Sugar High Fridays/Sweet Potato Churros

I’m new to this food blog thing. But one thing I know is that I love these food blog events. I’ve been very keen on participating in Sugar High Fridays. This months theme is hosted by Leslie of Definitely Not Martha. She wanted us to incorporate the Beta Carotene Harvest into a great dessert. Being as this is around the American Thanksgiving. I wanted to keep it simple , but good. I found a great variety of sweet potato’s called Red Garnet and started to brainstorm. Pate Choux came to mind and I remembered that was essentially the dough used for the Spanish treat Churros. I researched some recipes on the Internet and came up with this . Its not your typical Pate Choux or Churro , but its definitely worth a try alongside some hot chocolate on a cold winter evening. Be careful , as you cant stop at one.

Sweet Potato Churros
Special Equipment: A `18 inch pastry bag , 2D star tip, or a churerra if you have one.
1 medium sweet potato
grated orange rind ( I have a premade orange pulp I use for baking)
1 cup of water
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 butter
2 1/2 cups of flour
2 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
vegeatble oil for frying

Microwave sweet potato for approx 6-7 min or until soft to mash. Blend granulated sugar and cinnamon to set aside.

Bring water, brown sugar, salt,butter,and orange rind to a boil in a saucepan. Add mashed sweet potato and take a immersion blender to puree. Remove from heat. Add half of flour and mix with a wooden spoon . Mix eggs and vanilla together and add to the sweet potato/ flour mixture. Add more flour until mixture gets thicker and all is incorporated. A typical Pate Choux dough binds and moves away from the walls of the pan. This will not , due to the sweet potato addition. Take your pastry bag and add star tip. Fold over the bag and add the churro dough.

Heat oil until very hot in fry pan. Note that the churro will get soggy if oil is not hot enough. Test some batter first. Pipe the dough and clip off into the hot oil and fry until the churro floats and starts to gradually browns. It may take up to one minute. Continue until all is fried. Drain Churros on Paper towels and sprinkle with the cinnamon sugar.Serve immediately.

Crock Pot Black Bean Chili

I haven’t been up to much food related this week. Certain Someone is still away on business. He does plan to return this weekend for my Birthday. So I’m happy about that. And then he’ll be grounded here for his third Thanksgiving.
This past Sunday I was seeking some comfort food after a self imposed hibernation. The social offers were plenty, but I’m at a point where I just want to chill in my nest. I have been reading some blogs here and there about warming soups and chili’s. I decided to pull put the old slow cooker and make a chili with slightly nontraditional ingredients. My meat was a a lean pork tenderloin. I had run out of chili, and decided to use my Berbere spice mix I had made up a while ago. This mix has dried chilies,chili powders, cloves, ginger, and the works.I figured it should add a interesting twist. I threw the following in the pot and cooked for 10 hours. I think I ate about two small bowls that night. I figured black beans are rich in anti oxidants, so it cant be all that bad.

Crock Pot Black Bean Chili
pork loin
6 tablespoons Berbere spice mix
6 tablespoons brown sugar
1 can tomato paste
1 cup chicken broth
1 bag pre soaked black beans
bay leaves
1 onion chopped
water
salt
pepper
cayenne pepper

Place all the ingredients in slow cooker . Add water to the halfway level. You may need to add more liquid as the dish cooks.Turn onto the 10 hour setting. At around the 8th hour the meat should start to able to fall apart as you pull it with a fork. Shred the meat and stir . Adjust seasonings to taste. Let continue to cook. Enjoy.

Hay Hay It’s Donna Day:Red Pepper, Spinach,Mushroom and Asparagus Terrine

I have always wanted to do a terrine.So when I saw the Hay Hay It’s Donna Day , hosted by Tami, I decided to give it a shot. The only one I made in life was a precocious 12 year old attempting a country pate en croute from one of my Moms magazines. If I remember it tasted pretty good, but the effort wore me out. That was one of the beginning of my interests in food.I have had this bargain book I purchased from Borders for $2.98 called Terrines and Pates from the Healthy Home Cooking series from Time Life Books.The contributors seem to be all European or Australian and the weights and measures are adapted for both the Australian kitchen and American Kitchen. Needless to say I have never attempted anything from this fascinating bargain find. I just look at the lovely pictures.Terrines and Pates remind me of a bygone era in food. Surprisingly they don’t seem to laden with heavy calories.The highest one was for a slice of Venison and Apricot Terrine at around 460 calories a slice. Terrines can be served as either first, main , or dessert courses. And they are really works of art. I choose a combination of two vegetable based terrines in the book. I had shopped with the main components in mind but no specific idea. When I got to work I found my recipes did not require gelatin, like most. I had all the ingredients for one recipe, but wanted to incorporate the Asparagus spears as well.So here’s the gist of my terrine.
Red Pepper , Spinach, Mushroom, and Asparagus Terrine adapted from Terrines and Pates / Healthy Home Cooking series.

Approx total calories with Asparagus addition 143
Serves 6
Working Time 1 1/2 hours
Total Time: 7hours 30 min to overnight for chilling and setting

2lb seeded sweet red peppers (I used red,yellow, and orange)
1 tbsp virgin olive oil
4 egg whites
2 oz dry bread crumbs
1 1/2 lbs sliced mushrooms I used Herbs De Provence as a
1 tsp chopped fresh basil substitute for the herbs listed
1 tsp fresh marjoram or 1/4 tsp dried marjoram
1 tsp fresh oregano or 1/4 dried oregano
1/4 tsp salt
12 oz fresh spinach ( I used defrosted , drained frozen)
8 asparagus spears

Steam asparagus spears for approx 10 min.Set aside.

Dice one red pepper and set aside. Roughly chop the remaining peppers and cook them in some of the olive oil until tender.About 10 min. Cool the peppers slightly, then puree. Add two of the egg whites and half breadcrumbs and puree again until combined. Transfer mixture to a bowl and set aside.
Heat the rest of the olive oil and cook mushrooms until tender, approx 5 min.Increase heat and continue to cook until all moisture is evaporated( another 10 min). Allow to cool and puree. Add the remaining egg whites ,breadcrumbs, and herbs. Process and set aside.
Blanch spinach for 1 min in boiling water. Drain and allow to dry on paper towels for all ,moisture to be absorbed.
Preheat oven to 425 and line loaf pan( non reactive) with parchment paper.Line the spears side by side with each one alternating for design.
Sprinkle half of the chopped red pepper over spears. Take half of red pepper puree an spread evenly. Sprinkle some spinach mixture over as the next layer. Take all of mushroom mixture and spread. Spread rest of spinach.Sprinkle remaining chopped red peppers. Spread rest of red pepper puree and smooth top. cover with nonstick parchment paper and cook for 50 min to 1 hours. Test to see if done if knife comes out clean. Allow terrine to cool in pan and chill in the refrigerator at least 7 hours or overnight. Turn out terrine on a flat serving dish and peel off lining paper. Cut into slices and serve.

* I cooked mine in a water bath in the oven with the pan resting in a another pan of water.

You can serve this healthy terrine dressed with vinaigrette and lettuce leaves.

Torta Sbrisolona :Simplicity at Its Best

Flipping through Martha Stewart’s Baking Handbook while, bored, itching to use my new Kitchen Aid( early B day present), and seeing what can I possibly make with the aforementioned device without going to the store…. I saw this lovely gem. I love almonds and any cookie made with them “Is a good thing”. Certain Someone now has been in Europe going on three weeks and I needed something warm and comforting along with the Kitchen Aid he purchased for me in case he misses out on the actual Bday.Aww work, but he must do it to be able to afford our toys. I digress. So I see this recipe that’s calls for just a few simple ingredients. Torta Sbrisolona originates from Mantua , Italy and essentially is a cake/cookie that hails from a time when few could afford the more costly ingredients of richer sweets. Not surprisingly its Christmas favorite. I love the simplicity of this with just a cup of hot tea. I can also see it served alongside some warm spiced apples and ice cream. Enjoy.

Torta Sbrisolona adapted from Martha Stewart’s Baking Handbook
1 3/4 sticks (14 tablespoons) unsalted Butter
1 3/4 cups all purpose Flour
1 1/2 cups blanched almonds, finely ground
3/4 cup of sugar ( I used Turbinado Raw Sugar)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract ( In addition I added a touch of amaretto flavoring)
Preheat oven to 350. Butter a 10 inch spring form pan: set aside. Whisk together all ingredients except the butter in a large bowl. Cut in the butter gradually and blend until mixture is completely incorporated. There should be no dry crumbs.
Gently press all except 1/4 of mixture into the spring form pan. Sprinkle the rest of the mixture( streusal /crumb like) on top of the pressed mixture. Bake for 25 minutes until golden.Reduce temp to 300 and bake for 10 more minutes. Transfer to rack and cool. Removes sides to unmold. Cookie can be kept wrapped up to three days.

Spoonful Of Christmas Event/ Berbere

Here’s another idea for Spoonful of Christmas.

A while back I purchased Marcus Samuelsson’s book from Starbucks Discovery Of A Continent Foods, Flavors, and Inspirations From Africa. Marcus as a chef had always captured my attention. It’s rare to see a black chef scale the heights he has. His story is a fascinating one I can relate to on some levels. He’s Ethiopian born ,but raised by a Swedish family. Re Mastering Scandinavian cuisine he’s now focusing on his roots with this book which is actually a condensed version/spin off of the James Beard award winning Soul Of a New Cuisine, Discovery of a Continent. Percentages of the books sales go towards UNICEF, which Marcus is involved. Glancing through the book he devotes the first chapter to preparing the various spice blends and rubs found throughout the food of all the African countries. Amazingly most of the components are in our pantries. And why shouldn’t they be? History is rich in the politics, explorations,trading, of the lands of spice routes. The continent of Africa being one. So no matter what your celebrating this holiday season ,a nice spice blend will always be welcome.

Berbere is a spice blend originating in Ethiopia and is a staple in all their households. Its used to flavor stews. Marcus recommends using it as a meat rub as well.

Berbere adapted from Discovery Of A Continent,Foods Flavors, and Inspirations, Marcus Samuelsson

1 tsp fenugreek seeds

1/2 cup dried chilies preferably Serrano

1/2 cup paprika

2 tablespoons salt

2 teaspoons ground ginger

2 teaspoons onion powder

1 teaspoon ground cardamom, preferably freshly ground

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground allspice

Finely ground the fenugreek seeds with a spice or coffee grinder, or mortar and pestle. Stir together with remaining ingredients in a small bowl.

Store in a airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 months.

After making some , I rubbed boneless chicken thighs with oiled and a coating of this spice blend. I placed them in a cast iron pan and roasted them in the oven. Th chicken blackened nicely and the smell was heavenly. I will definitely use this in my Summer BB Q’S. You can vary the spice levels. I used Passila chilies which aren’t very hot in my opinion. But nevertheless, a flavorful blend.

You can present in your typical decorative airtight jar. For travelling or mailing purposes I like the idea of a lined decorative spice box. Enclose spices in plastic bags and lay out in a decorative box with instructions on shelf life, use , history, etc.