Sweet Potatoes: Thanksgiving Necessity!

I love sweet potatoes, and to me Thanksgiving is not complete without them. I found gorgeous sweet potatoes at the store for eighteen cents a pound. I couldn't wait to prepare them.

I found a recipe for them, but I modified it because we were having Duck L'Orange and I wanted the sweet potatoes to enhance that main course.

So I first cooked the sweet potatoes in the microwave until they were soft. I peeled them, then put them in the electronic mixer bowl along with butter, brown sugar, orange marmalade and orange juice.

 I then turned the mixer on until I had a puree. I then put the puree in a casserole dish, sprinkled some ground cloves over it, put a cinnamon stick on top of it, then baked it at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes to warm it up.

It was a great accompaniment to the duck because of the slight orange flavor.

Sweet Potatoes: American Nourishment for Thousands of Years

Evidence from a Peruvian cave indicates that sweet potatoes have been eaten by people for at least 10,000 years. When Columbus landed in the Caribbean Islands, he found people eating sweet potatoes and he brought them back to Europe.

By the 16th century, the Spanish had spread sweet potatoes to the Philippines and the Portuguese had spread them to southern Asia and Africa.

Around this time cultivation of sweet potatoes became common in the Southern United States. Enslaved Africans working on plantations noticed the similarities between the sweet potatoes and a food they had in Africa called nyami or anyinam. They began calling sweet potatoes yams. The name yam became common, although the yams in Africa are actually from a different plant.

I have always loved sweet potatoes, so at lunch today I was browsing through the whole foods bakery when I found enticing loaves of sweet potato bread. I must admit that I bought a loaf...I didn't bake it myself. I brought the loaf home and everyone loved it. It is slightly sweet because there is some sugar in it, and it has a wonderful texture as you can see in the picture on the right.

There is a great recipe for sweet potato bread at http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2010/08/bread-baking-sweet-potato-bread.html. I hope to try baking some soon.

Nutritionally, sweet potatoes have a lot to offer.They are rich in vitamins A and C and manganese, copper, dietary fiber, vitamin B6, potassium and iron. They have anti-inflammatory qualities and contain proteins with significant antioxidant effects.


You can find out more about their health effects at http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=64.

Acorn Squash, Sweet Potatoes, and Pork Roast

Today we had a meal that took advantage of the wonderful autumn produce that we found in the grocery store. You can see the pork roast in the lower part of the plate, the sweet potato/cranberry casserole on the right, and the stuffed acorn squash on top. The flavor combinations worked well together in spite of the missing green vegetable and salad.

Pork and Apple Compote

The pork roast cooked slowly in the oven separately while I prepared the other dishes. 

For the Apple Compote, I used gala and tentation apples because I already had some. Granny Smith or Rome apples would work just as well. I peeled and cored the apples, then cut them into small cubes. Since only three people were eating, I used three apples, juice of one lemon, 1/4 cup of sugar, and 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon. I cooked the ingredients in a saucepan over low heat for about 30 minutes. The compote was done when the apples were nice and tender. I poured the apple compote over the meat to serve as shown in the picture above on the right.

Stuffed Acorn Squash

I used the following ingredients:

• 3 acorn squash, halved and seeded
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 stalk celery, chopped
• 1 pound sweet Italian sausage
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/2 cup dry bread crumbs
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans
• 
  

First I cleaned the seeds and spread them out on a foil-lined baking sheet. I put them in the oven and heated them for about 20 minutes at 250 degrees F to toast them. When they became brown, I removed them and set them aside to cool.

1. I then preheated the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. I filled a baking pan with about 1/2 inch of water and placed the squash halves in the pans with the cut sides down. I baked the squash for 40 minutes in the preheated oven, or until tender.
3. While the squash baked, I heated the oil in a skillet over medium heat. I put the onions and celery in the skillet, and cooked until tender. Then I stirred in the sausage and thyme.I stirred until everything was evenly brown.
4. When the squash was tended I removed it from the oven. I then carefully scraped the pulp from the rinds to keep the rinds intact. I set the rinds aside. 
5. I placed the pulp in a bowl, and mashed it with a potato masher. I then mixed in the cooked sausage mixture, egg, bread crumbs, raisins, and pecans. When thoroughly mixed, I scooped the mixture into the reserved rinds and set the stuffed squash in baking dishes.
6. I baked them for about 25 minutes in the 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) oven, until they were thoroughly heated. The picture above shows the finished product. Beside the stuffed squash are the roasted pumpkin seeds.

Sweet Potato and Cranberry

The sweet potatoes and cranberries were fabulous in the grocery store, so I wanted a recipe to use them both. I found a great recipe using the following ingredients:

• 1 1/2 pounds sweet potatoes
• 1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen cranberries
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup orange juice
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon butter or margarine
• 1 1/2 cups granola cereal
• 
  
• I peeled the sweet potatoes and cut them into 1-inch cubes. In a large saucepan, I covered the sweet potatoes with water; and brought it to a boil. I then reduced the heat, and covered and simmered the sweet potatoes for about 30 minutes or until they were tender. I drained and cooled them. 
• 
  
• In a bowl, I combined cranberries, sugar, orange juice and salt. I greased an 11-in. x 7-in. x 2-in. baking dish and but half of the cranberry mixture on the bottom of the dish. I then made a layer on top using half of the sweet potatoes. I added another layer of the cranberry mixture and another layer of sweet potatoes. I dotted the top with butter and covered and baked the it at 350 degrees F for 25 minutes or until the cranberries were tender. I uncovered the mixture and sprinkled granola on top. I returned the uncovered dish to the oven for 10 minutes to toast the granola.

Everyone enjoyed this meal, and I suggest that you try it. If you do, let me know what you think of it!