Ginger Sweet Potato Pie

We're on the dessert task force for tomorrow's Thanksgiving celebration, and we need something sweet for Friday's Vegetarian Thanksgiving, AND I needed something for today's ESL potluck. What to make? Sweet Potato Pie! We realized that we'd been hoarding CSA sweet potatoes for weeks and had just enough to make three pies.

This being our first attempt at a sweet potato pie, we needed to reference an expert. We found an Alton Brown recipe and used it as a skeleton, adding our own flavors and unique techniques to make it our own.

Darcy served the first of the three today at school, and her awesomely fantastic (and sweet) students ate it up! Each of them reacted well, which was a true compliment, given their diverse backgrounds and palettes. They even took extras home for their moms, so that they too could experience this Southern iconic dessert for the first time.

Here's what we did to make three pies:
Ingredients:
Filling:
roughly 3.5-4 lbs. of sweet potatoes
One 12 oz can of evaporated milk
3 cups of homemade yogurt (or store bought))
15 egg yolks
2.25 cups dark brown sugar, packed
1.5 tsp. cinnamon
3/4 tsp. nutmeg
2 tsp. freshly grated ginger (or more or less to your liking...you can eliminate this if you don't like ginger)
Topping:
3-5 Tbs. maple syrup (depending on your preferences)
3 cups of crushed pecans
3-5 Tbs. brown sugar

Crust:

3 pre-made 9-inch pie crusts (Willy  Street Co-op sells excellent local crusts)...or try our recipe 

Instructions:
1. Drizzle olive oil on cookie sheet or roasting pan. Cut sweet potatoes in half, lengthwise. Sprinkle each sweet potato with a pinch of sugar. Place sugar side down onto the cookie sheet.

• The key to a perfectly roasted sweet potato is NOT to pre-heat the oven. 
• Start roasting sweet potatoes in a cold oven. This will caramelize and accentuate the sugars, making for sweeter sweet potatoes.  
• We added the sugar on the bottom of the sweet potatoes. The tubers gladly accepted this addition and tasted ... How do you say?... Delicious! 

2. Roast at 375ish until potatoes are fork tender (depending on the size, anywhere from 30-50 minutes).
3. Remove from oven. Once potatoes are cool, remove skins. We found this was easily done by pinching the potatoes with our fingers. The flesh oozed out, leaving the skins behind.
4. Mash the sweet potatoes well.
5. Blend in the yogurt and evaporated milk, the dark sugar, the spices, the ginger, and the egg yolks.
6. Pour into crusts.
7. Sprinkle pecans on pies. Then, sprinkle brown sugar on the pecans. And finally drizzle with the maple syrup...yum! You can use as much or as little as you want for each of these. Personally, we go ALL OUT here. It is already fattening, why not?
8. Bake in a pre-heated oven - 350 degrees - for 50-55 minutes. Ours baked significantly longer (nearly 90 minutes) due to baking three at a time. Good indicators that your pies are ready are that the pies are solid, don't jiggle, and when a knife is inserted into the center, it comes out 90%-100% clean.
9. Cool and then refrigerate.
10. Whip up some organic, locally-produced, humanely-received (be kind to the four-legged creatures, especially on the holidays!) heavy cream to top off each slice of goodness.

ENJOY! Feed back is encouraged and appreciated!

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

Cranberry Relish, Spiked, and with a Kick!

      Saturday evening, we enjoyed a wonderful dinner of mushroom cobbler and cranberry-jalapeno relish. The relish tasted traditional enough to warrant a place at the Thanksgiving table and unique/fun enough for me to share the recipe online and with friends who have a similar palette.
      We didn't need to buy any ingredients except for the cranberries (which are in season in Wisconsin!) because we had oranges  leftover from last week's CSA fruit share, and we have jalapenos  remaining from earlier this season.  ...and there's always tequila in the house!

 Cranberry-Jalapeno Relish
Ingredients:
1 pint of cranberries
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and diced
the zest of one orange (or less to your liking)
2 Tbs. of good tequila
1/2 cup sugar
juice of one orange

Instructions:
1. Combine the berries, the orange zest, the orange juice (should be 1/2 cup; if not, add water to juice to equal 1/2 cup), tequila, and sugar in a sauce pan. Bring to a boil. 

2. When the berries start popping, add the chopped jalapeno. Boil for five more minutes, stirring. Add water if  your sauce seems too thick.

3. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Be sure to stir occasionally as it cools.
4. Chill if desired.

This recipe is adapted from The New Vegetarian Epicure. Anna Thomas (author) recommends serving this alongside tamales, crepes, or any other richly-flavored dish. Of course, as I mentioned above, you could also let the family try it at Thanksgiving!
Our cats enjoyed our evening of food, wine, and music too. Benson loves cooking night:

Thanksgiving, Day Two: A Vegetarian Feast

We spend the day after Thanksgiving with my parents, the Lapps. It has become our tradition to make a modified version of Vegetarian Times' holiday menu of the year. This year, the theme was Soul Celebration, which featured: Butternut Squash-Bartlett Pear Soup; Citrus Collards with Raisins; Smothered Seitan Medallions in Mixed Mushroom Gravy, Cumin-Cayenne Mashed Potatoes with Caramelized Onions, and our personal addition: squash pie with freshly-whipped heavy cream. Vegetarian Times' menu also included Carrot-Cranberry Salad and a Chocolate-Pecan Pie, but we opted to skip those.

We began the day by making the mushroom broth needed for the gravy. The recipe made way more than we needed, so we now have lots of broth frozen for future use. Quite yummy! Even all alone.

'Shroom Stock (makes six cups)
1 Tbs. olive oil
1 lb. button mushrooms, thinly sliced
1 lb. portobello mushrooms, thinly sliced
4 celery ribs, thinly sliced
1 large onion, diced (including skin)
1 large carrot, thinly sliced
2 oz. dried-shitake mushrooms
6 cloves garlic, unpeeled (I think we used more!)
2 bay leaves
3 sprigs thyme (still picking from the herb garden...amazing!)
1/2 ts. coarse sea salt
1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper

Saute all ingredients in pot for 5 minutes. Add 9 cups of water; simmer 1 hour. Strain.

PER 1-CUP SERVINGS: 30 CAL, 0 G PROT; 2 G TOTAL FAT; 2 G CARB; 0 MG CHOL; 184 MG SOD; 1 G SUGARS

Next, we made the Butternut-Squash Bartlett Pear Soup. We've made plenty of different squash/pear soup combinations in the past, but this is the first one which called for coconut milk. We felt a bit guilty buying a product that is so obviously not local, but we decided to indulge on such a product anyway. The coconut milk added a nice creamy texture and sweet flavor to the soup that we haven't had in our other recipes.

We had so much of this that we were able to get through the whole next week of work with this soup as our lunch.

Butternut Squash-Bartlett Pear Soup (makes six cups)
3 Tbs. olive oil
2 medium leeks, white and tender green parts finally chopped (3 cups) ~ from our box!
1 small butternut squash, peeled, cored, and cut into 1-inch pieces (2 lbs) ~ from our freezer!
3 Bartlett pears, peeled, cored, and cut into 1-inch pieces (1 1/2 lb) ~ from our box!
5 cups low-sodium vegetable broth ~ from our freezer!
1 14-oz can light coconut milk ~ eeks! from the Caribbean!
1 tsp. chopped fresh thyme ~ from our garden!
Pumpkin seeds for garnish, optional ~ we didn't do this!


1. Heat oil in saucepan over medium-low heat. Add leeks, and cook 10 minutes, or until soft. Stir often.
2. Add squash and pears, and saute 5 minutes. Stir in vegetable broth, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, and add salt, if desired. Simmer 20 minutes, or until squash if fork-tender. (We didn't add our squash here because we used pureed squash from our freezer; you'd only add it here if you were using fresh squash.)
3. Remove from heat, and stir in coconut milk (this is where we added our squash). Puree soup in batches in blender or food processor. Blend until smooth. Return soup to saucepan, and stir in thyme. Reheat over medium-low heat 2 to 3 minutes, or until warmed through. Season with salt and white pepper, if desired. Serve with pumpkin seeds, if using.

PER 1 CUP SERVINGS: 264 CAL; 3 G PROTEIN; 13 G TOTAL FAT (5 G SAT. FAT); 37 G CARB; 0 MG CHOL; 138 MG SOD; 8 G FIBER; 15 G SUGAR

While Andy got the soup finished, I began the Mixed Mushroom Gravy.

Mixed Mushroom Gravy (makes 2 cups)
2 Tbs. olive oil
1/4 lb. button mushrooms
1/4 b. baby bella mushrooms
2 Tbs. all-purpose flour
1 cup unflavored rice milk (we used cow's milk)
1 cup 'Shroom Stock (made earlier)
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. white pepper (we used black pepper)
1. Heat 1 Tbs. olive oil in saucepan over medium heat. Add all mushrooms, and saute for 5 minutes. Stir in flour and remaining 1 Tbs. oil. Reduce heat to low, and cook 10 minutes, or until flour begins to brown, whisking constantly.
2. Whisk in milk, 'Shroom Stock, salt, and pepper. Simmer 15 minutes, or until thickened, whisking often.

PER 1/3 CUP SERVINGS: 77 CAL; <1>

Once finished with the gravy, I began the Smothered Seitan Medallions in Mixed Mushroom Gravy.

Smothered Seiten Medallions in Mixed Mushroom Gravy (inspired by smothered pork chops) ~ makes 9 cups

1 lb. seitan, cut into medallions
5 Tbs. arrowroot powder
1 cup pus 2 Tbs. olive oil, divided
1 large onion ~ from our box!
5 cloves of garlic
2 cups Mixed Mushroom Gravy (made earlier)
2 cups 'Shroom Stock (made earlier)
1 cup finely chopped green cabbage ~ from our box!
2 jalapeno chiles, minced
1/4 cup thinly sliced green onions
2 Tbs. chopped parsley ~ from our herb garden!

1. Coat seiten pieces with arrowroot.
2. Heat 1/2 cup oil in skillet over medium-high heat. Fry half of seitan in oil 3 minutes per side. Transfer to paper-towel-lined plate. Discard oil, wipe out skillet, and repeat with 1/2 cup oil and remaining seiten. Discard.
3. Add remaining 2 Tbs. oil and onion in hot skillet. Increase heat to high, and saute 3 minutes. Reduce heat to medium, and saute 3 minutes. Stir in Mixed Mushroom Gravy, 'Shroom Stock, and seiten. Cover, and simmer 30 minutes. Add cabbage, and cook 3 minutes. Stir in jalapenos, green onions, and parsley.

PER 1. 5 CUP SERVINGS: 287 CAL; 22 G PROTEIN; 13 G TOTAL FAT (2 G SAT. FAT); 21 G CARB; 0 MG CHOL; 302 MG SOD; 2 G FIBER; 5 G SUGAR

Next on the agenda was to get the potatoes ready! These potatoes were truly magnificent! I imagine that I will whip these up again, with or without the gravy. These would go perfectly with a piece of Willy Street Co-op's Southern Fried Tofu, or for you omnivores out there, I would guess that these potatoes would go well with any type of meat.

Cumin-Cayenne Mashed Potatoes with Caramelized Onions (makes 4.5 cups)
2 lb Potatoes, peeled and cubed ~ from our garden!
1 large onion ~ from our box!
5 Tbs. olive oil
2 Tbs. ground cumin
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/2 cup unflavored rice milk (we used cow's milk)
2 Tbs. thyme ~ from our herb garden
1. Boil potatoes in enough water to cover 25 minutes, or until soft.
2. Meanwhile, saute onion, oil, cumin, salt, and cayenne in skillet over low heat 30 minutes, or until browned. Stir in rice milk and thyme.
3. Drain potatoes, and mash. Whisk onion mixture into potatoes. Season with salt and pepper, if desired.

PER 3/4 CUP SERVINGS: 277 CAL; 4 G PROTEIN; 12 G TOTAL FAT (2 G SAT. FAT); 40 G CARB; 0 MG CHOL; 213 MG SOD; 4 G FIBER; 4 G SUGAR

Right before serving up dinner, we made the personal highlight for my taste buds ~ Citrus Collards with Raisins! Even writing this right now, my mouth is watering! This dish was perfectly sweet, bitter, and citrusy. The raisins added a nice texture, and the orange juice lightened up the taste of the greens. This is a keeper!

Citrus Collards with Raisins (makes 3 cups)
1 1/2 lb collard greens, tough stems trimmed
1 Tbs. olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
2/3 cup raisins
1/2 tsp. salt
1/3 cup freshly squeezed orange juice ~ oranges from our fruit box!

1. Stack several collard greens atop one another, and roll into a tight cylinder. Slice crosswise into strips.
2. Cooks greens in a large pot of boiling, salted water 8 to 10 minutes, or until softened. Drain, and plunge into large bowl of cold water to stop cooking.
3. Heat oil in large skillet over medium heat. Add garlic, and saute 1 minute. Add drained collards, raisins, and salt, and saute 3 minutes. Stir in orange juice, and cook 15 seconds more. Season with salt and pepper, if desired.

PER 1/2 CUP SERVINGS: 105 CAL; 3 G PROTEIN; 3 G TOTAL FAT (LESS THAN 1 G SAT FAT); 21 G CARB; O MG CHOL; 65 MG SOD; 3 G FIBER; 12 G SUGAR

Getting all of this on the table at the same time was a trick and was not successfully done! We haven't cooked this many dishes at once for quite a while, and we underestimated the time it would take to make the seiten medallions. Luckily, my parents are very flexible. We ended up having the soup early to tide us over. Hours later, we had the rest of dinner. We paired this all with a nice, robust, and fruity Zinfandel.

We ended the feast with homemade squash pie. Earlier this year, we pureed and froze several bags of squash. Our Thanksgiving would have been much more stressful had it not been for those bags of orange goodness waiting for us in the freezer. Our pies were among the easiest of the dishes for this party because of that advance preparation. The addition of freshly whipped cream was splendid!

Squash Pie
3 cups roasted, pureed squash
1 c sugar
1.5 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. ground cloves
1 tsp. ground allspice
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. salt, optional
4 large eggs
1.5 cans of evaporated milk

1. Strain the squash puree to rid excess water. This can be done the night before; it should typically strain for four hours or more.
2. Once the squash is strained, mix all ingredients together and put into a pie crust. We got a yummy "from scratch" pre-made pie crust from the Willy Street Co-op.
3. Bake at 425 F for the first 15 minutes, then turn the temperature down to 350 F and bake another 45 to 60 minutes, until a clean knife inserted into the center comes out clean.
4. Whip up some heavy whipping cream, sweetened with sugar and vanilla, and garnish pie! Yum!