Sweet Potato Pecan Hash

As we creep further into October and the weather starts to cool, I start to crave not only eating but cooking heartier foods. Stews, roasts, casseroles, and root vegetables. As much as I like pumpkin pie and butternut squash soup, sometimes I want a good side that makes me think of fall. This hash fits the bill, and it's a double duty recipe because I also love it for breakfast, with some eggs and some thin pan fried pork chops.

It's just a few simple ingredients, but they are all so flavorful and blend so well together, and it's satisfying in a way that regular potatoes (which I LOVE, don't get me wrong) aren't always able to be. They're just heartier, somehow.

I start with a few good sized sweet potatoes, peeled, rinsed, and cut into 1-inch size chunks. They don't have to be perfect or uniform. Rustic is fine for hash.

I par-boil the sweet potatoes until they are a bit soft, but still hold their shape. While those are working, I start the pecans toasting.

Onions, garlic, and sage are next. I like them nice and soft and caramelized in yummy butter and olive oil.

K checks my onion chopping skills

I check on my little sous chefs...

D is annoyed he's not already eating

K is drawing, he stayed home sick and has been taking it easy today

Now that the potatoes are par-cooked, I drain and add to the onion mixture.

I also like to add a little fresh nutmeg here, and then chop the nuts and fold them in.

And it's as simple as that! I stir to combine all the flavors, add another pat of butter to bring it all together, let it simmer for a few minutes, and top with some chopped sage.

My sues chef approves!

Sweet Potato Pecan Hash
2-3 large sweet potatoes, around 3 pounds
1 large red onion
3-4 cloves of garlic
3/4 cup pecans
5 TB butter, divided
2 TB olive oil
small bunch of fresh sage
freshly grated nutmeg
salt and pepper

Preparation
Peel and rinse the sweet potatoes. Chop into 1 inch large chunks. Put in a heavy bottomed skillet and cover with water. Bring to a boil and par-boil until they just start to get tender, about 10 minutes. Drain and set aside.

While the potatoes are boiling, toast the pecans in a dry skillet or cast iron pan, on low. Give the pan a shake every few minutes. Toast 8-10 minutes, until you just start to smell them. Keep a close eye on them, once they start to toast they will burn quickly. Pull off the heat and set aside to cool.

Melt 4 TB  butter and 2 TB olive oil in a large heavy bottomed skillet (I prefer cast iron). Chop red onion and garlic and add to the skillet. Add in about 3/4 of a small bunch of sage, 8-10 leaves, finely chopped. Saute until soft and translucent, about 8-10 minutes. Add in the cooked sweet potato, fold to combine. Add freshly grated nutmeg to taste (if you don't have fresh nutmeg, pre-grated is fine, about 1/4 teaspoon). Roughly chop the pecans and fold in. Add the last pat of butter and stir to combine, cooking until all the flavors meld, about 3-5 minutes. Sprinkle with the last bit of chopped sage. Serve with any grilled or roasted meat and veggie (shown here with roasted chicken and sauteed green beans), or with eggs for a great breakfast.

Peasant Salad

I would really like to be someone who gardens. When we moved in with my parents, I had grand plans to resurrect the old box garden beds in the yard that my mom used to plant vegetables in when I was a kid. I had visions of lots of plump tomatoes, huge zucchinis, and leafy lettuces that I would use to cook with all summer. Unfortunately, my grand gardening plans never came to fruition. It rained a lot, and I didn't get around to looking up the best times to plant what. Heck, I haven't even been good at visiting farm stands and farmer's markets this year like I like to, I've been settling for the local section of the grocery store. I know there's still plenty of time to shop locally for produce, so I will make a plan to do that more, and as for the gardening, well. There's always next year.

What we DO have in the yard, thanks to my parents, are a few wonderful basil plants that I pick from regularly, some cherry tomato plants that are just starting to yield fruit, and some mint that's been growing in the front garden for as long as I can remember. Luckily, these are three of the ingredients needed to make this simple salad, so I at least am able to create a little from what we have in the yard. (When the tomatoes all come in, there will be a sauce post, oh yes. And if the grapes have any showing this year, my mom's concord grape pie may need to make an appearance as well...)

This basil has been used ALL summer and is still growing like mad (thanks to being saved a few times by my mom). I see pesto in my future...

Not quite ready...

But this one looks great!

Must remember to use more mint

I am a huge salad fan, and I try to mix it up as much as I can and have lots of different salads to rotate through. I could eat some form of salad every day, especially in the summer, and this one is so refreshing and simple, it's a natural go-to. It compliments most everything, it's light while still being flavorful, and I love it for cookouts and parties, because the more the flavors meld, the better it is.

I've had lots of versions of this salad over the years, but this is my favorite. I like it simple, and the mint, I think, really makes it. It adds that complexity to the flavor, and balances so well with the vinegar.

Now, I love onion almost as much as I love garlic. I could seriously eat caramelized onions daily. But I'm not a huge fan of raw onion. Even red onion, which I prefer, I usually find overpowering, too much bite, and a flavor that lingers in a not-pleasant way. So what I like to do for this is to slice the onion pretty thin, and then let it chill out for a while in a bowl with some red wine vinegar and some water. It takes the edge off the onion, pickles it slightly, and adds to the flavor of the salad.

Once the onions are working, I set them aside and get the rest of the ingredients ready. I used some gorgeous cherry tomatoes from the yard, but heirlooms or vine ripened would be delicious as well, if you aren't growing your own. Whatever tomatoes look and smell good at the market, go for it. But please, whatever you do, don't put your tomatoes in the fridge if you buy them ahead of time! Tomatoes should be stored on the counter, either still attached to the stems or stem side down flat, if possible (this slows the spoiling). Refrigerating tomatoes just kills their flavor and gives them a mealy texture. Not good.

After a rinse, I like to halve them, because it makes it seem like there are more, and I find them easier to get on the fork, but that's totally up to you. Then I cut up and add in the cucumber. I always go with the english cucumbers, I just like the flavor and texture better, but if you like standard cucumbers, they work just as well.

Next up: dressing. Whenever possible, I make my own dressing. It's really simple once you have the pantry staples, and once you get used to it, you'll most likely find that you'll be super picky about the bottled dressings. This one's easy: dijon, red wine vinegar, lemon zest and juice, salt, pepper, extra virgin olive oil. Ask your sous chef to whisk it up, and viola! 

Setting that aside to marry, I add in the marinated onions and the feta and then chop the herbs together to get them evenly incorporated, and toss over the vegetables.

Sometimes the baby, aka the human garbage disposal, can't wait for dinner to be ready and has to have a first course. Yay for daddy with the assist!

What? I'm starving and I like yogurt, ok?

Toss with the vinaigrette and you're done! I like to do this first, then set aside so the flavors can marry while I make whatever the main dish is. Enjoy!

Peasant Salad

about a pint of cherry tomatoes, halved, or 2-3 regular sized tomatoes, large diced

1 english cucumber, large diced

6-8 ounces of feta

1 red onion, thinly sliced

6 TB red wine vinegar, divided

3 TB water

1 TB dijon mustard

zest and juice of 1 lemon

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

fistful of fresh italian parsley, chopped

2 small bunches of basil, chopped

small much of mint, chopped

salt and pepper to taste

Preparation 

Thinly slice the red onion and place in a bowl with 3 TB of the red wine vinegar and 3 TB of water. Swirl around to make sure all us coated/mostly submerged and set aside.

Rinse tomatoes and half. Cut cucumber into a large dice so that the pieces are roughly the size of the tomato pieces and add to the tomatoes. Add in feta. Whisk together remaining 3 TB red wine vinegar, the zest and the juice of the lemon, 1 TB dijon mustard, salt and pepper, and the extra virgin olive oil. Taste for seasoning and adjust as needed. Set aside.

Chop all the herbs together, being careful not to bruise too badly, until they are roughly chopped and incorporated. Drain the onions and add to the cucumber, tomato and feta. Top with herbs and toss to incorporate. Add vinaigrette, toss, and serve with any favorite main dish! This goes great with white wine and good bread for sopping up the dressing.

Summer Corn Chowder

This blog has been set up, ready to be posted to, for about a year and a half now. I've taken pictures of the preparation of many meals, and those pictures sit neatly stored away in folders, awaiting posts to be written about them. I've composed countless entries in my head that have never been typed up. Sure, I'm busy with two kids, but I'm also an excellent procrastinator. I've finally decided that that's gone on long enough. What inspired me to finally get over it and make a post? Sweet summer corn, and plenty of it.

My little family (husband Johnny, kids Kieran, 4, and Declan, 1) has been living with my parents for the past 6 months, to save up some money and work on our plan for What Comes Next. This means that I have the opportunity to cook, and plan recipes, with my mom again. And if there's one thing my mom loves, it's corn on the cob. "Knee high by the 4th of July" can be heard quite often in the months leading up to prime corn season around here. And since the good crops are starting to be upon us, we have been buying a lot of corn. So much so that I've decided it's time to get creative, especially when we grocery shop independent of each other and end up with a couple dozen ears (oops).

Since it's finally under 97°, I decided corn chowder was the only logical dinner choice (especially since we have 3 pints of heavy cream burning a hole in the fridge, the latest in our constant attempts to rotate what we get delivered from the milk man every week, always searching for the perfect order to make our regular. Spoiler: we haven't found it yet.)

Here's what I came up with. Now, I firmly believe that recipes are only suggestions, and there is plenty of room for leeway here, so go with what you like. I happen to be a huge leek and shallot fan, but regular old onions are just as good, for example. You can substitute Idaho potatoes for the red ones. This is also easily doubled for parties, and freezes well.

Cast of characters, aside from the corn:

First things's first--getting that corn off the cob. I like to use a smaller bowl in a larger bowl, upside down, and then just use a sharp knife to cut down the cob and remove the kernals. 6 ears will get you about 2 cups.

I start off with some thick-slab bacon. Pancetta, or even a smokey sausage like kielbasa or chourice would be great if you have no bacon on hand (or, of course, you can skip if you want a meat free chowder). After the fat is rendered, in go the aromatics (leeks, shallots, garlic, pepper, celery, thyme), which I like to throw in with a little bit of butter for a depth of flavor. Season these, but go easy on the salt if you use bacon or another cured meat.

A little bit of flour will bond with the fats and thicken this up, and the starch from the potatoes will help it along. With the addition of wine, heavy cream, good vegetable stock and creme fraiche, what's not to like?

Can't cook a meal without my helpful sous chefs!

Summer Corn Chowder
6 ears of fresh corn, stripped off the cob (yield: about 2 cups)
3-5 slices of bacon (depends on how much you like/how thick the bacon is)
3 leeks, whites and light green part only, halved and sliced thin
2 large shallots, diced
3-5 cloves of garlic (depends on how much you like it--I obviously like it a lot), minced
1 red bell pepper, diced
3-4 stalks of celery (the heart with leaves if you have it), diced
5 sprigs of thyme, leaves only
1 bay leaf
6-7 red potatoes, diced
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 cup white wine (I use pinot grigio)
6 cups vegetable stock
2 cups heavy cream
creme fraiche
fresh chopped parsley
2 TB salted butter
extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper

Preparation:
Cut all the corn off the cob and set aside. Heat 2-3 TB of olive oil in a heavy bottomed stock pot or dutch oven over medium-high heat. Dice the bacon and add to the oil, and render until crisp. Add in the leeks, shallots, garlic, thyme, and 2 TB butter. Cook until soft, 5-7 minutes. Add bell pepper and celery and cook 5 minutes more. Salt and pepper to taste. Once all the veggies are soft but not browned, sprinkle in 1/4 cup of flour and stir to coat. Cook for 3 minutes, to cook off the raw flour taste.

Add in a cup of white wine and scrape the bits off the bottom of the pan. The mixture will thicken up and be almost paste like. Add in the veggie stock and the bay leaf and bring to a boil. Once it's boiling, add in potatoes and heavy cream. Bring to a boil again and boil 6-7 minutes (this will help bring out the starch in the potatoes and thicken the chowder).

Reduce to a simmer and add in the corn. Taste for seasoning, and add more salt and pepper if needed. Simmer for at least 15 minutes to combine all the flavors (I'm a big fan of simmering soups, stews and chowders very low for a longer time, to meld all the flavors. The potatoes may break down a bit, but that will just thicken the chowder and make the texture better, in my opinion. If you like your potatoes to have more integrity, by all means, don't simmer as long).

Serve with a dollop of creme fraiche and a sprinkle of fresh chopped parsley. My favorite thing to have with this is just a piece of ciabatta, charred on the grill, drizzled with olive oil and seasoned with salt and pepper. But this is also excellent with a simple salad, a ham and cheese sandwich, or any grilled summer meat and vegetable you want. If you need a little kick, I like some tabasco or sriracha in this as well.  Enjoy!