Orange Adobo Sweet Potatoes, Peas, and Quinoa

 Sweet potatoes are the new Russet potato.  In the restaurant scene, we have already seen the starchy switch from the traditional French fried potato to the sweet potato alternative.  But is this just another food fad?  Yet another outlet to feed our secret addiction to all things saccharine sounding?

First, let us dispel the notion that sweet potato implies sugary potato.  Although that may have been the best way to convince us to eat them as kids, it is limiting.  Now, because of that incriminating description, “sweet”, we automatically assume that sweet potatoes are already sugar soaked.  

 On the contrary, sweet potatoes have a creative and complex sweetness.  Envision her at a masquerade, weaving in and out of various masks and disguises.  Discover that beyond her overdone, cloying sweetness, she can be an irresistibly spicy siren.  Dressed in adobo sauce and decorated with orange zest, I uncovered the spicy siren side of my sweet potatoes.

The chili sauce gave the sweet potato a vibrant, evocative taste, yet allowed it to retain much of its earthy quality.  Sprinkled with the fresh zing of cilantro, and then smoothed out by the creaminess of goat cheese, was the perfect way to finish each bite.  My experiments with sweet potatoes have made me appreciate their versatility, and I am encouraged by their rewarding results.

Note about cooking sweet potatoes:  Add some fat to that!  Sautéing your sweet potato with a small amount of fat, such as olive oil, actually helps your body pick up more of the antioxidant beta-carotene that is found in sweet potatoes.  You can also add fats (such as olive oil, nuts, cheese) after cooking to help the bioavailability of the antioxidants.  Other recommended ways to cook your sweet potatoes are steaming and boiling.  These methods give you the fullest amount of fiber, vitamin A, and antioxidants. 

Orange Adobo Sweet Potatoes, Peas, and Quinoa

Ingredients:

3 T olive oil

1 clove garlic, finely chopped

1 medium sized sweet potato, chopped into ½ inch cubes

½ - 1 cup water (when needed to cook potatoes)

½ cup frozen peas

2 T – ¼ cup adobo sauce (depending on how spicy level tolerance)

2 tsp orange zest, grated

¼ cup cilantro, chopped

1-2 oz goat cheese

1 cup cooked quinoa

Instructions:

1.       Heat a medium sized pan over medium heat until very warm, add olive oil.

2.       Add garlic, sauté garlic until browned.

3.       Keeping pan between medium and medium high heat, add sweet potatoes, sauté until just soft, adding water when needed.  About 7-8 minutes.

4.       After about 5 minutes of cooking the sweet potatoes, add the frozen peas. 

5.       Add in the adobo sauce and orange zest.  Stir to coat and combine.

6.       Add cilantro, reserve some for garnish. 

7.       In bowl, spoon cooked quinoa into the bottom.  Layer on top the sweet potato mixture. Place cheese on top.  Sprinkle with cilantro. 

Makes about 2-3 cups.

Pickles and Peas

What is the weirdest thing you have ever eaten?  Tonight, I ate pickles and peas for dinner.  Yes, sliced kosher dill pickles and frozen peas.

Lately, the combination of working at the restaurant and moving into a new place for the summer has forced me to take a temporary cooking hiatus.  My vintage Revereware pots and pans have been allocated to large liquor cases I procured for free from the ABC store; and without new groceries for 2 weeks, my fridge has turned into a chilled, barren box.  I was left with the dregs of my food supplies and one accessible pot.  This disorienting situation pushed my creative limits, and is probably what propelled me to reach for the pickles and peas.  I should switch my degree to Thrifty Ingenuity instead of Government – seems more apt for me.  

I love pickles, but I regularly throw the juice down the sink once I am finished eating them.  Saving the juice never seemed worth it - what a waste.  Some people claim that it works miracles on muscle cramps and hangovers, while others believe that it is relegated only to the weird cravings of pregnant women and the drunken dares of peers.  There must be a way to incorporate pickle juice into cooking.  After all, it's just water, vinegar (acetic acid), calcium chloride, salt, and some flavorings like dill and garlic. That’s it? I could work with that.  

Frustrated with my lack of food, I finally settled for frozen peas.   For a pre-dinner snack (if you can call peas ‘dinner’), I retrieved the pickle jar from the fridge.  Crunching on a kosher dill pickle, I wondered how pickles would taste with peas.   Peas are pretty good, pickles are way good, and I already had dill weed in the peas.   Peas and pickle juice, why not.  I hesitantly added the briny liquid to the peas as they were simmering.  The combination created a very green, grassy, and salty taste.  The great thing about peas is that they will pleasantly absorb any flavor they come into contact with. 

Some might think that making a dish with pickles, peas, dill weed, pickle juice, garlic, and unsalted butter sounds desperate.  I found it an amusing and unique side dish.  I would pair it with fish or chicken – some sort of light meat – or perhaps incorporate some navy beans and make it a stew or soup.  I did not use a recipe, or measure anything out.  But here is a rough estimate:

Pickles and Peas

Ingredients:

1 cup peas, frozen

1 T butter, unsalted

¼ cup pickle juice

1 tsp dried dill weed

½ clove garlic, finely diced

4-5 pickles, sliced  

Instructions:

1.       Place everything but the pickles into small saucepan.  Bring to boil, then reduce to a simmer.

2.       Continue to simmer about 5-7 minutes.  (Let most of the liquid simmer off)

3.       Add sliced pickles right before serving. 

Makes about 1 cup.

Dilly Peas and Carrots

Nothing says ‘wholesome meal’ like butter and cream.  Every kitchen ought to have a recipe for a simple white cream sauce in its arsenal.  The versatility of a white cream sauce is underappreciated, especially since its ingredients are things you probably have on hand already.  The sauce will gently pillow vegetables, chicken, or pasta, making each bite feel like a supple, buttery cushion.  A cream sauce is like an embrace, warm and comforting.  

In my family, Dilly Peas and Carrots meant a thick cream sauce flavored with dill weed and white wine mixed with cooked peas and carrots.  While browsing the internet for other Dilly Peas recipes, I was horrified to see dill pickle juice as one of the main ingredients!  The combination of peas and pickle juice (aka salt and vinegar) sounds like someone was tipsy in the kitchen.  Dill weed and white wine, on the other hand, give the basic cream sauce an aromatic edge.  The pungent kick of white wine along with the tangy, grassy flavor of dill keeps the flavor simple yet unique.  You could also add lemon juice, parmesan, or garlic to your own version.  The recipe could be served by itself as a side, or topped over pasta or chicken for a more substantial meal.    

Dilly Peas and Carrots

Ingredients:

3 carrots, peeled and sliced

1 cup frozen peas

2 T butter

2 T flour

½ cup white wine

1 cup heavy whipping cream

Salt and pepper

1 T dried dill weed

3 green onions, thinly sliced (optional)

Instructions:

1.       In a medium sized saucepot, bring about 3 cups of water to a boil.

2.       Add in carrots and peas, simmer for about 7-8 minutes, or until carrots are fork tender. Drain. 

3.       Meanwhile, in a small saucepot, melt the butter over medium heat. 

4.       Add in flour and stir until bubbly, about 3 minutes – do not brown.

5.       Add wine, stirring constantly.

6.       Slowly add cream, stir to desired consistency (may need to add more/less liquids).

7.       Season with salt and pepper and dill weed. 

8.       Add in carrots and peas.  Garnish with green onions. 

Stop. Eat. Enjoy: Chicken Pot Pie

Not many other foods in this world demand you slow down and take a moment like Chicken Pot Pie. As one of the great quintessential comfort foods of our time, this savory pie is will have your mouth watering hours before dinner. It’s like a spa treatment for the stomach. The aromatic smells of sautéing onions, garlic, leeks, celery and carrots will get the juices flowing. After preparing your cream sauce from a hot chicken stock and cold cream, toss in some chunks of tender chicken. Soon enough everything will be soaking in a bubbling bath of cream sauce on your stove. Then tuck it gently into a casserole dish with a layer of soft dough, and set it in oven until the crust is golden and flakey.

It’s a heavy belly bomb of flavor and satisfaction; you will most likely want a nap afterwards to complete your relaxing feast. It’s so hot you can barely eat it, but burning a couple taste buds seems a worthy price to pay. Few things can be valued as greatly as a homemade chicken pot pie. To me, it’s home, it’s family, it’s love. Although this time I went it alone: made it myself, with a new recipe and no family to partake in the eating, it was the same delicious goodness that I remembered from childhood. 

Homemade Chicken Pot Pie

Ingredients:

2 chicken thighs

2 chicken legs

2 T olive oil

2 leeks, sliced

2 carrots, peeled and sliced

2 stalks of celery, sliced

½ onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

2 T butter

2 T flour

2 c chicken stock [homemade is the best!]

½ c heavy cream

1 can cream of mushroom soup

½ c frozen peas

Salt and pepper

2 pie dough shells [refrigerated]

Instructions:

1. In large pot, boil chicken in about 4-5 c of water for about 15 min, until cooked.
   
2. Remove from water, let cool. Then cut into chunks.
   
3. Drain water from pot, add olive oil.
4. Add vegetables and sauté for about 7 min over medium heat.
5. Remove vegetables from pot.
6. Add butter, melt. Add flour, make roux.
7. Slowly pour in chicken broth, whisk until smooth over medium low heat.
8. Once thickened, whisk in cream.
9. Add can of cream of mushroom soup, continue to whisk until smooth and thick.

10. Add in chicken and vegetables, and frozen peas. Salt and pepper this dish lightly as it does
not need added salt.
11. Continue to cook over medium heat until heated through.

** ***This can be made ahead of time, just keep on stove on low heat until ready to bake.

12. 12. Preheat oven to 350.

13. 13. Put first pie shell in bottom of ceramic casserole dish, do not poke holes in crust.

14 14. Add in the cream, veggie, chicken mix.

15. 15. Put second pie shell over top, pinch sides.

16. 16. Bake for about 1 hour and 15 min.

Makes one large, 4 person pie. NOMS: 9.6

Stew-pendous

Mondays and Wednesdays are killer class schedule days. When it’s all said and done, I am in class until 6pm, with only about a 2 hour break in between. Jealous yet? Didn’t think so. By the end of the day, I come home tired and hungry, hoping that the magic food fairy has left me something quick, easy and delicious on the stove. It’s Week 4 of cooking at college, and I am beginning to lose faith in her “supernatural abilities”.

Yesterday, I decided to take preparation matters into my own hands and have something pop right out of the oven on my return. It was a 5 hour stew! Well, it actually turned out to be more of a 4 hour stew because I made a little less. Regardless, it was one of those warm winter meals that invites you to the table, and then sticks with you all night. With adequate planning, this meal is simple and savory. The few adjustments I made to the stew were that I added a clove of garlic – my rational: when have I added garlic and not had it come out better? [haha] The original recipe called for an entire can of both soups, and I kept that, although I cut down on all other ingredients. I like my stew a little more soupy. [Also, what do you do with half a can of cream of celery soup?] Also, 225 degrees may seem very low, even lower than most recipes online would call for, but since I was leaving my soup completely unattended I wanted it at a very low temperature so that the liquid wouldn’t all burn off or burn the dormitory down. [I feel like paying for damages would offset my budget a bit.] Sounds like a lot of modifications, and yes, some of them were more or less victims of circumstance, but this stew came out absolutely delicious.

…Maybe the little kitchen fairy was watching over my food after all :)

5 Hour Stew

Ingredients:

½ - 1 lb. stew beef, raw
2 med potatoes, peeled, in chunks
4 carrots, peeled and quartered
1 onions - thick chunks
1 clove garlic, diced
½ c frozen peas, cooked in ¼ c of water
1 can tomato soup
1 can cream of celery soup
Instructions:

1. Peel and cut up vegetables and meat.

2. Mix all in dutch oven.

3. Bake at 225 (yes, low temp) for 4-5 hours.

Makes about 5 cups of stew. NOMS: 8.5