Sweet Potato Chips - Take I

This is a recipe I found on Martha Stewarts website. You're probably thinking what I was: "If it's Martha's recipe, it's going to work." I guess Martha probably has a good oven that bakes evenly. I followed the recipe on the first batch. The second batch, I lowered the temperature to 350 for less time but no dice. They were either soft or they were burnt. There was no way to get them "crisp around the edges" like Martha said I would. Maybe working with a thinner sweet potato would solve the problem.. At any rate, I'm posting the original recipe and my modifications below in hopes that someone else might give this a try and post the results if they turn out. So good luck and let me know how it goes!

The Recipe

• 2 medium sweet potatoes scrubbed and sliced 1/8" thick
• Drizzle of extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon coarse sea salt
• Lime wedges for serving

Preheat oven to 400 degrees, with racks in center and lower positions. Divide sweet potatoes between 2 rimmed baking sheets. Drizzle with oil, toss, and spread them in a single layer on sheets. Bake, flipping once, until centers are soft and edges are crisp, 22 to 25 minutes. Sprinkle with salt, and serve with lime wedges.

Special Note: I took the skins off, but wonder if leaving them on would have made a difference. When it came time to tossing the slices in olive oil, I put them in a freezer bag, drizzled some olive oil into the bag and then sealed it up making sure there was lots of air inside. A little 'shake n' bake' action and voila! When serving sweet potatoes, sour cream goes really well and would make a great dipping sauce in this case.

Zuccanoes

This is a recipe that we found in the New Moosewood Cookbook by Mollie Katzen. We tried it simply because Zuccanoes (pronounced zoo-canoes) is a fun name and we liked saying it. To our delight, it ended up being delicious. Below is a copy of the recipe. I modified it slightly (reduced the amount of almonds, substituted olive oil for grape seed oil and used less salt) and I've written our version of the recipe below.

The Recipe

• 4 medium zucchinis
• 1-2 tbsp grape seed oil
• 1 1/2 c minced onion
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1/2 lb minced mushrooms
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1 1/2 c cooked basmati rice
• 1/3 c toasted almond slivers
• 3 tbsp fresh lemon juice
• Black pepper, dill and basil to taste
• 1 c grated old cheddar cheese

Cut the zucchinis in half lengthwise and carefully scoop out the insides with a spoon so that you are finished with hollow canoe-shaped halves. Mince the zucchini innards and set the shells/innards aside. In a frying pan, saute the onions and salt in the grape seed oil until the onions are soft (about 8 minutes). Add minced mushrooms and zucchini innards to the frying pan, turn up the heat and cook for a further 8 minutes or until the liquid evaporates. Stir in garlic and remove pan from heat. Stir in cooked rice, toasted almonds, spices and lemon juice. Line up zucchini shells on a cooking sheet or casserole dish and spoon mixture into each one. Top with shredded cheese. Bake in oven at 350 for 30-40 minutes. Enjoy!

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Critique

Critique to come.

Glazed Lemon Loaf

I was overjoyed to find that this recipe for lemon loaf from Better Homes and Gardens did not call for butter because we were out of butter and we were snowed in! Our kitchen was filled with the clean and refreshing scent of lemon zest for the rest of the afternoon and the loaf baked up rich and flavourful.

The Recipe

• 1 3/4 cup flour
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar*
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt*
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 cup milk
• 1/4 cup cooking oil*
• 2 tbsp lemon peel, finely grated
• 1 1/2 tbsp lemon juice

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. In a second bowl, combine the egg, milk, cooking oil, lemon peel and lemon juice. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and add the egg mixture all at once to the centre and stir until just combined. (It will still be a bit lumpy, but that's A-okay!) Pour the batter into a greased loaf pan and bake at 350 for 50-55 mins. You'll know it's done when you insert a toothpick into the centre of the loaf and it comes out clean. Pour or brush glaze over the loaf once it's had a chance to cool a bit. You can poke holes in the top of the loaf before you do this to ensure that the loaf has a chance to absorb some of the glaze.

The Glaze

• 3 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar or granulated sugar*
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tbsp lemon curd (optional)

In a sauce pan combine all ingredients and whisk together constantly over low heat until sugar dissolves into a thin glaze. For a stickier glaze, use granulated sugar and for a glaze that will harden, use powdered sugar. We used powdered sugar this time because we like the hardened glaze.

Special Note* You can substitute granulated sugar for raw cane sugar and use sea salt instead of regular salt to keep things au natural. We also used grape seed oil instead of other kinds of cooking oil because grape seed oil has a naturally high smoking point and can be used safely with temperatures up to 421F (making it great for sauteing, deep frying etc). It also contains antioxidants.

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Photo to Come.

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The Critique

Critique to Come.

Curry, Butternut Squash and Pear Soup

This recipe comes from the Food Network via a friend who took some artistic liberty and added curry which was not called for in the original recipe. Delish!

The Recipe

• 2tbsp butter
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 celery stalk, chopped
• 1 carrot, peeled and chopped
• 1 leek, white part only, chopped
• 1 large butternut squash, peeled and cubed
• 1 bartlett pear, peeled and cubed
• 6 cups chicken stock
• 2 bay leaves
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg (2ml)
• 1 heaping tsp curry powder
• salt and black pepper to taste

Heat the butter in a soup pot. Add onion, celery, carrot and leek and saute until they begin to caramelize. Add the squash, pear, stock, bay leaves, nutmeg and curry. Season with salt and pepper and bring to a simmer. Cook until the squash and pear are tender. Remove from heat and puree with a food processor or blender. Top with a dollop of sour cream.

Word of warning: This soup can stain. Wear an apron to protect your cloths and watch your oven mitts/pot holders when you're working with this soup. The first time I made it, I stained a good set of pot holders when the soup splashed as I was transferring it to my blender. The second time I made this soup, I used a hand mixer to puree the soup and I let the mixer sit for an hour before washing it. My mixer is now stained bright yellow.

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The Critique

By: Joe Puiras

Of all the soups Leslie's made this is one of the best. Not only is it full of flavour (squash, pear, onions, leeks) but it's also spiced very nicely with curry. Having it all blended together brings a medley of flavours with every spoonful. It's great when garnished with some sour cream. Extremely tasty!