Dukkah Spiced Sweet Potaoes

Sadly, I haven't posted a recipe in years! But I've a recipe notebook that is full and now in retirement, so before I lose it and all of my notes from last year, I'm going to get busy.  Please forgive the lack of photos. I'll include some if they are meaningful and handy- but I think I'd better just get some of these yummy things posted.  Hope you enjoy.

Dukkah Spice:

This can be made with lots of different nuts- with fresh roasted spices- and can be used on many dishes.  I’ve added it to roasted sweet potatoes, squash or as a coating with yogurt on fish or chicken fillets.

Combine in a food processor and grind just until crumbly- not to a paste.

1 cup toasted pecans

½ cup black sesame seeds

6-8 peppercorns

2-3 tBL coriander powder

1-2 tsp ground cinnamon

1-2 TBL cumin seed powder

salt to taste

1 tsp sugar

Roast 4-5 cut up sweet potatoes or yams- tossed in 2-3 tbls of butter or margarine and juice of 1 lemon. Stir often. When browned and soft sprinkle with dukkah to lightly coat pieces and soak up melted butter.

Serve with orange Tandoori chicken.  (Recipe to follow)

Jane and Julia and Potato Leek Soup

I've been reading Jane's copy of The Way to Cook by Julia Child. She didn't make notes in it as she did with some of the recipe books that she gave to me as gifts, but I know how much she admired Julia Child and enjoyed her joy of life. Some of the pages are soiled with the fruits of her labors and there are clippings stuck in here and there of fancy french newspaper recipes like "Daube d'agneau aux artichauts" So, I'm enjoying the spirit of the book on many levels. I'm also learning quite a bit.
Did you know that if you dry off chicken fillets before you try to saute them, they will brown more evenly? Or that a tiny bit of soy sauce, ketchup, or mushrooms added to many dishes can intensify the flavor without lending their own particular tastes to it?  The first section is on soups, and as it happens, I've been playing around with some soup recipes lately.  so here's an easy one- adapted from the internet and my friend Ani's advice.

Potato Leek Soup

Easy and really good.

Dice, and sauté until limp in 2-3 tbls of butter or margarine in a lg sauce pan:
    1 /2 sweet onion, 3 ribs of celery, 3 leeks, 2 cloves garlic
Combine with~
6 -8 small Yukon Gold potatoes, washed, cut into uniform size pieces
5 cups chicken broth
    ½ to 1 cup dry white wine
    1-3 bay leaves, salt, pepper, 1 tsp thyme leaves

 Simmer for 30 minutes or until potatoes are very soft. Remove bay leaves.
Puree mixture until smooth and creamy. Add ¼ cup fresh parsley (optional)

Serve warm or serve chilled and call it Vichyssoise.

Happy Birthday, Sweet Potato?

One of the very few foods that R doesn't enjoy- so naturally, I've risen to the challenge and have spent 30 some years presenting yams and sweet potatoes chopped, spiced, sweetened, flattened and disguised all in an effort to make him realize what he's missing. Silly me. Turns out he found the answer himself at our favorite restaurant
Anything is yummy when mixed with wasabi. Make sure you add the wasabi incrementally- I think different brands are spicier.

Wasabi Sweet Potatoes with Asian Spiced Steak and Walnut Broccoli

The sweet potatoes accompanied a 5 spice rubbed tenderloin. I had some SOY VAY Brand Hoisin Garlic Marinade that I marinated the steak with and then finished it in the broiler. Here’s what else we had- Rick is really a fan of the sweet potatoes with extra wasabi mixed in.
Wasabi Sweet Potatoes
~Add to boiling water:
3 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into quarters
~Cook until easily pierced with a fork (15 mins?)
~Drain water, mash potatoes, and add:
4 tbls or to taste of cream cheese
2-3 tbls of butter or margarine
3-4 tsps of wasabi powder mixed with water to make a thick paste
1 tbls lite sodium soy sauce

Walnut Broccoli:
~Heat 2 tbls sesame oil plus 1 tbls garlic oil or olive oil in wok or large
frying pan- add 1 cup walnut pieces and cook until just darkened,
remove and set aside.
~Add to remaining oil in pan and cook until soft:
1 sweet onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
~Add 2 cups broccoli cut in bite size pieces and ½ cup of beef broth
~Cover and steam broccoli until just tender.
~Stir in walnuts, add soy sauce to taste