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| Sweet Potato Recipes |
For the shanks:
- 8 lamb shanks, about 12 ounces each
- Salt and pepper
- 1⁄3 cup olive oil
- 2 onions, chopped
- 8 carrots, chopped
- 4 celery stalks, chopped
- 5 cups canned tomatoes, including
- the juice
- 3 cups dry white wine
- Several rosemary sprigs
- 2 bay leaves
- 3 strips orange zest
For the gremolata:
- Finely grated zest of one orange
- 4 cloves garlic, very finely chopped
- 1⁄4 cup finely chopped parsley
Preheat oven to 300 F. Remove excess fat from the lamb with a sharp knife. Season the meat with salt and pepper. Heat the oil in a large ovenproof Dutch oven over medium-high heat and brown the lamb in two batches, on all sides. Remove the meat to a platter. Add the vegetables to the Dutch oven and cook until the onions are soft, but not coloured. Add the tomatoes and their juice, wine, rosemary, bay leaves and orange zest, and bring to a boil. Return the shanks and put in the oven with the lid on for 3 to 3.5 hours, or until the meat is falling from the bone.
Remove the lamb, return the Dutch oven to the stovetop and reduce the liquid by boiling until it is quite thick. Meanwhile, make the gremolata by mixing the ingredients together. Toss the meat with the sauce, sprinkle the gremolata over the shanks and serve.
ROASTED ROOTS WITH MUSTARD, ROSEMARY & HONEY
This earthy recipe goes well with most meats, or serves as a vegetarian main course when paired with beans or lentils. Use whatever combination of root vegetables you can find. Serves 4 to 6.
- 3 pounds mixed root vegetables (such as parsnip, carrot, cerly, turnip)
- 3 tablespoons whole grain mustard
- 3 tablespoons runny honey
- 1⁄3 cup olive oil
- 2 to 3 large sprigs rosemary
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Preheat oven to 350 F.
Peel the root vegetables and cut into bite-size chunks. Combine mustard, honey and oil in a large bowl. Add rosemary, salt and pepper. Add vegetables. Mix well with your hands to coat, then transfer to a roasting pan big enough to hold the vegetables in a single layer.
Cover the dish with foil and place in oven. Cook for 30 minutes, then uncover and give everything a good stir. Turn heat up to 400 F and continue roasting for another 20 minutes, or until vegetables are tender in the middle and crispy and caramelized.
ROASTED BUTTERNUT SQUASH SOUP
On this menu, even the soup gets roasted. This recipe gets its sweetness from butternut squash and its velvety smoothness from sweet potato. Serves 4 to 6.
- 1 butternut squash (about 2 lbs)
- halved and seeded
- 1 small sweet potato
- A couple of splashes of olive oil
- Fine sea salt
- Freshly ground pepper
- 1⁄2 tsp Chinese five-spice powder
- 1 cup water
- 1 tsp honey, or more to taste
Heat oven to 350 F. Coat the squash and sweet potato with a light slick of olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
Arrange the squash, cut side up, on a baking sheet along with the sweet potato. Roast for one hour or until both are very soft. Let cool slightly.
When the vegetables are cool enough to handle, scoop the flesh from the skins and combine in a blender. Add a large pinch of salt, pepper, five-spice powder, water and honey and blend until smooth. Taste and add more honey if you want it sweeter, or a pinch more five-spice powder to round out the flavour.
Pour the soup into a pot and reheat, then ladle into bowls.
TENDER BRAISED LEEKS WITH WINE & THYME
I couldn’t help including this melt-in-your-mouth dish from "Jamie’s Kitchen," by Jamie Oliver. Great with anything, it has become a Sunday standard at my house. (At home, I cut the quantity of butter in half and still get silky, rich results.) Serves 4.
- 4 large leeks, ends trimmed and dark green tops reserved
- 2 cloves garlic, finely sliced
- Several sprigs fresh thyme
- 8 tbsp butter
- 2 wine glasses white wine
- 1 cup vegetable stock
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Preheat oven to 350 F. Discard the first two layers of skin on the leeks.Wash well and slice into 1-inch pieces. Finely slice the dark green tops of the leek.
On the stove, over low heat, slowly fry the garlic and thyme in the butter with the dark green leek tops until the garlic is softened, but not coloured. Add the pieces of white leek and toss them in the flavoured butter. Pour over the wine and stock. Transfer to a wide, shallow roasting pan or baking dish that can accommodate the leeks in one layer, cover with parchment paper or aluminum foil and cook for 35 minutes, or until the leeks are tender and tasty. Season with salt and pepper to taste, and serve.
BAKED APPLES WITH MAPLE
This dessert is an old-fashioned favourite. Cortlands that have been in cold storage all winter are excellent candidates for roasting. They keep their shape during baking and their natural sugars are intensified. The larger the apples, the longer the cooking time. If you can’t find maple sugar, use brown sugar instead. Serves 4.
- 2 tbsp butter
- 4 tsp maple sugar (or brown sugar)
- 2 tbsp raisins
- Pinch of ground cinnamon
- 4 large apples
Heat oven to 350 F. In a bowl, mix butter, maple sugar, raisins and cinnamon. Cut apples in half horizontally and remove core, being careful not to puncture the bottom. Arrange apples upright in a baking pan, divide the butter mixture evenly and stuff the centre of each apple. Bake the apples until a fork inserted into the centre meets little resistance, about 20 minutes, or until apples are just tender.
