While looking on one of my favorite websites, (http://www.contestcook.com/), I come across a contest sponsored by the North Carolina Sweet Potatoes Commission (http://ncsweetpotatoes.com/). It's called the Sweet n' Healthy Blogger contest. Make a dish, post a recipe and write a blog about Sweet Potatoes. Yeah, I thought, what's more fun than playing in the kitchen using Sweet Potatoes to create a new dish, write about all the different ways I could use Sweet potatoes, post a recipe I created and see if people would like what I made.
So Let's talk about Sweet Potatoes, Because they are as the sponsor claims "Sassy and Sweet" and I will have them talking on the streets with one of my recipes! The gears start to turn in my head and the thoughts of what I should do in creating a dish with Sweet Potatoes as a key ingredient. Ok, lets read through the rules and see what I need to do to get into this contest.
The categories are 1,Kid-friendly; 2,Vegetarian; 3,Sugar Free. Lots of things come to my mind as far as what I can come up with in any of these categories. Main dishes,side dishes,desserts, But lets try to use what the Sweet Potato brings naturally. No sugar needed because it brings it's own sweetness. So that's what my recipe is going to be based on. The challenge to create a dish that requires no sugar to sweeten the ingredient.
I went out and bought ten pounds of Sweet Potatoes. I sat and looked at them for a while, smelled them to see if there was something that would help me with ideas. I peeled some, boiled them, mashed them, roasted them, added butter, salt, tasted them every way. I was obsessed with Sweet Potatoes for days.....I threw all kinds of spices at them and tried cooking them in different styles of cultural cooking and decided it has to be a mix of everything I have in my culinary bag of tricks. So take a little from my Asian Heritage, some caribbean flavors from a Cuban friend, borrowing some Italian ideas from a recipe I was working on, I went back to playing in the kitchen.
Ok,here is my creation for the Sugar Free Category. The dish takes on a caribbean flavor of spices that explodes to teases your taste buds into questioning, that was Sweet Potatoes?
Recipe: Caribbean Sweet Potatoes and Meatballs with Broccoli
Ingredients:
Sweet Potatoes:
4 large Sweet Potatoes(peeled and Julienne length wise).
4 teaspoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil.
4 teaspoons soy sauce.
1/2 cup water.
1 teaspoon five spice powder.
1 teaspoon ginger (minced).
1 teaspoon onions (minced).
1 teaspoon garlic (minced).
1 teaspoon parsley (minced).
1 teaspoon ground black pepper.
1 teaspoon ground red pepper.
Meatballs:
1 lb ground chuck (make 16 meatballs).
2 teaspoons EV Olive Oil.
1 teaspoon ginger (minced).
1 teaspoon garlic (minced).
1 teaspoon onion (minced).
1 teaspoon oregano (minced).
1 teaspoon ground black pepper.
1 teaspoon salt.
Broccoli:
1 1b broccoli crowns (separated into florets).
2 teaspoons EV Olive Oil.
2 teaspoons soy sauce.
1/2 cup water.
1 teaspoon basil (minced).
1 teaspoon garlic (minced).
1 teaspoon ground black pepper.
1 teaspoon salt.
Directions:
Sweet Potatoes:
In a Wok pour the EV Olive Oil, Five spice powder, ginger, garlic, onions, on high heat for a minute to let the spices infuse the oil.
Put the Julienne Sweet Potatoes in and stir gently to mix with the oil.
Add the soy sauce, water, ground black pepper, ground red pepper and gently stir to coat the Sweet Potatoes,reduce heat to medium.
Cover and cook for ten minutes, remove the cover and simmer on low to reduce the moisture,stirring/toss gently to coat the Sweet Potatoes which now have a noodle like consistency.
Divide evenly onto four plates set aside until ready to serve.
Meatballs:
In a mixing bowl add ground chuck, ginger, garlic, onion, oregano, ground black pepper, salt, and mix together.
Divide into sixteen even portions and shape into meatballs.
In a large skillet put EV Olive Oil on medium heat for a minute, then add all the meatballs in and cook for ten minutes, rolling them around to not burn them.
Place four on each plate with the Sweet Potatoes.
Broccoli:
In a Wok put EVOlive Oil, garlic, basil,ground black pepper, on high for a minute.
Place the Broccoli florets into the wok,add the soy sauce, water,salt and reduce heat to medium.
Stir the broccoli to coat with the sauce and cover and cook for five minutes.
Remove cover and stir the broccoli and let simmer for a 2 minutes on low heat to reduce the sauce.
Toss/stir the broccoli and place on the plates.
Garnish and serve. Enjoy!
I did invite a few people to taste this dish. To their surprise, it was not what they expected to have tasted from the appearance of the dish! They expressed thoughts of something that looked like pasta with textures and flavors that made them think of savory spicy that finished with a subtle sweetness. I was pleased with what I was hearing and seeing the smiles that this dish brought. I hope that everyone will try this recipe and see if you like it. One more note, the kids will love it too...well maybe not the broccoli! LOL!
The menu is simple,meat...well I have a few easy sides to go with meat! First a starch that goes well is rice. I'm going to make a spicy risotto...easy! Need something with some flavors thats on the vegetables side of things....Sauteed sweet onions and mushrooms are good with the Beef Brisket!
