Showing posts with label sweet potato. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sweet potato. Show all posts

13.3.13

Spinach-Artichoke Dip With Sweet Potato Mayo

I grew up in a small industrial town in West Bengal, India, where, in the 80's  Mayo was a fancy ingredient to cook with. in fact as far as i remember the Mayo bottles did not make their appearance in the featured cupboards of our grocery store till the mid 90's. but that never stopped my mom from trying out the dishes using Mayonnaise which she used to bookmark from her collection of cookbooks and magazines. she simply made her own fresh mayo every time she needed it. and that was the only mayo that i knew of  while i was growing up. her mayo with boiled potato, eggs, mustard sauce, sugar, salt, pepper and a FULL cup of oil. MMM...mmm it was delicious and made her dishes, specially her macaroni so special... so.. even when the commercial Mayo started flooding the local stores, at home we stuck to her  recipe. it was that good. and i am sure you'll do the same once you have tasted it..

anyhow when i started cooking, to cut down on the calorie count, i substituted a thing or two and made my own mayo recipe. which is, if i may say so, as delicious. substituting potatoes with sweet potatoes  helped me cut down on the added sugar a bit, replacing eggs with Greek yogurt changed the taste but made it an eggless mayo which i could serve to my MIL and i heavily cut down on the oil for i thought 1 FULL CUP was way too much.... so that is how the Spinach-Artichoke dip with Sweet Potato Mayo came into being... We had it in our sandwich along with cucumbers and olives and it tasted darn good. Even Mr MN who has a thing against Artichokes said it was good. and believe me he is not one of those who are loose with their compliments.  so a dish really has to be good to score points with him... and this one did :)

since this was my first experience of cooking with artichokes, i found this pictorial tutorial of how to prepare artichoke hearts useful. the rest of the recipe was a mere simple adaption from this one. now over to the recipe...
Recipe Adapted from here.

ingredients
1 cup frozen chopped spinach, thawed
2 artichoke hearts, chopped
1/4 cup cream cheese
1 cup Parmesan Cheese
2 cloves of garlic, grated
homemade sweet potato mayonnaise

for the Sweet Potato Mayonnaise
1/2 cup boiled sweet potato
2 teaspoons mustard sauce
3 tablespoons Greek Yogurt
1/4 teaspoon of pepper
2 teaspoons of sugar
salt to taste
5 teaspoons olive  oil

what i did. 
  • i preheated  the oven to 375 degrees F.
  • then adding all the ingredients for the mayo, except olive oil, in the blender i pureed them. then  whipped the mixture while gradually adding the olive oil into it until it achieved a creamy consistency. that was my mayo.
  • i then combined the mayo with the rest of the ingredients and put the mixture to bake for 20-30 minutes.

now that the dip was ready, i diced my olives and cucumber...
sandwiched them between slices of home-baked peasant bread spread with the spinach artichoke dip, toasted the sandwich in the sandwich maker...
and served and relished every bite of the sandwich with our bowl of Minestrone.....
Sometimes the simplest recipes strike the note with you... don't you think  :)

Happy Cooking and Bon Appetite !!

Sending the second photograph to Colour Me Black , a photography challenge series at The Humpty Dumpty Kitchen
and sharing the recipe with...


Tuesday Food:
Hearth & Soul Blog Hop @ Premeditated Leftovers
Tempt my Tummy @Blessed with GraceTotally Tasty Tuesday @ Mandy's Recipe Box
Tasteful Tuesday Party @ Nap Time Creations 
Traditional Tuesdays @ Cooking Traditional Foods
Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays @ SS& GS
Show Me What You Got @ Our Delightful Home
Tasty Tuesday @ 33 Shades of Green
Tuesday Talent Show @ Chef in Training
Hand Made Tuesday @ Ladybug Blessings
Share it Link Party @ Winthrop Chronicles
Wednesday Food:
What's Cooking Wednesday @ Confessions of Overworked Mom
Wholesome Foods Wednesday @ This Chick Can Cook
Cast Party Wednesday @ Lady Behind the Curtain 
 Wednesday Whatsit @White Lights on Wednesday Fresh Foods Wednesdays @ Gastronomical Sovereignty
Show and Share @ Semi Homemade Mom
Wonderful Food Wednesdays at @ Home Take 2
Seasonal Celebration @ Natural Mother's Network
Wednesday Extravaganza @ Hunger Little Girl
Thursday Food:Link it Up Thursday @ Seven Alive
Creative Thursday @ Michelle's Tasty Creations
Fantastic Thursday @ Three Little Chiefs
Thriving on Thursdays @ Domesblissity
Tasty Thursdays @ The Mandatory Mooch
Friday Food:
Foodie Friday @ Home Maid Simple
Friday Favorite (DYI too) @ Simple Sweet Home
Foodie Friday @ Not Your Ordinary Recipes
Friday Favorite Finds @ Finding Joy in my Kitchen
Foodie Friday @ Rattlebridge Farm 
I Freakin' Did it Friday @ Miss Information
Friday Food Fight @ Run DMT
Weekend Wonders @ The Thriftiness Miss
Friday Food Frenzy @ Mostly Food and Crafts 
Weekend Potluck @ Sunflower Supper Club



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26.2.13

Homemade Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Creamy Red Pepper Sauce

Never in my life had i imagined that i would make gnocchi at home. but the introductory note in the book said that "homemade gnocchi is very simple" and is 'one of the first cooking projects that the author involved are kids in.' so i thought... o.k. lets give it a try. and yes. few hours later i realized this is that making gnocchi is indeed that easy... once you have got the hang of it.

Taste wise,  my sweet potato dumplings did not come out 'as light as clouds,'  as the book described them to be. clearly there was plenty of scope for  improvement of the texture of my gnocchi. but since  it was my first attempt we tried overlooking that and concentrated more on the  the creamy red pepper sauce that i tossed it in. the sauce was finger-licking delicious. and there was an immediate request for its inclusion in the next weeks menu.

since there was no green in the gnocchi and sauce, to add color to the plate i served it with baked kale chips. and the two paired pretty well. also, just for curiosity i tossed few dumplings in store-brought ragu... that too tasted good and according to Nishi the potato taste of the dumplings was somewhat more identifiable in the ragu tossed ones. however i liked the gnocchi tossed in red pepper sauce more. i could faintly taste the paneer in it and i really enjoyed that. now over to the recipe....
To make the Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Creamy Red Pepper Sauce, 

i used the following ingredients

homemade sweet potato gnocchi  (as prepared below)
the red pepper sauce (as prepared below)

for the garnish

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon 
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 tablespoon pine nuts

and proceeded as follows....

I boiled water in a large saucepan with a generous amount of salt, dropped about 10-12  gnocchi into the water at a time and cooked them until they returned to float on the surface of the boiling water. 2 to 3 minutes. i then removed them with a slotted spoon and tossed them immediately with the prepared sauce. then garnished it with ground cinnamon, nutmeg and pine nuts.


though i mentioned Lucinda's Rustic Kitchen in the beginning,  i adapted my recipe of gnocchi from Oh My Veggies. and for the sauce i used this recipe as a guideline. 

For the sweet potato gnocchi

the ingredients and what i did

2 1-pound red-skinned sweet potatoes, rinsed, patted dry, pierced all over with fork
1/4 cup homemade paneer
1/4 cup pureed tofu
1/2 c. shredded parmesan cheese
1 tsp. salt
a pinch of brown sugar
about 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour + more for rolling and shaping gnocchi

i preheated the oven to 425 degree F, speared the potatoes lightly with a fork in a few places and directly placed them on the oven rack and cooked until completely tender, about one hour. when cool to handle, i cut the potatoes open, scooped out the flesh and mashed it with my masher, then spread them out on a baking sheet and allowed them to cool completely. 

next in a bowl i blended the mashed potato with all the listed ingredients other than flour. then slowly blended in the flour into the mixture adding 2-3 tablespoons of flour at a time, until the dough pulled away from my hands and felt like pizza dough.

next i sprinkled some flour on a work surface,  separated the dough into several pieces and rolled each out into around 1 1/2 feet long ropes and using a knife cut each rope into 18 one inch pieces. 

up to this point i followed the instructions in the recipes.. but then they became confusing. the book said " To form the gnocchi, dip a fork in flour, then place the tines on top of a piece of dough. Applying medium pressure, gently roll the gnocchi toward you with the fork, releasing pressure gradually as you roll, until it is completely rolled off the tines. Repeat with each piece of dough, placing the gnocchi on a floured baking sheet as completed. The pieces should resemble tiny footballs with a cup in the center," and the recipe i was following said something similar. and though theseinstructions make complete sense now... that night they didn't. so i googled and this video came to my rescue. 

and viola !! using the tips from the video i got my first batch of gnocchi. yay !!
immediately afterwards, i spread the dumplings on a sheet of parchment paper, covered them loosely with a plastic sheet and froze them to use later.

For the red pepper sauce

the ingredients and what i did.

1 medium sized red pepper
1 medium sized onion
2 cloves of garlic, minces
1 medium sized potato, peeled and boiled
1/2 cup milk
2 tablespoon Greek yogurt
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoons + 6 teaspoons olive oil 
1 teaspoon capers
2 tablespoons dried parsley
3 tablespoons dried basil
salt to taste
black pepper to taste
sugar to taste

i preheated the oven to 425 degree F, then cut the red pepper and half of the onion in thin stripes and along the minced garlic and 1 tablespoon of olive oil, wrapped them in an aluminium foil and baked them for 15 minutes.

next i sliced the remaining onion into thin stripes and fried it in butter over medium heat until it was soft and light brown. then i added milk to this and when the milk started simmering i stirred in the mashed potato, baked red pepper-onion mixture and capers into it and heated it for about 5 minutes stirring occasionally. i then transferred the mixture into the blender and pureed it along with Greek yogurt,  salt, pepper, sugar, basil and parsley. then whipped the mixture while gradually adding the remaining olive oil into it until it achieved the creamy consistency that i wanted in my sauce.

so that is what i indulged in over the weekend... i certainly look forward to making more of this in the recent future... what about you? have you tried your hands at gnocchi... do you have any tips to share. do drop in a line... i'll love to hear....

Sending this to



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