Last week I was blessed to enjoy a couple of days off to celebrate Thanksgiving with family. Everyone contributed to the holiday meal in some way, and one of my contributions was my sweet potato casserole.

For me, Thanksgiving dinner isn’t a Thanksgiving dinner without sweet potatoes on the table. Sweet potatoes were so well liked in my family I can’t really remember that we ever had any left over from a meal whether it was Thanksgiving or not. Imagine the panic and shock I experienced when my husband, Bob, told me he did not like sweet potatoes as I planned the very first Thanksgiving meal we would eat together as a married couple.

“Um, how can we have Thanksgiving dinner without sweet potatoes?” I thought to myself. It just did not compute for me.

Determined that I could figure out a way to make anyone enjoy eating just about anything, I kept sweet potatoes on the menu. Though I can’t remember the details of what he didn’t like about his previous encounters with sweet potatoes, I do remember giving him the third degree to find out what didn’t work for him in the past. I am blessed with a wonderful husband who is willing to try anything I make, and that year we had an enjoyable dinner which resulted in Bob’s realizing sweet potatoes really can be good.

My presentation of this classic fall and winter dish has changed a bit over the years, but one thing remains the same - this recipe has converted many non-sweet potato eaters. It’s great not only with the thanksgiving turkey, but also with roast duck, pork or my spice rubbed chicken. You can also use any leftovers to make sweet potato ravioli.

This recipe makes plenty for a crowd. Halve it and bake it in an 8″ x 8″ pan if you’re making it for a family dinner.

Sweet Potato Casserole

For the potatoes:

• 4 1/2 lbs. sweet potatoes 
• 2/3 c. brown sugar 
• 1/4 c. butter, softened* 
• 4 eggs* 
• 2/3 c. milk*
• 2 t. vanilla 
• 1 t. salt

For the topping: 

• 2/3 c. brown sugar 
• 1/3 c. flour 
• 3 T. chilled butter* 
• 1/2 c. pecans 

Preheat oven to 350° F. Scrub potatoes and prick all over with a fork.

Place potatoes on a baking sheet and bake until a skewer is easily pushed into the center, about 50-60 minutes. Allow to cool and peel. This step is easily done the day ahead. 

Combine all topping ingredients in a food processor and pulse together until somewhat crumbly. Set aside.

Grease a 9” x 13” baking dish and set aside.

Preheat oven to 350° F.

Combine brown sugar, butter, eggs, milk, vanilla, salt and baked sweet potatoes in the bowl of a stand mixer. Beat until potatoes are completely mashed and mixture of thoroughly combined.

Spread potatoes in prepared baking dish and sprinkle pecan mixture all over the top. Bake for approximately 40 minutes or until potatoes are completely hot and topping is crunchy.

*Notes: 
To make this casserole completely vegan use vegan spread in place of the butter and soy or rice milk in place of the milk.

In place of the eggs, combine 1/4 c. ground flax meal and 3/4 c. water in a saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until mixture is thick. Allow to cool. This step may be done the day ahead along with the baked sweet potatoes.

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In the warmer months of the year my favorite dinner to fall back on when I’m short on time is hummus with all the accoutrements - toasted flat bread, olives, artichoke hearts, veggie sticks, etc. It’s so satisfying, light, healthy and easy. As the end of summer draws near and eggplant is in steady supply I begin to shift my hummus meals to baba ghanouj meals. The wonderfully earthy flavors of grilled or roasted eggplant combine with tahini and lemon juice to perfectly bridge the gap from warm days to cool nights.

My method includes smoking the eggplant, but you can easily grill or roast the eggplant instead. I personally love the flavor imparted by a nice slow smoke over hot coals. If you want to smoke the eggplant over a gas grill, you can place soaked wood chips in an aluminum foil packet. Poke some holes in the packet and place it over the lava rocks, stone or ceramic briquettes in your grill.

Baba Ghanouj

• mesquite chips, soaked 1 hour
• 6 small eggplant
• 1 large clove garlic
• 1 lemon, juiced
• 1/4 c. tahihi
• water, as needed

Prepare the eggplant: If smoking over coals, prepare charcoal. If smoking over a gas grill, heat to medium - medium-high heat. If roasting, heat oven to 350 degrees F. If smoking, place soaked mesquite chips over heat source just prior to placing eggplant on grill. Slice eggplant in half lengthwise and place on prepared grill or in pre-heated oven and cook for approximately 30-40 minutes or until the eggplant is completely tender. At this point, you can continue with the recipe or store cooked eggplant and resume the next day.

Prepare the dip: Place the garlic in the dry clean bowl of a food processor and mince. Scoop eggplant from the skin and add to food processor. Add lemon juice and tahini. Process until smooth. If the mixture is too thick add a bit of water to achieve desired thickness. Taste and adjust seasoning with salt if necessary.

Serve room temperature with toasted pita, olives and veggie sticks. The day I made this baba, I had purchased some baby bell peppers at the farmers’ market and decided to turn them into an appetizer presentation.

Yield: about 2 cups of dip

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Upon opening my weekly produce box this past Saturday I was very excited to see our first leeks of the season. We’ve been getting potatoes for a few weeks now so my first thought was to make vichyssoise, a simple leek and potato soup (usually with a heavy dose of cream added). I have to admit, it’s been awhile since I last made vichyssoise. It is a very rich soup and we don’t get into eating a whole lot of heavy cream in our household. I wasn’t sure how satisfying it would be if I left out that cream, but in an effort to lighten things up, I gave it a go. I must tell you, we did not miss the heavy cream one bit. As easy as it is to whip up a batch of this I will not let so much time pass before making it again.

As for the nutritional value of the two main ingredients of vichyssoise, I give them both a thumbs up.

Leeks are a good source of manganese and have many of the same health benefits associated with garlic and onions.

Potatoes have often been vilified and eschewed by many people for all kinds of reasons. In the spirit of eating a balanced diet, I think we can make room on the plate for potatoes and recognize the many benefits they do provide. Including the skin, potatoes are a very good source of vitamin C, fiber (almost 12% of the RDA in one medium potato!), vitamin B6, copper and potassium. Research published within the last year indicates potatoes have some health benefits that would give broccoli and brussels sprouts a run for their money.

Leek & Potato Soup

• 4 small leeks, white part only
• 2 T. olive oil
• 4-5 medium potatoes, peeled and diced
• 2 1/2 - 3 quarts chicken or vegetable stock
• salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• fresh snipped chives, optional garnish
• crispy potato skins, optional garnish (directions below)

Thoroughly clean leeks and slice. Add olive oil to a medium sized pot and heat over medium heat. Add sliced leeks and cook until translucent. Do not allow leeks to brown.

Add diced potatoes and about 2 1/2 quarts of stock to the leeks. Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer and cook until potatoes are tender, about 20 minutes. (While the soup cooks, prepare the optional potato skin garnish.) When potatoes are tender puree soup in a blender or with an immersion blender. Addas much additional stock as is necessary if the soup is too thick. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve hot or cold garnished with potato skins and fresh snipped chives.

Crispy Potato Skins

Method:  Fill a medium sized bowl with boiling water. Peel scrubbed potatoes letting the peels fall directly into the hot water. (This will remove some of the starch from the potato peelings resulting in a crispy product.) Rinse the peels in cold water and wring out the excess water using a tea towel. Place the peels back into the bowl and toss with a small amount of olive oil and salt. Heat a skillet to medium-high, add the potato skins and cook until crispy stirring often enough to avoid burning.

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In the last couple of weeks at Vegan Bits, Lane started a discussion about natto. Having multi-generational familiarity with natto, I thought I’d share some additional information to help uninitiated westeners navigate this unusual food.

Like so many other great foods out there, natto was invented quite by accident according to Hiroko Shimbo, in “The Japanese Kitchen”. This accidental invention involved a bacteria residing in rice straw. Before natto was packaged in styrofoam or plastic containers it was once sold in wrappers of rice straw. Shimbo also explains that until not that long ago there were some places in Japan where natto was not a popular food item!

Natto is made by inoculating cooked soybeans with the natto bacteria and allowing them to ferment. Fresh natto is best eaten within the first few days, but freezes very well. I buy my natto from the freezer section of the Japanese market. It usually comes packaged in sets of 3 small foam or plastic containers weighing about 1.75 oz. each.

Natto is a good source of calcium, iron and magnesium. It is a very easily digestible protein and the fermentation gives the added bonus of supplying vitamin B12 - an important nutrient for those adhering to a vegan diet.

Shimbo recommends trying natto with miso soup. I second that recommendation as it makes the acquired taste of natto completely disappear.

For using in miso soup, remove natto from one 1.75 oz. package and rinse in a colander. Roughly chop, add to the soup water and cook for a couple of minutes before continuing with the recipe. If desired you can use a bit of the mustard sauce included with the natto as a garnish for the soup.

One last note for vegans and vegetarians: When shopping for natto, you may notice on some packages the addition of bonito flakes or extract. Typically this is part of the soy sauce mixture contained in a tiny sealed plastic packet with the natto. If you have no qualms about buying this and simply throwing it away, it will make your search for a dietarily acceptable natto much easier.

Those of you looking to try new healthful foods or in search of a way to enjoy natto, I hope you try it in the soup. Let me know how it goes.

This past Saturday’s produce box included a nice quantity of the beautiful purple tomatillos pictured above. With sweet corn and tomatoes included in Saturday’s delivery, it was hard not to make some Mexican cuisine over the weekend. Along with the tomatillo salsa recipe I’ll share today, I made sweet corn pudding and chicken taco filling (to utilize some of the tomatoes). I’m working on fine tuning the sweet corn pudding recipe and promise to share it when I’ve got it just right.

Tomatillos are fantastic when you can get them fresh. In the past when trying to find enough at the grocery store to complete a recipe, it has been difficult as they are often past their peak. Store tomatillos in the refrigerator until you are ready to use them. Freshly picked tomatillos will keep for up to two weeks, though I always recommend using produce as quickly as possible because the longer it sits the less nutritional value it will have. Tomatillos are very low in calories and provide a decent amount of potassium.

My method for this salsa requires the ingredients to be broiled to mellow the flavors just a bit, but you can opt to make this completely raw which will shave about 12 minutes off the preparation time making this a super quick salsa. I really like to eat it on chicken enchiladas or chicken tacos.

Tomatillo Salsa

• 2 pounds tomatillos
• 1 -2 serrano peppers (or more according to taste)
• 2 small onions
• 8 large cloves garlic
• 1 t. coarse salt
• 1/4 c. fresh cilantro

Preheat broiler. Have a large sheet pan at hand.

Remove husks from tomatillos and wash off sticky residue - fruit and vegetable wash makes quick and easy work of washing away the stickiness! Cut tomatillos in half and place on sheet pan.

Remove stems from peppers and cut in half. Add to pan with tomatillos.

Peel and slice onion and lightly smash garlic cloves without removing the skin. Add onions and garlic to pan. Place 4″ - 6″ under broiler and cook until everything begins to brown.

Remove skins from garlic cloves and place all broiled ingredients in food processor along with the salt and cilantro. Process until as smooth as you like. Adjust seasoning to taste and enjoy!

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