Sweet Potato Pie

I got an absolutely massive sweet potato the other week, so what could I do but make a big pie out of it?

I've never attempted this Southern treat before, but I looked at a few recipes and concocted my own blend of all of them, and it turned out perfectly. I wouldn't change a teaspoon.

What you'll need for the filling:

2 cups sweet potato, mashed (can you believe that sweet potato in the picture gave me 3 cups?!?)
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup margarine or butter, melted
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. orange zest
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. nutmeg

I also used an immersion blender, so something that can puree potatoes is a must.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

I used the same crust recipe I did for the apple and pear tart.

I microwaved the sweet potato. My microwave has a potato setting that worked perfectly to make it soft. It was okay that it wasn't perfectly cooked to the degree I'd put butter on it and eat it, but you have to be able to mash it with a fork.

Then I took the (very hot!) potato out and took the peel off. I scooped two cups of the sweet potato into a bowl and mashed it around a bit with a fork.

Then I simply added the rest of the ingredients. Make sure the butter or margarine is melted or it won't blend well. Then when it was all incorporated in the bowl, I used an immersion blender to make the sweet potato smooth.

I poured the mix into the crust and put it in the oven for 15 minutes.

Then I turned the oven down to 350 and cooked it for another 35 minutes. It's done when a toothpick comes out cleanly from the center.

I brought it to a get-together at my boss' house, and he called it one of the best pies he's ever eaten. I have to agree. I like this pie loads more than pumpkin pie, though to be fair I've never had it not from a can. It was much more complex, and it was the perfect level of sweet. It still tasted like dessert, but it wasn't sickeningly sweet. A little whipped cream on top would put this pie over the top.

The Verdict on That Yeast

I tested out the yeast I used in my last pizza post to see how it would be after slow-rising in the fridge for 24 hours.

I took the dough out about a half hour before I needed to use it so it could come back to room temperature.

The dough was definitely harder to work with, and it shrunk back a bit with each tug I gave it (not a good sign).

I decided to do a more traditional pizza today, just tomato sauce, mozzarella and some basil leaves at the end.

The pizza itself looked fantastic.

The crust from the day prior had more crunch to it. This was more bready, but it had a deliciously gooey factor to it. My ideal pizza crust is very crispy on the bottom but gooey just under where the cheese is. I peeled off some cheese so you could see what I'm talking about.

I suspect if I had a legitimate pizza oven, or actually went out and got some unglazed tiles to bake on, that this might be damn close to my perfect pizza. 

What the F*ck is That? Mandarin Gold Nugget

I thought I'd start a new section of my blog, eloquently titled, "What the F*ck is That?"

In this section, I'll be eating a fruit or vegetable I see in the store that I have never seen or eaten before at all. This week at Safeway, I was drawn to this orange that looks like a little squash because of its ridges and dimples, the Mandarin Gold Nugget.

Its PLU is #4055 for those on the lookout, the gold nugget was made by the University of California Riverside and is seedless.

If you're a nerd, like me, and want to know all about the fruit, you can read about it here.

This is the easiest to peel orange of all time! It probably took me 10 seconds to do the whole thing.

The flavor is bright in the beginning, the same as a navel orange, but then it doesn't have that acidic, hyper-sweet finish. If you don't eat orange because of acid reflux or blood sugar issues, I think this fruit is definitely worth it! The pith was a little rough, so if you prefer smoother cased citrus, like clementines, you likely won't enjoy the texture of this orange. This also isn't the juiciest orange I've ever had, but it's a good mix of moist but not messy.

Essentially, this might be the perfect eat-at-your-desk orange. Not messy, easy to peel and still tasty. 

Shrimp and Arugula Pizza

This blog is a bit of a vegetable cop out. If I were on "Chopped," I'd be kicked off for not transforming the ingredient. But my full, happy stomach does not care.

In my last vegetable shipment, I got a bunch of loose arugula, roots still on. I thought for a while about making an arugula pesto, but then I watched an episode of "Good Eats," by Alton Brown, and I caught the pizza making bug.

I actually taught a pizza making class a few years back. Am I a perfect pizza maker? No. I think nearly everyone who becomes obsessed with making the perfect pizza crust is in for a life-long struggle to compete with some unattainable pizza they once had. For me, it was when my family visited New York one summer, sometime before September 11. I will never know the name of this pizza place, and I suspect it no longer exists, because it was very close to where Ground Zero would eventually be.

My favorite pizza that I can recall is Maruca's in Seaside, New Jersey. My grandparents deemed this pizza their favorite two generations ago, and me and my family still agree. I'm a family-oriented person, and I like seeing thoughts and ideas pass on from generation to generation. I recently told my dad that I preferred Bosc pears, and he said his grandfather, who he called Papa, also liked them best. I'd like to think that all things in life are a little bit like that: That we're all just carrying on small pieces of everyone who came before us without knowing it.

Anyhow, this recipe is just a small step forward in my endless quest for pizza perfection. What you'll need:

Crust:
2 cups bread flour
1 packet of Fleischmann's pizza dough yeast (I found it at a Harris Teeter)
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 cup warm to hot water

Sauce:
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons flour
milk
onion powder
garlic powder
dried parsley

Toppings:
shrimp
arugula, washed and stemmed
mozzarella cheese
feta cheese
Romano cheese
oregano
finishing olive oil

Preheat your oven to 475 degrees.

I made the sauce first so it would be ready when the crust was. I put the olive oil and flour (I used regular all-purpose) in a pan on medium heat and whisked them together until they made a roux.

Then I turned the heat up a touch and added milk. As you keep whisking, the milk will thicken and make an alfredo-like sauce, called a bechamel. I'm not sure it's a true bechamel, since it typically is made with butter instead of oil, but I think that sounds more Italian than French anyway. Plus, it's healthier for you.

I added a good amount of garlic, onion and parsley, but this is all really to taste. Measure it out how you want. Then I turned the heat off and went onto make my dough.

Alton Brown had me obsessed with trying bread flour instead of all-purpose for the crust, and that man was right. If you want a more Neapolitan style pizza, you can buy 00 flour from Whole Foods. But if you like a more New York style pizza, which I do, this is the flour. He recommended even getting bread flour for a bread machine, if you can find it.

He also sent me in search of a different yeast. Sadly, I didn't find what I was looking for, but I did find this Fleischmann's packet of pizza yeast that lets you cook instantly.

I assure you, this is CRAZY. In my mind, pizza takes 24 hours. I typically make a one-hour pizza dough, because when I want pizza, I want it now! But I was pretty happy with how this packet turned out, so when I'm in a pinch, I think I'll use this as a backup option.

Another crazy thing about this yeast: You do not need to temper it with warm water before using it. Typically, you need to mix warm water and yeast in a measuring cup for about five minutes, until foamy, to activate it. But this stuff you just dump right into a mix.

So I put all the crust ingredients in a bowl and mixed them for about three minutes with a fork. Then I took my rings off and switched to my hands. I probably kneaded for another 10 minutes at this point. Think of kneading like endlessly folding over the sleeves of a shirt. Just take half of the dough and fold it on top of itself in alternating directions.

This crust recipe makes two pizzas, so I cut the dough in half and put the other half in a plastic bag sprayed with olive oil. This can keep for about 5 days. I'm interested to try cooking with this other half of the dough to see if the yeast is better yet after being able to slow rise in the fridge for a day.

Then I gently punched the dough out into a small circle. If you cannot toss a pizza, simply pass it back and forth from hand to hand and then, with the dough on a floured countertop, gently tug out the edges of the dough evenly on all sides. You want to ensure a thin middle crust but a thicker outer edge so it forms a crust.

See-through dough, like I ended up with, is fine. Don't worry about it. Just try to make it fairly even.

Once that was done, I sprayed my favorite pizza pan (I hate my pizza stone) and put the dough on top. It wasn't a perfect circle, but I made it pretty close, so it worked out.

Then I went back to the sauce, turning the heat back on for a second just to loosen it back up. Then I spooned the mix and spread it around the crust.

Then I added a small amount of feta cheese, followed by a larger amount of mozzarella to fill out the crust. I had some leftover shrimp in my fridge I had to use, so I chopped it up and put it on top.

I like putting some nice, finishing olive oil in a spiral on top of my pizzas. It doesn't make them greasy. Just imparts a ton of flavor.

Then I put the pizza in a 475 degree oven for 10 minutes. Yes, my oversensitive smoke detectors went off. I suppose that's what happens when you have two in a 600-square-foot apartment...

While in the oven, I washed and stemmed the arugula, patting it dry with paper towels so it wouldn't be soggy.

Ten minutes was perfect. I took it out of the oven and let it sit for about five minutes. I put the arugula all over the top and shredded the Romano on top. I then sprinkled it with some oregano.

This pizza was amazing. I was beyond happy with the bread crust, and I couldn't detect any weird texture, smell or taste from the super-instant yeast. I will try this recipe again! And again, and again, and again. 

Baked Sweet Potato Fries

In my latest grocery shipment, I got about five or six sweet potatoes — one of my absolute all-time favorite vegetables. They're simply one of the most naturally, but not overpoweringly, sweet and healthy things you can eat.

One of the things I don't like about them, and all potatoes, though is that it takes forever to cook them. To cut down on the cooking time while also attempting to still make a somewhat healthy side dish, I decided to try baked sweet potato fries.

Since I baked them, they did not end up having the crunch of a deep-fried fry, but it was still a great way to eat a sweet potato in under 30 minutes from prep to table.

What you'll need to make one serving:

1 medium sweet potato
1/4 cup canola oil
1 tsp. kosher salt
1 tsp. cayenne pepper
1 tbsp. brown sugar

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees.

Skin the sweet potato and cut into long, thin strips. I accomplished this by halving the sweet potato lengthwise. Then I halved each half, but with cuts parallel to the first. So I had four equally thick slices of potato. Then I took those flat pieces and cut them uniformly.

It's sad to say, but at this point if you have any small and strangely shaped pieces, they will most definitely burn in the oven. They are worth throwing out or perhaps cooking for half the time with a VERY keen eye on them. I became extremely adept at running over to my very oversensitive smoke detectors during making these potatoes.

Then I coated a cookie sheet with canola oil. Feel free to put parchment paper on the baking sheet so it's easier to clean. I added the strip of sweet potato and sprinkled the salt, cayenne and sugar evenly over the top. Then I mixed the whole batch around with my hands, making the oil and spice mix more even.

The cayenne does, of course, add some kick to the potatoes, but it was really well balanced with the sugar. Unless you're extremely sensitive to heat, I think you'll like this addition to this recipe.

My plan was to cook the potatoes for 15 minutes, turn them over and cook them again for 15 more. Thanks to my lovely smoke detector, I managed 15 minutes on one side and only 10 on the other. But the results were perfectly fine, a little darker where the slices were thinner, but not really burnt. I tend to like my food really crispy and only think toast is burnt when it's black. If you don't like that kind of texture to your food, I'd recommend cutting the ends of the fries so they're blunt.

I put the fries on a paper towel for a little bit before serving so the oil wouldn't get soaked up by the fries.

Though I longed a little for the crispier texture you get from deep-fried restaurant sweet potato fries, they still were delicious. I'm mostly overjoyed to have a new way of cooking sweet potatoes that takes 25-30 minutes.

Sweet potato fries with my portobello burger recipe from last month. 

Brussels Sprouts in Apricot Jam

My dad is a great cook. Between both of my parents, it's a miracle I don't weigh 300 pounds, because between the two of them, I'm pretty sure they can cook or bake anything. My mother does 100 percent of the baking duties, and growing up I'd eat a lot of very hearty, very American meals, usually a meat, a starch and a few vegetables. My father is about half Italian, and inherited that style of cooking, which he's also passed onto my mother. 

In a change of what I consider their typical kitchen roles, my dad set about to make pork roast, sweet potatoes, cranberry and apple stuffing, and some roasted Brussels sprouts serving as our green for dinner. 

While a lot of people don't like the bitterness of Brussels sprouts, I love them. They were even one of my favorite vegetables as a kid, and somehow I forgot about them for about 10 years until one day my roommate was cooking some. I tried one again and thought, "What have I been doing denying myself these delicious greens for so long?"

To balance some of that bitter, my dad decided to experiment and add some apricot fruit spread to the Brussels sprouts. Here is the ingredients list:

butter

Brussels sprouts

apricot jam

Very short, right? First my dad washed and halved the Brussels sprouts. 

He then added I'd estimate about three tablespoons of butter to a pan and turned the heat on. 

Once the butter was melted, he added the Brussels sprouts and cooked them until they were browned a bit on the outside and soft in the middle.

In a separate sauce pan, he put about a cup of apricot jam and heated it so it was warm and more fluid.

Here is where I think both he and I would recommend you diverge from how he actually cooked them. My dad added the heated apricot to the Brussels sprouts. It turns out when you do that, the Brussels sprouts absorb a lot of the jam and get a little soggy.

If we were to do it over, I think we'd plate the Brussels sprouts and drizzle the apricot over it, not using the entire mixture. Also, if one of my sisters was not a vegetarian, I'd like to see what this would taste like with bacon it. Bacon with Brussels sprouts is a very easy way to get anyone to find them more palatable. Perhaps I'd also add some ginger to the apricot jam.

Anyhow, the dish turned out having good flavor but was a touch soggy. This is a recipe for the drawing boards, but the entire meal turned out deliciously. My dad's pork was fantastic, as was the sweet potato. My mother, who has a bigger sweet tooth than I do, really liked the cranberry apple stuffing. I liked it, but in a smaller portion. 

Perhaps one day I'll expound on this recipe and give it another go! I'll see my family again in 10 weeks, so we'll see if I've got it nailed by then. 

Orange Honey Bread

I spent the weekend in Florida with my mom, dad and two sisters, and thought it'd be fun to have a guest blog or two, since basically everybody in my family cooks. 

My sister is very into healthy eating, and especially healthy baking. I can't remember the exact number she's lost, but I think it's around 20 pounds through tracking what she eats and balancing her intake with exercise. The point is, she still eats what she wants, just not as much of it, so you can totally bake your heart out as long as you're smart about it.

Here's what you'll need to make Michelle's orange honey bread:

2 tbsp. Smart Balance Buttery Spread (or substitute butter)

1 cup honey

2 egg whites from large eggs

2 tsp. orange zest

2 cups white flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour (you can add another 1/2 cup of white flour if you don't have whole wheat)

2 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

6 fluid oz. fresh squeezed orange juice (you can get both this and the orange zest from about 2 oranges)

1/8 tsp. vanilla extract

1/16 tsp. lemon extract

Preheat the oven to 325 and grease and flour a bread tin. The one we used was 9 inches. 

Cut your oranges in half and juice, making sure if it has seeds they do not get in the fluid. It's okay if the pulp does. 

Then take what's left of the orange and grate the peel to get 2 tsps. of zest. 

Add the butter to a mixing bowl, add honey and blend until smooth. 

In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until foamy but not stiff, about 2 minutes. This will make your bread lighter and fluffier. Add the orange zest to the egg whites and blend. Add the orange juice, vanilla extract and lemon extract to the egg white mix.

In a separate bowl, sift all dry ingredients together: white flour, whole wheat flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. 

Alternating as you go, mix the dry ingredients bowl and the egg mixture into the honey and butter mix until all ingredients are fully blended. 

You may have to scrape the underside of the bowl to make sure all flour is blended in. 

Blended and tasting good!

Then place mixture into the bread tin. This bread bakes at a pretty low temperature, 325, because the honey would otherwise burn, so be careful if your oven tends to run high. Michelle baked the cake for 60 minutes, when a toothpick came out cleanly. 

The result was a very moist, summery cake. And for a person, like myself, who prefers the flavor of white flour, the 1/2 cup whole wheat flour taste was barely there, completely overtaken by the blend of orange and honey. I really liked using this bread as a breakfast bread, toasting it and putting melted butter on top. 

If you cut the bread into 12 slices, it's 204 calories per slice, with only 1.8 grams of fat, 25 grams of sugar, and 8 mg of Vitamin C.