The month of February is Sweet Potato Month and Feb 22 is National Cook a Sweet Potato Day. I have always been a fan of Sweet potatoes in pretty much any form, so I shall be more than happy to celebrate both of these holidays by trying a few different ways of eating sweet potato, rather than the standard chopped roasted variety I often add to a roast. A quick search on the internet immediately led me to a wealth of different recipes. But first, a little history about the humble yet tasty sweet potato.
Sweet potatoes - or to give them their botanical name Ipomoea batatas - are native to the Americas, with a history that dates back to 750BC in Peruvian records. When explorers 'discovered' the New World sweet potatoes were already being cultivated by Native Americans in parts of what was to become Louisiana and Carolina. The sweet potato went on to become a dietary staple of the colonists for many years, only waning in popularity as the the United States became more prosperous, as many had come to associate the food with hard times and so moved to distance themselves from it somewhat when their situation improved. Columbus brought the sweet potato to England from the island of Saint Thomas, and the hardy vegetable has been cultivated pretty much the world over for hundreds of years now. In Papua new Guinea sweet potato consumption is now estimated at 500kg per person annually. That's a lot of potato!
Pulled pork, crumbly beef & sweet potato fries with home-made slaw, bbq & white wine vinegar sauce. Nom!
So, I've had a bag of sweet potatoes kicking about in my food cupboard for a few weeks now. I keep meaning to make something with them, but I haven't quite managed to get around to it before now. I had some delicious sweet potato fries recently as part of a Tex-Mex extravaganza prepared by my lovely friend Helen, and that combined with today's holiday has fully rekindled my interest in this particular root vegetable. So, this is what I've got, what shall I make?
Starting point. What to do, what to do?
I looked at a few websites and a number of different recipes, but I found myself predominantly drawn to those from one particular page, a Women's Health article, believe it or not. A few of the recipes on there looked appetising and relatively simple to make so I informed my other half that we were having a sweet potato feast for dinner, much to his bemusement, and cracked on preparing it. First, the soup;
Ingredients
Serves: Prep: 15min |Cook: 30min |Total: 45min
Directions
1.
Heat oil in large saucepan. Add onion and cook until soft, about 2 to 3 minutes. Add stock plus 2 cups water, then add sweet potato, carrot, and ginger. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer until vegetables are tender, about 15 minutes.
2.
Strain out vegetables and put them in a food processor or blender. Puree until smooth, adding a bit of broth if needed. (If you're using a standard blender, allow the mixture to cool first; hot liquid may cause the blender to squirt out contents. Depending on the size of your blender, you may have to do this in batches.)
3.
Pour vegetable puree back into the saucepan and stir until well blended and smooth. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve with a dollop of yogurt on top, if desired.
Nutritional Facts per serving
| CALORIES | 126.6 CAL |
| FAT | 4.5 G |
| SATURATED FAT | 1 G |
| CHOLESTEROL | 2 MG |
| SODIUM | 98.7 MG |
| CARBOHYDRATES | 19.6 G |
| TOTAL SUGARS | 8.4 G |
| DIETARY FIBER | 4 G |
| PROTEIN | 3.4 G |
I followed these instructions pretty much exactly, only using fresh instead of jarred ginger, and excepting only the Greek Yoghurt for reasons of economy. I also added some Worcestershire sauce, but that's something I do to pretty much everything I eat. Here's how it turned out;
Sweet potato & carrot soup with ginger & onion
It might not look like all that, but trust me; it was delicious. My boyfriend also gave it two thumbs up, despite his undying hatred of all vegetables and his dislike of soup in general. The flavours were delicious, the grated ginger really added to it and it was nice and filling but not overly so. I will definitely be making this again!
Next up, I made a salad. As my boyfriend has the aforementioned fear and hatred of all healthy food, I made a salad for myself to eat at work the following day. This recipe is another simple one from the same article, and I managed to make it pretty much at the same time as the soup;
Ingredients
Serves: Prep: 12min |Cook: 40min |Total: 52min
Directions
1.
Preheat the oven to 425°F.
2.
In a large roasting pan, combine the oil, salt, and black pepper. Add the sweet potatoes and bell peppers and toss to coat well. Roast, stirring occasionally, for 40 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender. Remove from the oven and stir in the vinegar.
3.
Place the spinach or arugula in a large serving bowl. Add the potato mixture and toss to coat well. Serve immediately.
Recipe Notes
People with depression who take monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAO inhibitors) should not use alcohol or other fermented products, such as the vinegar in this recipe. Substitute apple juice for the vinegar.Nutritional Facts per serving
| CALORIES | 302.5 CAL |
| FAT | 7.6 G |
| SATURATED FAT | 1.1 G |
| CHOLESTEROL | 0 MG |
| SODIUM | 363.1 MG |
| CARBOHYDRATES | 54.8 G |
| TOTAL SUGARS | 13.3 G |
| DIETARY FIBER | 11 G |
| PROTEIN | 7.6 G |
Roasted sweet potato and bell pepper salad
Again, I mostly stuck to the recipe, except for adding some extra leafy greens to the spinach. I've never had sweet potato in a salad before but as it turns out, its really good. Also filling. And relatively healthy for a meal. The simplicity of preparation means that I'll almost certainly come back for some more of this at some point. Next I decided to make a snack. Crips, to be precise. Sweet potato crisps;
Ingredients
Serves: Prep: 7min |Cook: 14min |Total: 21min
Directions
1.
Preheat the oven to 375°F.
2.
Cut the potato into very thin slices. Spray two baking sheets with cooking spray. Arrange the slices on the sheets in a single layer, and lightly coat the slices with cooking spray. Bake for 7 minutes, or until they've barely started to brown. Remove, turn them over, return to the oven, and bake 7 to 10 more minutes until lightly browned. Transfer to a bowl, and repeat with remaining potato slices.
3.
Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine the cumin, sugar, chili powder, and salt. Pour over the chips, toss well, and serve.
Nutritional Facts per serving
| CALORIES | 138.4 CAL |
| FAT | 0.4 G |
| SATURATED FAT | 0 G |
| CHOLESTEROL | 0 MG |
| SODIUM | 386.6 MG |
| CARBOHYDRATES | 31 G |
| TOTAL SUGARS | 9.7 G |
| DIETARY FIBER | 5.5 G |
| PROTEIN | 2.8 G |
Sweet potato crisps
As you can see, these didn't turn out quite as well as the first two dishes. In my defence, I was making four dishes at the same time and I was new to not just the recipe but indeed the whole idea of making my own crisps. Thus, I maintain that I have acquitted myself well in the face of adversity. To be fair, they still tasted just fine and I'm aware of exactly where I went wrong so I shall not be making the same mistakes next time!
The remaining two or three potatoes went straight into the pot for our main of the evening, which was to be bangers with sweet potato mash, broccoli, cauliflower and carrots. I used no recipe for this, as it is a basic standard meal I'm very familiar with. No nutritional information for this either but I'd lean towards it being bad for you. I applied all the same rules to the sweet potato mash as I do with normal mash ie, a little salt in the water while simmering, a knob of butter, a splash of milk and some pepper before mashing together and spooning out onto a plate.
Bangers & sweet potato mash with 3 veg
This was as appetising as I knew it would be, but then again I am a northern lass at heart and I do love my hearty meals. As you would imagine, sweet potato mash is very similar to normal mash. The only differences lie in the taste and the consistency, with sweet potato being less crumbly than its more common cousin.
From just six sweet potatoes, I managed to make three meals and a snack. Sweet potatoes are a good alternative to the normal potato, and it would seem they are just as versatile. They are filling, relatively cheap to buy, and as my feast proves, go a long way. Today has certainly opened my eyes to all of the different uses for it, from now on I will upping my game when it comes to this particular root vegetable. So, cook some sweet potato today. As far as I'm aware, you pretty much can't go wrong :)
References
Top sweet potato image http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:5aday_sweet_potato.jpg
Sweet potato history 1. http://homecooking.about.com/od/foodhistory/a/sweetpothistory.htm
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