got creative…daring even, all on my own. No copy cat Chinese Tea Egg, no inspiration from another soup, just my own little brain cells firing away. This was a tea challenge and I wanted to incorporate tea in every aspect. Enter tea salt, you read that right, tea salt.
Here’s how my brain works: A while back I watched chopped, rose petals were part of the challenge. The contestant nuked the rose petals (to dry them), turned them into a powder, mixed it with salt = rose salt. I have tea that is made of roses. I didn’t want rose salt but I did want salt on my wonton chips. Tea is already dried. I put white tea and salt in a mini-processor and whirred them together = tea salt.
Nothing short of brilliant and daring! The wonton chips were certainly the big hit of the meal, so good that by the next day we had snacked on them until they were gone. I thought that it was interesting how tea salt looked like salt and pepper on the wonton’s, very appetizing along with being tasty.
I did discover that fresh Chinese noodles do not hold as well in broth as fresh Miki noodles which are considerably thicker. I cooked the noodles in the broth, however after a few hours in the soup they disintegrated into mush. I have adjusted my recipe to cook the noodles on the side and put them in the bowl then to pour the soup over the top to maintain the integrity of the noodles. Unfortunately I had to toss all of our leftovers, the texture was too unpalatable. But isn’t that what challenges are about? Learning.
6 eggs (any size)
2 tablespoons (30 ml) (6 gm) black tea leaves, or 4 tea bags
2 teaspoons (10 ml) (5 gm) Chinese five spice powder
1 tablespoon (5 ml) (3 gm) coarse grain salt
toasted sesame seeds, to garnish
In a large enough pot to avoid overcrowding, cover the eggs with cold water. Bring to a boil over medium heat and simmer for twelve minutes. Remove the eggs with a slotted spoon and keep the cooking water. With a spoon, tap the eggs all over until they are covered with small cracks. This can also be done by tapping and rolling the eggs very gently on the counter.
Return the eggs to the pan and add the tea leaves or bags, Chinese five spice powder, and salt. Cover the pan. Heat gently and simmer, covered, for one hour. Remove the pan from the heat and let the eggs cool down in the liquid for 30 minutes. Remove the eggs from the liquid. Peel one egg to check how dark it is; the others can be returned to the liquid if you wish to have the web-like pattern darker. Allow the eggs to cool fully.
To serve, peel and slice the eggs in halves or quarters. Sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds.
Ginger Tea Soup with Chinese Noodles
1 (9 oz.) package fresh Chinese noodles
8 cups water
12 to 18 shrimp, peeled (shells reserved)
2 chicken breasts
1 tablespoon oil
1 head bok choy, chopped (stalk and greens separated)
1 medium onion, halved and sliced thinly
1/2 head garlic, minced
5 to 6 green onions, chopped (whites and greens separated)
1/2 cup fish sauce
3 to 4 ginger tea bags
Salt and pepper to taste
Chinese Tea Eggs, quartered (see recipe above)
To make broth: In a large pot bring to a boil chicken, shrimp shells and water. Turn down to a simmer, add tea bags (I used 4). Simmer until chicken breast is cooked through, about 20 minutes. Drain broth, shred chicken breast, discard shells and tea bags. Reserve the broth.
Using the same large pot, heat oil over medium heat. Sauté onions and garlic until onion is tender and transluscent. Add bok choy stems and cook for an additional 2 minutes. Add chicken, broth and fish sauce, bring to a gentle boil. Add bok choy greens and shrimp, cook until shrimp is done, about 3 minutes (they will turn pink). Salt and pepper to taste.
In a separate pot, bring some water to a boil, add Chinese noodles, cook for 3 minutes. Drain noodles. To serve soup, place some noodles in a bowl, ladle soup over noodles. Garnish with Chinese Tea Egg quarter and green onion tops.
Wonton Chips with White Tea Salt
Packaged wonton wrappers
1 bag white tea
2 teaspoon sea salt or kosher salt
Canola oil for frying.
To make tea salt: cut open tea bag and remove tea, mix with salt. Run tea/salt mixture through a spice grinder or processor.
In a deep pan heat oil until it reaches 350°F. Cut wontons in half diagonally. Fry wontons approximately 15 seconds on each side, drain on a paper towel lined plate. Sprinkle tea salt over wontons. Store in an air tight container.
Growing up I thought cranberry sauce came from a can. I believed that the only way to eat cranberry sauce was in the jellied form. Open the top of the can, partially open the bottom to break the seal and slide out a perfectly tube of jellied cranberry sauce.
It was actually kind of a wonder. You could see all the ridges of the can, the sauce was molded perfectly to the can. Only a true cranberry artist was capable of opening the can and having the sauce come out in one big glop while maintaining the fascinating can shape. A perfect challenge for a child.
It was a sight to see, unfortunately it would soon lose it’s fantastic shape as it was sliced and served. A perfect red circle would end up adorning the Thanksgiving plate.
Eventually I learned that cranberries don’t grow in the shape of a can. They are actually berries, you can buy them fresh, canned whole or jellied. Imagine that!
Now a days I prefer to purchase fresh berries (scads of them so I can freeze them for later in the year) and make my own sauce. It’s so incredibly easy plus it gives you the ability to change it up a bit, like adding orange.
Citrus is naturally a nice compliment to the tart cranberry, it adds depth of flavor and balances the addition of the sugar. The toughest part of making this cranberry sauce is zesting the orange, which is probably easier than perfectly dispensing a can of jellied cranberry sauce.
Place all ingredients in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and gently boil for 12-15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Let cool prior to serving. Sauce can be made up to one week in advance.
Note: reserve juiced orange halves for the turkey brine (recipe coming soon).
If you asked my Baby Boy what his favorite soup is, he’ll tell you without a moments hesitation that it’s clam chowder. New England style is his favorite, but he likes it in all forms.
Do you know how many varieties there are? Let me share the ones that I know of:
New England – cream based, clams, broth, potatoes, bacon, onion
Rhode Island – broth based, clams, potatoes, bacon, onion
Delaware – Same as New England but uses fried salt pork
Hatteras – clear broth thickened with flour, potatoes, bacon, onion and copious amounts of black or white pepper
Minorcan – (Florida) tomato based, clams, broth, potatoes, bacon, onion and an extremely hot pepper called datil pepper
Seattle/Portland – New England style except the bacon is substituted with smoked salmon
San Francisco – New England style served in a sour dough bread bowl
Many of the chowders use celery, parsley, thyme and even carrot for color but they all have something in common: clams, broth and a salty and sometimes smoky meat, With that basis I’m sure people have made a zillion of their own variations.
Just a trip down the Rhode Island coast and you will taste a different chowder at every place you stop. And that’s a good thing. My Baby boy’s Nana lives in Rhode Island, when we visited, I always loved heading to the shore and stopping at some little ‘shack’ and getting some chowder and clam cakes.
I’m originally from Washington State so I’m no stranger to clam chowder especially since my dad was a commercial diver. He used to dive for Geoduck (which is Native American for King Clam). Naturally when your dad dives for Geoduck, you eat a lot of it at home, you also end up eating plenty of clam chowder (sometimes more often than you want). No wonder the Baby boy loves chowder, it runs through his veins.
Seriously, Geoduck is a real clam and the brunt of many jokes. And it’s big. A mature geoduck weighs in, on average, at 3 pounds and can weigh up to 15 pounds! I remember when I was a teen (not much shorter than I am now…), I held a geoduck neck in my hand and it stretched all the way down to ground. We’re talking 5 feet tall, now that’s one big clam (and one short girl). You can just imagine how much clam chowder and how many clam cakes you could make from one clam!
My chowder is fairly straight forward, heavy on the clams with some thyme and bay leaves for an extra special little flavor. If you have fresh clams available, you can certainly cook your own clams (or geoduck) and use the broth in place of the canned/bottled. My locale dictates the use of canned clams and bottled clam broth (frankly it’s easier). I serve mine the way my mom always did, with a pat of butter on the top and some bread to soak up all the goodness that is clam chowder.
4 cans (6.5 oz.) minced clams, drained, juice reserved
2 bottles clam juice
6 slice bacon, chopped
2 tablespoons butter
1 large sweet onion, diced
6 large potatoes, peeled and diced
2 cups cream or half and half
1 tablespoon fresh thyme, plus extra for garnish if desired (1 teaspoon dried thyme may be substituted)
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon salt or more to taste
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
In a large Dutch oven or other heavy bottomed pot, cook diced bacon over medium high until bacon is cooked but not crispy. Add butter, celery, onion, bay leaves, thyme and salt and pepper. Turn the heat down to medium, continue to cook until the onion and celery are tender (about 8 to 10 minutes).
Add diced potatoes, reserved clam juice and bottled clam juice. If needed, add enough water to just cover the potatoes. Bring to a boil then turn down and simmer until the potatoes are tender, about another 10 minutes. Spoon off any ‘scum’ that boils up. When potatoes are tender stir in cream and clams, gently heat until warmed through about 5 minutes. Taste, add more salt and pepper if necessary. Remove bay leaves before serving. Top chowder with a pat of butter and some fresh thyme or chopped parsley if desired.
It’s Wednesday and time for another Black and White photo. This week I’ve photographed Chinese Tea Eggs. I made Chinese Tea Eggs as part of a Daring Cooks Challenge (my first one). The eggs were so beautiful and dramatic that I thought that they would make a great black and white photo. You’ll have to wait till Monday (reveal date for Daring Cooks) for the recipe. In the meantime enjoy the photo, and as always I enjoy feedback.
If you’d like to know more about Black and White Wednesday, please visit The Well Seasoned Cook, Susan has a lovely blog and photographs. black and White Wednesday has led me to several other blogs that I adore, check it out!
McGyver and I are at the pinnacle of our honeymoon tour, here we are on part to of day 6. If you haven’t been following along you can catch on our prep days here and here, and days one, two and three, four, five and part 1 of day six, by following the links. Today is the big concert day that we’ve been waiting for…
Day 6 (Part 2) June 29, 2003
The four of us took off and found parking with no problems. Finding where to pick up the tickets was another thing after that was resolved we killed time by getting some beer, water and food and finding a nice shady spot to relax in.
Quite a few folks came up to us trying to figure out where to pick up their tickets. We all had the same story. We had inquired for days at the rally but no one really knew. We met up with this one fellow – one big fellow! I dubbed him Andre the Viking, he was from Oslo, Norway – the land (according to him) where they party and conquer.
Around 6:30 we headed up towards Porto 6 and were pleased to see there were no lines – ah the benefits of being a H.O.G. member and getting early reserved seating. It’s a matter of fact, the whole area was blocked off and we basically had our own private area and vendors.
The Pretenders were the opening band, we had no idea that we would be seeing them two days in a row – it was still a good show.
The Rolling Stones came on and started off well. The show continued to get better! Mick Jagger put on a great show! The lights, pyrotechnics, and showmanship were awesome. Well worth seeing. They played a lot of old favorites and some newer songs, we had a great time.
After the concert the traffic was horrendous so we waited until it died down before we left. Although the traffic was routed differently we found ourselves at the Placa Espanya and on our way easily enough.
McGyver is not much of a show off (at least not nowadays), we just ride…but there were some Spaniards who wanted a little show while we were stopped at a red light. McGyver couldn’t resist. He revved up the engine and when the light turned green he dropped the clutch and we shot off – I needed to hold on or else I would have fallen off the back. The Spaniards loved the show! We wouldn’t have wanted to disappoint the locals.
Although we were tired from partying the night before and thought we would go straight to bed, we were having a great time and decided to have only one drink then off to bed. Of course one led to another…
Even so we would have been to bed fairly early – but that honeymoon stuff was keeping us up later than it should. The next day we were to start our journey back.
We love Chinese food, lets face it, Chinese take-out is fun! Unfortunately the only Chinese offered in Great Falls is marginally good and most of it is deep fried and greasy. I still enjoy it though, however, the next day I have a fierce thirst. I need to drink a gallon of water to try and rehydrate myself form all the sodium that is hidden in there also. The Baby boy loves the Sweet and Sour Pork but McGyver and me, we love General Tso’s Chicken, the most famous Hunanese dish…or is it?
General Tso’s chicken is named for a 19th Century general, Tso Tsung-t’ang (now usually transliterated as Zuo Zongtang), he supposedly enjoyed eating the dish. Would you believe it if I told you that the dish is not generally known in Hunan? I read in an old NY Times Magazine article by Fuschia Dunlop that the notable Chef Peng Chang-Kuei first made the dish in the 1950’s. Peng opened a restaurant in NYC in 1973, during that time he adapted his original General Tso’s chicken to meet the American palate (note: he is not the only one to lay claim to the dish).
The Hunanese’s tastes tends towards the more sour, heavy, hot and salty. So it’s no surprise when Peng opened a restaurant in Changsha and served the American version of General Tso’s Chicken, it was not well received. Patron’s complained that it was “too sweet”. Ironically, the dish is now being adopted as a traditional Hunan dish by many influential Hunan Chefs. Dunlop’s article goes into much more detail and is well worth the read, you can find it here.
The recipe comes from one of my favorite ‘healthy’ cookbooks. Believe it or not, this recipe is so good as is that I have never changed a thing about it. Truthfully, I enjoy the non-fried version better and don’t wake up the next day parched.
1 pound skinless boneless chicken, cut into 1”chunks
5 tablespoons dry sherry
1 tablespoon + 2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 tablespoon oyster sauce
2 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons reduced-sodium soy sauce
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1 teaspoon Asian (dark) sesame oil
2 teaspoons canola oil
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 green onions, chopped
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper (or more to taste)
2 celery stalks, chopped
1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
Combine the chicken, 2 tablespoons of the sherry, 1 tablespoon of the cornstarch, and the oyster sauce in a medium bowl; set aside to marinate for 5 minutes.
Combine the remaining 3 tablespoons sherry, the water, soy sauce, honey, rice vinegar, sesame oil, and the remaining 2 teaspoons cornstarch in a small bowl; set aside.
Heat a non-stick wok or a large, deep skillet over medium-high heat until a drop of water sizzles. Swirl in the canola oil, then add the chicken mixture. Stir-fry until lightly browned, 2 – 3 minutes. Add the ginger, garlic, scallions, and crushed red pepper, stir-fry until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the celery and bell pepper, stir fry until crisp-tender, 2 – 3 minutes. Stir in the sherry mixture and cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture boils and thickens, and the chicken is just cooked through, 1 – 2 minutes. Serve over rice.
For those of you who have to wait last minute to carve their pumpkins, (like us because the squirrels would absolutely devour them before Halloween) or for you pumpkin painters who now need to clean out the seeds (they are to good to waste); I’ve got a fabulous pumpkin seed recipe. Here’s how it started.
Angie from Big Bear’s Wife (and also my hostess for SRC Group C) was quick to reply:
I was already thinking along the spicy line, Cajun was perfect. Naturally since food bloggers are the way we are, I had to mix up my own and I couldn’t just make an ordinary Cajun seasoning mix.
I also experimented in the Sepia range, ooooh, ahhhh. But I think I like the more dramatic black and white.
The pumpkin seeds are totally addictive, I’m warning you now! The seasoning mix has just the right amount of spiciness and with the addition of smoked paprika it has a wonderful smoky undertone! The mix is obviously good for many things other than pumpkin seeds…I’m thinking about oven roasted sweet potatoes….
I like to save my empty spice container for putting homemade mixes in! If you didn’t know this, Ball makes a canning label that is dissolvable! which means, when I’m done with this guy, if I want to use it for something different I put it in the dishwasher and it washes away, love it!
Mix all ingredients together in a small bowl. Store in an air tight container.
Roasted Pumpkin Seeds:
Pumpkin seeds
Cooking Spray, such as Pam
1 teaspoon of butter for every cup of pumpkin seeds
1 teaspoon of season for every cup of pumpkin seeds.
Separate the seeds from the pumpkin flesh, rinse thoroughly in a colander, using your hand to rub off any tenacious pumpkin fibers. Spread out on paper towels to dry (I let them sit out overnight). Preheat oven to 275°F. Spread seeds in a single layer evenly across a rimmed baking sheet, lightly spray seeds with the cooking spray.
Roast seeds for 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes or so, until the seeds look light brown. Remove the seeds from the oven, add butter to the pan and stir to coat evenly over the seeds (the butter will melt in the hot pan). Sprinkle Smoky Cajun Seasoning over the top of the seeds and return to the oven, Roast another 10 minutes, stirring half way through or until the seeds turn a nice golden brown.
Seriously how good does that look? Smoked turkey thighs with crispy skin and BBQ sauce. I swear I could eat my screen!
If you want a perfect recipe for smoking turkey that are moist and have a crispy skin, you’ll need to head over to Pig of the Month where I posted my previously top secret recipe for perfect smoked turkey thighs.
