RECIPE: Thai-flavoured Sweet Potato Chowder

I made soup yesterday. Aaaaaaaaand it actually turned out delicious. Like surprisingly tasty! It’s definitely my new favourite soup, which doesn’t come as a surprise, because it’s built on the idea of my previous favourite soup combined with this one, which is a variation of Nigella Lawson’s Chowder with Asian Flavours. Anyway the idea is to add Thai/Asian flavours to my already dearly loved sweet potato soup. Try it, honestly it’s probably my favourite recipe on here so far! The recipe is for 3-4 people.

♠ Preheat the oven to 190° C
♠ Peel one large (or two regular) sweet potato(s) and cut it in little cubes (like 1cm x 1cm roughly)
♠ Marinate them in a little olive oil, cayenne pepper, and salt (don’t go crazy with the spices though, there’ll be plenty of other flavours in the soup!)
♠ Spread the cubes evenly on a baking tray and bake for 20-30min (until they’re slightly crispy on the outside and wonderfully soft inside). Whilst this is happening, get on with the base of your soup:
♠ Bring 1.25l of vegetable stock to the boil in a big saucepan
♠ Add 1 leek (cut into thin slices) and cook for 10 minutes
♠ Add 1 can of coconut milk, 1/2 chopped red chili and bring to the boil again, then turn off the heat and mix in a generous handful of chopped up fresh coriander
♠ Once the sweet potato cubes are done, mix them into the soup and blend it all together
♠ Add 1 small tin of sweetcorn, a bunch of spring onions (chopped into thin slices) and the juice of a lime (taste as you go, anything between half a lime and a whole lime should do the job depending on how citrus-y you like it) and serve with some nice Baguette.

Enjoy If you make it, please let me know how you like it!

RECIPE: Warm chargrilled Asparagus, Brokkoli and Sweet Potato Salad

Do you ever get these days where you actually just really crave vegetables? I know, doesn’t happen to me very often either, so when it does, I want to make sure it’s actually delightful, just to make sure I don’t want to leave the vegetable zone again right after I had some. I keep reading about how healthy an alkaline-y diet is, so I thought I’d put as many alkali ingredients in todays lunch as possible. And I can happily say it tasted really good too (and yes I was bad and had a slice of (seedy M&S, so not just coloured in) toast with butter with it. But still, this had about 12.000 of my five a day in it, so there we go! This is for one greedy person, but you could easily be made into a meal for two by adding a little more of everything or having it with some Halloumi.

RECIPE: Warm chargrilled Asparagus, Brokkoli and Sweet Potato Salad with Avocado-Lemon Dressing 

1. Peel 1 sweet potato and cut it into 0.5cm thick slices. Put these on a baking try and  mix with a little olive oil, salt and pepper.
2. Put the sweet potato slices into a very hot oven for about 20 minutes (or until they’ve taken on some colour and feel like they’re cooked (i.e. quite soft). Keep checking, how long it takes depends on how thick your slices and how hot your oven is.
3. Bring a saucepan with water and some salt to the boil. Add a big generous handful of brokkoli florets until they are tender.
4. Heat a little olive oil in a chargrill pan and add a handful of green asparagus until slightly browned and tender (make sure you break off the dry ends first)
5. In a bowl, mash up the flesh of 1 avocado with 1 crushed glove of garlic, the juice of half a lemon, 1/2 a teaspoon of Harissa Paste and some salt and pepper.
6. Combine everything and enjoy.

 

FOOD: The Londoner’s Homemade Gyros

Bonjour mes chèrs. The Londoner never fails to tempt me with her delicious recipes. So last Sunday, Daniel and I had a go at her gyros recipe. I don’t eat meat, so for my “wrap” we replaced the chicken with some shop-bought falafels (you can get really nice ones that you only need to pop in the oven in the UK). It was everything we had hoped for and better. I was a bit concerned that the Harissa sauce would turn out too spicy, but trust her, it is just perfect! In fact I’ve made it again since. So, even if you’re not going to make the whole recipe, I strongly recommend you give that sauce a go

We had these bad boys of wraps with some home-made potato and sweet potato wedges, for which we just cut 3 regular (Maris Piper I believe) and 1 sweet potato into wedges and marinated them in olive oil, paprika, cajun, smoked salt and pepper before putting them in a very hot oven for approximately 35 minutes. 

I really really enjoyed this whole meal and I also think that it would be great if you have dinner guests. Replace the chicken with falafels for anyone who doesn’t eat/like meat and you have a wonderfully fuss-free meal. You can prepare pretty much everything before hand, so when your guests arrive, you just need to put the marinated potatoes in the oven, have a couple of drinks with your friends and just before the meal, grill the chicken/chuck the falafels in the oven
Give it a go You can find the recipe here. 

RECIPE: Sweet Potato and Bean Patties with Juicy Curry Rice

Hallu. Ca va? I’m pleased to tell you, that I’ve got another great recipe for you. It was amazing, I LOVED it. It’s inspired by this recipe for Easy Sweet Potato Burgers with Avocado from Healthy Happy Life. And I recommend anyone that follows a vegan diet, should use that recipe, as I’m sure it’s incredible. I decided to serve it with a fluffy Basmati Rice with a lovely, spicy, fruity, juicy (…) Curry Sauce. Here’s what I did:

RECIPE: Sweet Potato and Bean Patties with Juicy Curry Rice 

1. Bake a Sweet Potato. How long this will take, depends entirely on the sweet potato, I usually start checking after about 40mins. Remember to “fork” the potato a couple of times, so it doesn’t explode.
2. Whilst that’s happening, you might as well get on with the rest. I used some of this soup as my base, but basically for the sauce, you want to caramelize some chopped leek, then add 1 carrot.
3. Keep adding vegetable stock until the carrot is cooked.
4. When the carrot is cooked, is probably the sort of time, when you want to start thinking about cooking your rice. Ok, not just thinking, cooking your Basmati Rice.
5. Puree the carrot-leek mix.
6. Add half a jar of tomato puree, chili powder/cayenne pepper, curry powder, salt and sugar.
7. Finish the sauce just before you serve with 1/2 can of fruit cocktail.
8. For the patties: Mash up 1 can of white beans with the sweet potato (without skin).
9. Mix in Parsley (even if you don’t like it, I don’t like it either, trust me! P.S. I used frozen, but freshly chopped obviously works as well), Emmentale Cheese, Salt, and Garlic Powder.
10. In a shallow bowl, mix breadcrumbs with some freshly ground pepper (I insist you don’t use the gross, really powder-y stuff!)
11. Shape the Sweet Potato and Bean mix into little patties and cover them in the breadcrumb mix (it’s easier to shape them, if you wetten your hands with cold water)
12. Spray both sides of the patties with fat spray and put in the oven at 220° until lovely golden and crispy.
13. Mix the rice with the sauce and arrange with the crispy patties et voilà

Deutsch
1. Die Süßkartoffel im Ofen backen. Die Dauer ist komplett davon abhängig, wie groß die Süßkartoffel ist, ich fange normalerweise an zu nachzuschauen, wenn sie für 40 Minuten im Ofen war. (Achtung: Nicht vergessen die Süßkartoffel ein paar Mal mit einer Gabel zu stechen, damit sie nicht explodiert)
2. Währenddessen die Sauce für den Reis beginnen. Ich habe als Basis ein paar Esslöffel von dieser Suppe benutzt, falls man nicht gerade zufällig davon hat, einfach klein geschnittenen Lauch karamellisieren. Dann eine Möhre beifügen und solange immer wieder mit Gemüsebrühe auffüllen, bis die Möhre gekocht ist. Anschließend pürieren.
3. Kurze Unterbrechung der Sauce: Basmati Reis abkochen.
4. Ein halbes Glas Tomatenpuree, Salz, Cayenne Pfeffer, Zucker und Curry Pulver hinzufügen. Vor dem Servieren noch eine halbe Dose Fruchtcocktail unterrühren und anschließend mit dem Reis mischen.
5. Für den Patti Mix: Eine Dose weiße Bohnen und die Süßkartoffel (ohne Schale) mit einer Gabel zerdrücken und anschließend mit etwas Emmentaler, Petersilie (auch wenn ihr keine mögt! Ich mag Petersilie auch überhaupt gar nicht, aber vertraut mir hier!), Knoblauchpulver, und Salz vermischen.
6. In einer flachen Schale Semmelbrösel mit einer großzügigen Prise Pfeffer vermischen.
7. Die Süßkartoffel-Bohnen Masse in kleine Patties formen (das ist einfacher wenn man seine Hände vorher kurz unter kaltes Wasser hält) und anschließend in der Semmelbrösel Mischung wenden. Sie sollten vollkommen bedeckt sein.
8. Beide Seiten der Patties mit Fettspray/Öl besprühen und ab in den 220° heißen Ofen bis sie lecker, knusprig und gold sind.
9. Mit dem Reis servieren und voilà

Things to Try Thursday: Leeks

As my fridge is still pretty packed with leeks, I’ve decided to do a Things to Try Thursday just for leeks. Because I’m cool and that.
There won’t be any sweet recipes, so instead of organising them by sweet or savoury, I organised them by which food blog I found the recipes on”

Serious Eats
- Sweet Potato Leek Soup
- Polenta with a Leek and Mushroom Ragu
- Leek Fritters (because we love fritters!)

Closet Cooking
- Mushroom and Leek Wild Rice Salad
- Wild Leek Pesto Pasta
- Fiddlehead and Leek Tart covered in melted Gruyere (mmmh)

Our Kitchen
- Leeks Vinaigrette and Roasted Potatoes with Herb Oil

Dana Treat
- Pizza with Silky Leeks, Smoked Mozzarella and Eggs

Delicious Days
- Risotto with Leeks and Winter Squash

Smitten Kitchen
- Leek and Mushroom Quiche
- Leek Bread Pudding

Food 52
- Leek, Lemon and Feta Quiche 
- Leek Tart with Ricotta and Pea Purree 
- Layered Mushroom and Leek Paté

Things to Try Thursday, 19th January 2012

SWEET
Nothing sweet that caught my eye this week, I’m afraid.

SAVOURY

1. I’ve recently discovered my unconditional love for sweet potatos, so: Sweet Potato Gratin

2. I’m also a big fan of butternut squash: Butternut Squash Stew (should probably make the most of winter vegetables)

3. Peas. Of course we can’t not talk peas, when we’re talking about vegetables that I like. Here’s an amazing sounding recipe for Green Pea Pesto Ravioli (they’re sooo pretty too!)

4. This one reminds me a tiny bit of these Huevos Rancheros of closetcooking. The only thing in common being salsa and egg, but surely kidney beans and avocado could only make these waffles even better? Savoury Cornmeal and Chives Waffles with Salsa and Eggs 

Joy’s Caramelized Mushrooms and Dumplings

Yesterday I made lunch for the family, and I chose to make the Caramelized Mushrooms and Dumplings dish that Joy the Baker posted a while ago (again). It turned out delicious, and because it was perfect just the way the recipe was, I didn’t change anything. I did exchange the chives in the dumplings for chili, but that was for my chives not looking too pretty reasons rather than because I thought, it’d be better with something else. So here’s just some photos, and a link to the recipe, so you can all have a read and look at the pretty photos

Things to Try Thursday, 6th October

SWEET

1) I’ve made these before and they were INCREDIBLE! Try them, but be careful when trying to roll them (not that it matters for taste, but for looks). Oh and since you’re already at it, make about 11 batches of them, because firstly you’ll eat half the dough whilst making them (well I do anyway) and secondly they’re just too good to be true! Cinnamon Roll Sugar Cookies.

SAVOURY

1) These look delicious, obviously I wouldn’t make them with steak OR blue cheese, I like the idea of horseradish though! It’s all about little inspirations anyway, isn’t it?  Steak, Blue Cheese and Horseradish Cream Bites with Caramelized Onions

2) Vegetarian, Healthy, Tacos, Sweet Potato, what more could you want? Black Bean and Sweet Potato Tacos

3) This one, we’ve actually made before, we loved it, you should definitely try it! It’s so easy and goes with absolutely everything, Creole Spice Mix