Sweet Potato Dip

Every year, my friend Steve throws a "Pretzel Party" for his birthday. He buys 100 of Philadelphia's best soft pretzels and challenges his friends to come up with unique and innovative dips for these salty, carb-y, soft-and-gooey twists of heaven. Over the years the competition has really heated up and we all scramble for new dip recipes that will knock everyone's socks off.

Hurrying home from work yesterday, I was frantically turning over dip ideas in my mind. My cash flow is a little limited these days, so I couldn't really go shopping. I would have to make do with the ingredients I had in my fridge. I started thinking about savory recipes I could create... maybe something with spinach? But nothing was really capturing my imagination. And then it hit me. I'm a pretzel fanatic. I love pretzels of all varieties-- soft, hard, sourdough... you name it. And what I love most in the world with my pretzels is something sweet. The combination of sweet and salty just sends me over the moon. And there was a big old bag of sweet potatoes in my fridge, just waiting to be whipped up into something deliciously dip-able.

Everyone at the party was very pleased with the results, so I thought I would share them with you here. Not a pretzel fan? What's wrong with you?! I'm just kidding-- apples, pears, slices of French bread, carrots and celery would be pretty darn awesome served with this dip as well. And as the above picture shows, I didn't have soft pretzels to test out the dip before I brought it over to Steve's, but the hard variety is just as tasty. It's super-easy to make and a relatively healthy appetizer to serve at your next party. Your friends will be impressed that you have steered away from the boring old french onion/salsa/hummus options.


Bain taitneamh as do bhéil!


PREP TIME: 10 minutes
COOKING TIME: 10 minutes
SERVES: a party full of hungry dippers!

INGREDIENTS:
3 large sweet potatoes
1 tablespoon butter
1 32 oz container vanilla yogurt
1/4 cup brown sugar, plus more for garnish
2 tablespoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon cloves

DIRECTIONS:
Rinse sweet potatoes well and poke several holes in each with a fork. Microwave on high for 10 minutes, or until very soft. Rotate once during cooking.

Remove sweet potatoes from microwave and cut in half. Watch you fingers-- they will be hot! When they are cool enough to comfortably handle, scrape the sweet potato meat from the skin and into a food processor or blender. Discard skins and add butter to sweet potato, blending to incorporate into a smooth and creamy texture. Add yogurt, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves. Process until smooth.

Transfer to a bowl and refridgerate for at least one hour before serving. Just before serving, sprinkle the top with brown sugar.

Bring it to a party with your favorite crunchy dippers and watch it disappear!

Or you could steal Steve's idea and challenge your friends to come up with their own dips to share:


A (blurry!) overview of the dip table-- everyone was so amazingly creative! And yes, that is a Frosty from Wendy's being used as a pretzel dip in the lower left hand corner of the picture-- a surprisingly delicious pretzel dip!

(Big thanks to my recipe taster and suggestor of all things dip-able, Lauren!)

Vegetable Gumbo

Man, do I love Cajun and Creole food. Of course it's usually packed full of meat ingredients, so I've been working hard to come up with vegetarian versions of my favorites.

When I visited New Orleans many years ago, I picked up The Little New Orleans Cookbook by Gwen McKee at some touristy shop in the French Quarter. It was the best souvenier I've ever bought. Gwen's recipes are amazing, and her evocative descriptions of New Orleans culture and cuisine make this more than a cookbook-- it's a literary and culinary window into The Big Easy.

This vegetable gumbo recipe is adapted from her seafood gumbo, and it's a simple and healthful way to get some New Orleans flavors into your diet without animal products.


Bain taitneamh as do bhéil!


PREP TIME: 30 minutes
COOKING TIME: 35 minutes
SERVES: 6-8

INGREDIENTS:
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup white all-purpose flour
1 large onion, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
4 stalks celery, sliced
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon crushed bay leaves
1 teaspoon thyme
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 28 oz can diced tomatoes
1 tablespoon tomato paste
6 cups vegetable stock


DIRECTIONS:
Chop onion, red bell pepper and celery and set aside. These three ingredients form the base of a lot of Cajun and Creole cooking and are often referred to as The Holy Trinity.

Keep the chopped veggies close to the stove, because once the roux is done you'll want to throw them in the pot immediately.

In a heavy bottomed stock pot, combine oil and flour over medium heat and stir continually to create a roux. When you begin, the mixture will look like this:

The goal is to toast the flour to a nutty and fragrant brown color, but I cannot stress enough how important it is to CONTINUALLY stir this mixture. It burns incredibly easily, so don't step away from the stove for even an instant! I've just recently gotten the hang of this myself. No one likes a burnt roux, so if you do accidentally burn it, just toss it out and begin again. Believe me, there's no salvaging a burnt roux.

When you're done, the roux should be a rich mahogany color like this:

Immediately add the chopped onion, bell pepper and celery and stir to incorporate. Cook veggies in roux over a low heat until they start to soften. Add salt, bay leaves, thyme and cayenne pepper and stir to incorporate.

Throw in garlic, diced tomatoes, tomato paste and vegetable stock. Stir to incorporate and simmer for 20 minutes.

Serve in a big bowl with a spoonful of rice plopped in the center. (I like to stir a teaspoon of tomato paste into the water I use to cook my rice for that lovely color shown in the photograph at the top of this blog)

Curried Millet Casserole

Cleaning out my cupboards recently, I discovered a bottle of Trader Joe's Thai Curry Simmer Sauce about to expire. I hate letting things from Trader Joe's go to waste, so I did some tinkering and came up with this casserole. Two of my favorite things in the world are curry and casserole, so combining them was only logical. This dish is packed full of flavor, with tons of veggies for added nutrition. Plus it keeps really well in the fridge, so you can enjoy it for a week!

Don't have a Trader Joe's in your area? Well then, I feel bad for you. But no worries-- you can use any type of curry sauce in a jar. They're usually sold in the "ethnic" food aisles. Try experimenting with different types of curry! Just make sure it's actually a curry sauce, as opposed to the paste. Or, for the super-industrious types, try making your own curry sauce! This one looks good, as does this, this and this. Of course the different types of curry sauces do have different ingredients, so be sure to taste them first. You may have to adjust the lemon or the ginger called for in this recipe. Let your taste buds be your guide!





Bain taitneamh as do bhéil!





PREP TIME: 45 minutes
COOKING TIME: 25 minutes
SERVES: 6-8

INGREDIENTS:
4 cups vegetable broth
2 cups millet
1 large onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, diced
1 red bell pepper, chopped
3-4 large carrots, grated
1 small (finger-sized) piece of fresh ginger, peeled and grated
3 cups curry sauce
1 lemon, zested and juiced
handful of baby spinach, washed and roughly chopped
1 cup raw cashews, chopped finely
olive oil, for cooking
salt & pepper, to taste


DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. In a large stock pot, bring vegetable stock to a boil. Add millet, reduce heat and simmer until stock is absorbed and millet is fluffy.

Heat up olive oil in a frying pan. Add onions and garlic, saute until just translucent. Add carrots, bell pepper and ginger, saute until pepper becomes soft. Turn off heat, stir in curry sauce, lemon juice & zest, spinach and millet.

Grease a large casserole dish and spread mixture evenly over the bottom. Top with raw cashews.

Bake uncovered for 25 minutes.


Serve with a nice cooling fruit salad.