Sweet potatoes break out of the holiday mold
By Marcia Poole | Posted: Wednesday, September 05, 2007
Good Eats Sept. 5, 2007
Sweet potatoes on the grill? The North Carolina Sweet Potato Commission is pushing that approach as one way to boost sales.
"Think outside the pit," say the growers. Forget about roasted corn and grilled zucchini slices; go for golden sweet potatoes, one of the healthiest vegetables around.
It's true that sweet potatoes are a nutritional powerhouse, positively loaded with beta carotene and generous in vitamin E. Other attributes include vitamin B6, potassium, iron and fiber. The root vegetable is fat-free, yet oh-so filling. A medium sweet potato has 118 calories.
Even though sweet potatoes are readily available much of the year in Siouxland supermarkets, the vegetable is a stretch for many cooks. Most of us grew up on sweet potatoes as a predictable Thanksgiving side dish, often done up a la marshmallow. It's hard to break away from sweet potatoes as holiday bulk and move to the lighter side.
But sweet potatoes are making the turn and proving they're much more than hearty cold-weather starch. The National Chicken Council and U.S. Poultry & Egg Association serve up a surprise with Chicken and Sweet Potato Orange Dumplings, an appealing one-dish meal just right as the weather begins to cooler.
The recipe was adapted from "Lee Brothers Cookbook: Stories and Recipes from Southerners and Would-Be Southerners," by Matthew and Ted Lee (W.W. Norton, 2006). It starts with a cut-up whole chicken or any combination of parts. While the chicken's simmering in the soup pot, the cook combines mashed sweet potatoes, flour, and orange zest for the dumpling dough. The recipe is simple to prepare, yet impressive at the table, according to the chicken folks who remind cooks to allow plenty of time for simmering the soup.
Sweet potatoes also are showing up in a special way at Minerva's at MarketPlace. They're the main ingredient in Santa Fe Sweet Potato Tamales on the restaurant's Taste of America menu, running through about mid September.
Beautifully plated, the entree has a lively range of flavors, colors and textures. It blends sweet potatoes, shredded chicken, corn masa and roasted peppers for the corn husk filling. Black beans and satisfying chorizo potatoes round out the satisfying meal. Let's hope Minerva's makes Sweet Potato Tamales a permanent menu item. They're that good.
As for sweet potatoes on the grill, the North Carolina growers offer some suggestions. For starters, brush both sides of one-quarter inch thick slices of fresh sweet potatoes with olive oil. Place over direct heat and grill until fork tender, turning once. Season the slices with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. For extra flavor, top with chopped fresh cilantro.
For a different turn, marinate one-quarter inch slices of fresh sweet potatoes in purchased balsamic vinaigrette dressing for one hour. Grill over medium heat, turning once, until tender.
At the supermarket choose firm sweet potatoes, free of decay. At home, store them in a cool, dry, well-ventilated place. Never refrigerate uncooked sweet potatoes; they'll begin to decay. If you're cooking indoors, wash them with cool water and a sturdy vegetable brush, pierce the skin and bake at 400 degrees F. for 40 to 50 minutes or until done.
For microwaving, choose a sweet potato that's fairly uniform in size from the center to the ends. Wash it, pierce the skin, and cook on HIGH, turning halfway through the cooking time. One medium sweet potato takes three to four minutes; four medium sweet potatoes will be done in about eight to nine minutes.
For mashed sweet potatoes, place the whole, washed, unpeeled vegetable in boiling water and cook 35 to 45 minutes or until it gives easily when pierced with a fork. Drain, peel and mash with a potato masher or electric beater.
At the dinner table, this question may come up: "What's the difference between yams and sweet potatoes?" Yams are starchy tubers not commonly grown in the United States and rarely sold here. Yams grow in abundance in Central America, the West Indies and Asia. They may resemble dark-skinned sweet potatoes, but they're usually not sweet. They tend to have a rough, scaly surface with dry, starchy flesh.
Sweet potatoes aren't really potatoes; they're a storage root that belongs to the morning glory family. Dark skinned sweet potatoes yield sweeter, moister flesh than their light-skinned counterparts. Sweet potatoes are grown mainly in Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolina and other areas of the South.
Now for that fall soup recipe, loaded with sweet potato flavor.
Chicken and Sweet Potato-Orange Dumplings
1 whole chicken, cut into 8 pieces, or any combination of chicken parts
3 teaspoons salt, divided
One and one-half teaspoons black pepper, divided
3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
One-half cup white wine
8 cups canned low-sodium chicken broth
12 whole black peppercorns
2 bay leaves
1 large onion, roughly chopped
2 large carrots, peeled and chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
One-half cup chopped parsley
1 sweet potato, peeled and cut into one-half inch slices
One and one-quarter cups flour
1 large egg, beaten
2 large oranges, zested and then sliced thinly
1 cup frozen peas
Combine two teaspoons salt and one teaspoon black pepper; season chicken with mixture. In soup pot, pour one tablespoon olive oil and warm over medium-high heat. Add chicken pieces, about four at a time and brown, turning, about five minutes per side. Remove chicken to plate and set aside.
Add wine to pot; raise heat and boil three minutes. Add chicken broth, peppercorns, bay leaves, onion, carrots and celery. Return chicken to pot. Cover, bring to a boil, and uncover pot. Reduce heat to low and simmer 45 minutes.
While soup simmers, make dumpling dough. Place sweet potato slices in small saucepan, cover with water and bring to a boil. Cook until very soft, about 20 minutes; transfer to large bowl. Using fork, mash sweet potato pieces to a puree; let cool.
Add flour, beaten egg, remaining olive oil, orange zest and remaining one teaspoon salt and one-half teaspoon pepper. Mix with spoon until mixture forms dough-like consistency. Divide dough in half and use floured rolling pin to roll out each half separately to one-eighth inch thickness. Cut dough into three-quarters-by-two-inch strips using a floured knife.
Transfer chicken from broth to a cutting board and let cool. Strain broth, return to pot and boil over medium heat for 15 minutes, while chicken is cooling. Remove all skin and bones from chicken and tear by hand into smaller pieces. Return chicken to pot, turn heat down to low, and add dumpling strips.
Continue cooking over low heat until dumplings are cooked through, about five to eight minutes. Add frozen peas after about three minutes. Serve soup, chicken and dumplings in large bowls garnished with parsley and orange slices. Makes four servings, 600 calories each. Adapted from The Lee Brothers Cookbook: Stories and Recipes from Southerners And Would-Be Southerners, by Matthew and Ted Lee, W.W. Norton, 2006, for The National Chicken Council and U.S. Poultry & Egg Association.
Sweet potatoes on the grill? The North Carolina Sweet Potato Commission is pushing that approach as one way to boost sales.
"Think outside the pit," say the growers. Forget about roasted corn and grilled zucchini slices; go for golden sweet potatoes, one of the healthiest vegetables around.
It's true that sweet potatoes are a nutritional powerhouse, positively loaded with beta carotene and generous in vitamin E. Other attributes include vitamin B6, potassium, iron and fiber. The root vegetable is fat-free, yet oh-so filling. A medium sweet potato has 118 calories.
Even though sweet potatoes are readily available much of the year in Siouxland supermarkets, the vegetable is a stretch for many cooks. Most of us grew up on sweet potatoes as a predictable Thanksgiving side dish, often done up a la marshmallow. It's hard to break away from sweet potatoes as holiday bulk and move to the lighter side.
But sweet potatoes are making the turn and proving they're much more than hearty cold-weather starch. The National Chicken Council and U.S. Poultry & Egg Association serve up a surprise with Chicken and Sweet Potato Orange Dumplings, an appealing one-dish meal just right as the weather begins to cooler.
The recipe was adapted from "Lee Brothers Cookbook: Stories and Recipes from Southerners and Would-Be Southerners," by Matthew and Ted Lee (W.W. Norton, 2006). It starts with a cut-up whole chicken or any combination of parts. While the chicken's simmering in the soup pot, the cook combines mashed sweet potatoes, flour, and orange zest for the dumpling dough. The recipe is simple to prepare, yet impressive at the table, according to the chicken folks who remind cooks to allow plenty of time for simmering the soup.
Sweet potatoes also are showing up in a special way at Minerva's at MarketPlace. They're the main ingredient in Santa Fe Sweet Potato Tamales on the restaurant's Taste of America menu, running through about mid September.
Beautifully plated, the entree has a lively range of flavors, colors and textures. It blends sweet potatoes, shredded chicken, corn masa and roasted peppers for the corn husk filling. Black beans and satisfying chorizo potatoes round out the satisfying meal. Let's hope Minerva's makes Sweet Potato Tamales a permanent menu item. They're that good.
As for sweet potatoes on the grill, the North Carolina growers offer some suggestions. For starters, brush both sides of one-quarter inch thick slices of fresh sweet potatoes with olive oil. Place over direct heat and grill until fork tender, turning once. Season the slices with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. For extra flavor, top with chopped fresh cilantro.
For a different turn, marinate one-quarter inch slices of fresh sweet potatoes in purchased balsamic vinaigrette dressing for one hour. Grill over medium heat, turning once, until tender.
At the supermarket choose firm sweet potatoes, free of decay. At home, store them in a cool, dry, well-ventilated place. Never refrigerate uncooked sweet potatoes; they'll begin to decay. If you're cooking indoors, wash them with cool water and a sturdy vegetable brush, pierce the skin and bake at 400 degrees F. for 40 to 50 minutes or until done.
For microwaving, choose a sweet potato that's fairly uniform in size from the center to the ends. Wash it, pierce the skin, and cook on HIGH, turning halfway through the cooking time. One medium sweet potato takes three to four minutes; four medium sweet potatoes will be done in about eight to nine minutes.
For mashed sweet potatoes, place the whole, washed, unpeeled vegetable in boiling water and cook 35 to 45 minutes or until it gives easily when pierced with a fork. Drain, peel and mash with a potato masher or electric beater.
At the dinner table, this question may come up: "What's the difference between yams and sweet potatoes?" Yams are starchy tubers not commonly grown in the United States and rarely sold here. Yams grow in abundance in Central America, the West Indies and Asia. They may resemble dark-skinned sweet potatoes, but they're usually not sweet. They tend to have a rough, scaly surface with dry, starchy flesh.
Sweet potatoes aren't really potatoes; they're a storage root that belongs to the morning glory family. Dark skinned sweet potatoes yield sweeter, moister flesh than their light-skinned counterparts. Sweet potatoes are grown mainly in Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolina and other areas of the South.
Now for that fall soup recipe, loaded with sweet potato flavor.
Chicken and Sweet Potato-Orange Dumplings
1 whole chicken, cut into 8 pieces, or any combination of chicken parts
3 teaspoons salt, divided
One and one-half teaspoons black pepper, divided
3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
One-half cup white wine
8 cups canned low-sodium chicken broth
12 whole black peppercorns
2 bay leaves
1 large onion, roughly chopped
2 large carrots, peeled and chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
One-half cup chopped parsley
1 sweet potato, peeled and cut into one-half inch slices
One and one-quarter cups flour
1 large egg, beaten
2 large oranges, zested and then sliced thinly
1 cup frozen peas
Combine two teaspoons salt and one teaspoon black pepper; season chicken with mixture. In soup pot, pour one tablespoon olive oil and warm over medium-high heat. Add chicken pieces, about four at a time and brown, turning, about five minutes per side. Remove chicken to plate and set aside.
Add wine to pot; raise heat and boil three minutes. Add chicken broth, peppercorns, bay leaves, onion, carrots and celery. Return chicken to pot. Cover, bring to a boil, and uncover pot. Reduce heat to low and simmer 45 minutes.
While soup simmers, make dumpling dough. Place sweet potato slices in small saucepan, cover with water and bring to a boil. Cook until very soft, about 20 minutes; transfer to large bowl. Using fork, mash sweet potato pieces to a puree; let cool.
Add flour, beaten egg, remaining olive oil, orange zest and remaining one teaspoon salt and one-half teaspoon pepper. Mix with spoon until mixture forms dough-like consistency. Divide dough in half and use floured rolling pin to roll out each half separately to one-eighth inch thickness. Cut dough into three-quarters-by-two-inch strips using a floured knife.
Transfer chicken from broth to a cutting board and let cool. Strain broth, return to pot and boil over medium heat for 15 minutes, while chicken is cooling. Remove all skin and bones from chicken and tear by hand into smaller pieces. Return chicken to pot, turn heat down to low, and add dumpling strips.
Continue cooking over low heat until dumplings are cooked through, about five to eight minutes. Add frozen peas after about three minutes. Serve soup, chicken and dumplings in large bowls garnished with parsley and orange slices. Makes four servings, 600 calories each. Adapted from The Lee Brothers Cookbook: Stories and Recipes from Southerners And Would-Be Southerners, by Matthew and Ted Lee, W.W. Norton, 2006, for The National Chicken Council and U.S. Poultry & Egg Association.
Story Comments
Read More and Post Comments 1 comment(s)
Please note: The following are comments from readers. In no way do they represent the views of The Sioux City Journal or Lee Enterprises. We will not edit or alter your comments, but we do reserve the right to not post or to remove comments that violate our code of conduct. No comment may contain potentially libelous statements; obscene, explicit or racist language; personal attacks, insults or threats. Terms of Service
Lee wrote on Sep 7, 2007 10:25 PM: