HABANERO-SWEET POTATO HOT SAUCE

This spicy, sweet, tangy hot sauce is so addictive you'll find yourself having it with everything! And the colour is so pretty too.

I first had this hot sauce at the incredible Cochon in New Orleans a few weeks ago. And since then I was a bit obsessed. It was so utterly delicious with enough spice, sweetness, and tang to want it over and over, that I had my muffaletta practically doused in it. As a parting gesture, I photographed the ingredients on the label (they sell bottles at the restaurant and also have the same bottles at each table).

Well I came home and couldn't get it out of my mind, so I looked at the photo with the ingredients and created a version of it. I must say this is pretty darn close to the Cochon version, with a bit more spice and a slightly thicker texture so that I can use it as a dip and a spread. And now I always have some in the fridge!

I've made it with sweet potatoes of all colours - white, yellow, orange, and they're all terrific! So use any type of sweet potato that is available to you. And if you don't have apple cider vinegar, use distilled and adjust the sugar to balance the taste.

Habanero-Sweet Potato Hot Sauce

makes: 16 oz./2 cups

- 2 medium sweet potatoes, washed and unpeeled

- 4 habanero peppers, cut into large pieces (remove the seeds from two if you want to tone the spice down a bit)

- 3 cloves garlic, cut into large pieces

- 1/2 white or yellow onion, cut into large pieces

- 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar

- 1/2 cup distilled vinegar

- 1-1/2 tbsp. sugar

- 1 tsp. salt (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 375 F.
2. Place the sweet potatoes on a baking tray and bake for 40 - 50 min. until a knife slides easily into the sweet potatoes. Remove from the oven and let cool.
3. In a small pan, bring the distilled vinegar to a simmer. Add the garlic, onion, and habanero and simmer until the onion is mostly softened, 5 - 7 min. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.
4. Put the peeled sweet potatoes, vinegar mixture, apple cider vinegar, sugar, and salt (if using) in a blender jar and blend until smooth. You may need to thin with apple cider vinegar, 1 tbsp. at a time, to help blend well.
5. Taste and adjust sugar if needed. Transfer to a jar and store in the fridge for a few weeks.
6. Enjoy with eggs, tamales, sandwiches, burgers, empanadas, steak, chicken, pizza... whatever you please!

SWEET POTATO RISOTTO, MINT + WALNUT GREMOLATA

Sweet potato risotto is a terrific seasonal variation on risotto. The sweet flavour and creamy texture of the sweet potato complements the risotto really well. Walnuts and sweet potatoes are in season in the autumn - and they pair exceptionally well in this savoury risotto-gremolata combo. A sure favourite!

Risotto is prepared with any Italian starchy, short-grained rice - the most common rice varieties used for risotto are carnaroli or arborio. To properly cook risotto you stir hot broth into the uncooked rice a ladleful at a time and cook slowly. As the liquid is nearly absorbed, add in the next ladleful. This slow cooking and stirring releases the natural starches in the rice and makes the risotto creamy, velvety and irresistible... well, that and the cheese!!

Risotto is best served immediately or soon after cooking because it will become clumpy if made in advance. A properly cooked risotto makes a soft, creamy mound without running across the plate. It also should not be too hard, crunchy, or gummy.

Gremolata is an Italian condiment of chopped fresh herbs, lemon zest, garlic, and a bit of olive oil. In the spirit of other similar condiments like pistou, persillade, any kind of pesto, Indian chutneys, etc. it's simple but packs a punch of brilliant fresh flavour! Ossobucco with gremolata and risotto is a classic Milanese meal! Here I've made it seasonal and vegetarian - I usually serve this risotto with roasted cauliflower or roasted chicken with kale (photo below).

Sweet Potato Risotto, Mint + Walnut Gremolata

makes: 4-5 cups (a typical serving of risotto is 1 cup)

- 2 cups peeled and diced sweet potato 

- 2 cups carnaroli or arborio rice

- 5-6 cups vegetable or chicken broth

- 1-1/2 cups dry white wine (like a Pinot Grigio)

- 2 cloves garlic, minced

- 1 small white or yellow onion, diced

- 1 tbsp. butter

- 2 Tbsp olive oil

- 1 cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese

- 1 tbsp. freshly ground pepper

- 2 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes (optional)

- salt, to taste

1. Heat the olive oil in a large pan. When it's hot, add the onion and garlic and sauté on low heat for 1-2 minutes so the onion doesn't brown. Add the sweet potatoes and red pepper flakes and continue to sauté.
2. Heat the broth in a saucepan, and adjust the heat so it remains at a simmer.
3. When the onion is translucent, add the rice and sauté for 3-4 minutes, stirring frequently so that the rice doesn't brown or stick to the pan.
4. Once the rice is coated with oil, add the wine and cook for a few minutes, stirring frequently, until the wine is absorbed.
5. Add 1 cup of the hot broth to the rice and stir until it is absorbed. Stir constantly so that the rice doesn't scorch or stick to the pan. Add the next cup of broth as soon as the rice has absorbed the broth but don't wait till the rice is dry - you should see a sheen of liquid in the rice.
6. Continue adding broth by the cup and stir while the liquid is absorbed, then add more broth when the rice is almost dry. The rice will start getting a creamy consistency as its starch is released. Cook the rice this way until until the rice is tender but still firm to the bite - without being crunchy or tasting raw. If you run out of broth before the risotto is done, use hot water to finish cooking, stirring while it's absorbed.
7. Stir in the pepper, butter, and cheese, and season to taste with salt. Serve garnished with a tbsp. of gremolata (recipe below) and a grind of black pepper.

Mint + Walnut Gremolata

makes: approximately 1/2 cup

- 2 tbsp. lemon zest (zest from one lemon) 

- 2 cloves garlic, crushed into a paste

- 1/4 cup finely chopped walnuts

- 1/2 packed cup mint

- 1/2 packed cup parsley

- 1/4 cup olive oil

1. Finely chop the parsley and mint.
2. In a bowl, mix the chopped parsley, mint, and all the other ingredients. Refrigerate until ready to use.

WARMING BUCKWHEAT, BEAN SPROUTS, AND SWEET POTATOES

After a number of weeks of travelling for work and eating out, I came back to SF looking forward to my regular workouts and home-cooked meals. I got that, and a week of cold rainy gloomy weather! I wanted to make something that's high on the feel-good factor - inside and out. Something that's not raw, not bread, not any grain, not eggs, definitely not meat, and something that makes the whole kitchen smell divine and home-y. Enter this dish...

This perfect-for-cold-rainy-weather dish takes very little time but is nourishing and big on flavour. And, the sweet potatoes, mung bean sprouts and buckwheat combination will keep you full without weighing you down. If you're diabetic or otherwise watching your sugar, use cauliflower instead of sweet potato.

Buckwheat is amazing! Contrary to the name, it's not related to wheat and in fact it's not even a grain. It's a seed - like quinoa. It's delicious, easy to cook, light on the digestive system, gluten-free, low glycemic index which makes it suitable for diabetic diets, and is a complete protein since it contains all essential amino acids. And if you must have a gilded lily: like artichoke flowers, buckwheat flowers smell incredible and make a luscious honey with floral notes. It's the bees knees!

Mung beans sprout really fast and since they're a small bean, they're easy on the stomach even when sprouted for just a day. Growing sprouts is really easy, and if you haven't grown them before, you can see my post here on growing sprouts.

Warming Buckwheat, Bean Sprouts, and Sweet Potatoes

makes: 4 main servings

- 1/2 cup buckwheat

- 2 cups mung bean sprouts (or sprouts from any other small bean/legume)

- 2 cups cubed sweet potatoes

- 1 small onion, diced

- 1 clove garlic, minced

- 1 tsp. minced ginger

- 1 tsp. black pepper, freshly ground

- 1 tsp. cayenne powder

- 1 tsp. turmeric

- 1 tsp. coriander powder

- 1 tsp. cumin powder

- 1 tsp. garam masala (or any curry powder)

- 2 tsp. mustard seeds

- 3 tsp. salt

- 1 tsp. coconut oil (or ghee, or any neutral oil - *not* olive oil)

- 1-1/2 cups water

- 1 tbsp. ghee

- 1 tbsp. lemon juice

1. Preheat the oven to 425 F/220 C. Rinse the buckwheat well and soak in a bowl in plenty of water. In a small bowl mix all the dry spices except the garam masala and mustard.
2. In a large bowl, toss together the sweet potatoes, 1 tsp. salt, 1-2 tsp. spice mixture, coconut oil, and 1 tbsp. water so that the sweet potatoes are evenly coated. Transfer to a baking tray and bake for 25 - 30 min. or until the sweet potatoes are cooked.
3. While the sweet potatoes are baking, heat the ghee in a deep pan, saucepan or Dutch oven on medium heat. Add the mustard seeds and when they start to pop, turn the heat to medium-low, add the onion, garlic, and ginger and saute until the onion is mostly translucent.
4. Add in the spice mixture and bean sprouts. Stir well and cook for 3 - 4 minutes. Drain and add the buckwheat. Turn the heat up to medium-high, stir everything well and cook for 1 - 2 minutes. Add the garam masala and 1 cup  of water. Cover the pan, turn the heat down to low or medium-low and cook for 12 - 15 minutes. Take the lid off, give everything a quick stir - if you can still see water, turn the heat up to medium-high and cook the water off.
5. Turn off the heat and mix in the the sweet potatoes, lemon juice and remaining salt. Taste and adjust salt if needed.
6. Enjoy this delicious warming dish on its own or with a quick salad of diced cucumbers mixed into 1/2 cup of yogurt! Refrigerate leftovers for up to a day - max 2 days.

BROCCOLI AND GREENS SOUP

An easy soup that's delicious warm or chilled... perfect for cold, rainy evenings or warm summer evenings. And, you can chop up the vegetables while the onions and garlic are sautéing, put them all into the pan, add water, cook still soft, season with salt and pepper, and blend! It's important to use fresh vegetables, not frozen, because really the soup gets all its flavour from the vegetables, herbs, and really good quality salt and pepper. 

Herbs: you can use parsley or cilantro if you don't have fennel greens.

Serve the soup with this herb focaccia, any other bread, roasted potatoes or sweet potatoes, or just by itself. If you want it spicy, add a dash of hot sauce, more black pepper, or red chile flakes.

Broccoli and Greens Soup
Makes: 6 main servings

- 1 medium onion, sliced
- 4 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
- 2 medium heads broccoli
- 1 small sweet potato
- 2 medium carrots
- 4 stalks celery, coarsely chopped
- 4 collard leaves, coarsely chopped or torn into pieces
- 3 cups spinach
- 1/2 cup fennel greens, parsley, or cilantro
- 4 cups water
- 2 tbsp. salt
- 2 tbsp. black pepper, freshly ground
- 1 tbsp. ghee, or butter (or olive oil, in a pinch, but that'll change the flavour)

1. Cut the broccoli, sweet potato, carrots, and celery into approximately 1 in. chunks.
2. On a medium flame, heat the ghee in a large pan and sauté onions and garlic.
3. Turn the heat to medium-high. Add the carrots, celery, sweet potato, collard greens, and broccoli and sauté for 2-3 min.
4. Add the 4 cups of water and turn the heat to high. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium and cook until the vegetables are just soft, not colourless and soggy.
5. Turn the heat off. Stir in the spinach, fennel greens, salt, and pepper.
6. Cool the cooked vegetables and blend into a smooth soup, adding more water if needed to get the consistency you like.Taste and adjust the salt and pepper.
7. Before serving, heat the soup on medium heat - don't boil!
8. Ladle into a bowl and serve garnished with minced parsley or shredded cheese and extra pepper. Enjoy!

"SKINNY" FRIES: SWEET POTATO AND POTATO OVEN-FRIES

I've posted a recipe before, on what is possibly the world's best way of making "fries" in the oven. Crispy on the outside, steamy on the inside, delicious all over! This time around I added sweet potatoes to the mix.

As I've said in the earlier fries recipe, you want to use starchy potatoes rather than waxy. But really, any potatoes will be great in this recipe. Make sure to soak the cut potatoes in cool water anywhere from 2 - 24 hours, and change the water every few hours if you're soaking them longer than 4 hours.

Sweet potato fries, whether oven-baked or deep fried, don't crisp up as much as potatoes do, because of the higher moisture content of sweet potatoes. But slicing them into thin sticks and baking at a high temperature will help crisp them up considerably. Also, spread the fries on greased baking trays in a single layer without crowding.

As all respectable fries are, these are great with ketchup, mayonnaise, mustard-mayo mixed, pesto, cilantro chutney, herb dips, cheese dips, or, as I served them, with a quick creamy dip. I mixed home-made crème fraîche with some home-made chili sauce and called it all done! 

Home-made crème fraîche is so much more delicious and cleaner than buying commercially made sour cream. Besides, you can season the crème fraîche with anything: lemon, salt, pepper, honey, chili sauce, or even mix a couple of tablespoons into pesto or tomato (pasta) sauce to make a creamy sauce for your pasta.

On to the potatoes... when I refer to potatoes here, I mean sweet potatoes and potatoes.

Sweet Potato and Potato Oven-Fries
Makes: 4 - 6 servings

- 2 large russet potatoes (or 4 medium potatoes of any type)
- 2 large sweet potatoes (or 4 medium)
- 3 tbsp. oil (peanut, sunflower, safflower, coconut, olive, grapeseed)
- pepper, to taste
- salt, to taste
- 1 tbsp. oil, for greasing the baking trays

1. Scrub any dirt or soil off the potatoes.
2. Cut into thin fries and soak in cool water for 2 - 24 hours, changing water every few hours if soaking longer than 4 hours.
3. Pre-heat oven to 425 F / 220 C and grease 1-2 large baking trays.
4. Drain the potatoes and pat dry. Toss with oil and pepper, mixing everything with your hands to get the oil and pepper on all the potatoes.
5. Put the potatoes on the baking trays in a single layer - don't pile them up on the trays otherwise some potatoes will be soft not crisp. Bake in batches if you need to.
6. Bake for 30 - 35 min. (bake for 5 - 7 min. longer if you want them crisper). Ovens vary in temperature, so check the fries after 25 min.!
7. Remove the fries from the oven and add salt and toss well to distribute the salt evenly.
8. Add more pepper if you want, and serve hot, plain or with a dip!

CRANBERRY BEAN, ROASTED CORN, AND SWEET POTATO STEW

I always fall for good looks. Cranberry beans, or borlotti beans in Italian are probably the most beautiful of all beans, with gorgeous pink streaks all over their cream background. The flavour is quite creamy and subtle, and although they are related to kidney beans, they taste totally different. I would not recommend substituting kidney beans in this recipe.

Sorry for the blah photos, but I was really short on time when I was making this stew.

Cranberry Bean, Roasted Corn, and Sweet Potato Stew

makes: 4 servings

- 1 tbsp. coconut oil

- 1 small onion, diced

- 3 cloves garlic, minced

- 1 tsp. smoked paprika

- 1 tsp. ground cumin

- 1 tsp. dried oregano

- 1 tsp. crushed red pepper

- 3 plum (or 10 cherry) tomatoes, chopped or pureed in a food processor

- 2 cups (or 1 can) cooked cranberry beans

- 3 cups vegetable stock

- 2 cups sweet potato, peeled and chopped into 1-1/2 in. cubes

- 1-1/2 cups roasted corn kernels (fresh or frozen, like the ones from Trader Joe's)

- 1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

- salt and crushed red pepper, to taste

1. In a stock pot over medium heat, sauté onions in coconut oil for a few minutes, until translucent.

2. Add garlic and cook for 1 minute or until fragrant.

3. Add sweet potato and stir, cook for 3-4 minutes.

4. Stir in smoked paprika, crushed red pepper, cumin, oregano, tomatoes, and beans, and cook for 5 minutes.

5. Add vegetable stock and 1 tsp. salt.

6. Bring to a boil, and then lower heat and simmer uncovered, for 15 minutes or until sweet potatoes are tender.

7. Add roasted corn and cilantro, and simmer for another 5-10 minutes.

8. Add salt and additional crushed red pepper to taste.
9. Garnish with fresh cilantro. 
10. Serve with bread, white or wild rice, quinoa, millet, or salad.

Notes:

1. Add diced carrots if you have them.
2. Since olive oil is unstable and oxidizes at high heat, I use coconut oil for sauteeing usually. Unless I'm making something where the coconut oil flavour won't match the ingredients.