Beet and Sweet Potato Pancakes

Or fritters. Or whatever you want to call them. But once you start getting good stuff from the garden you go crazy on the salads, and just a drizzle of olive oil is enough dressing. But after the thrill is gone, you start to crave something crispy or fattening. Or at least I do. That's where vegetable pancakes come in. Any amount of vegetable, tubers or squash or whatever, can be grated and mixed with an egg or two, some flour (anywhere from one or two tablespoons to a quarter cup), seasoning and then fried up in some nice olive oil. Put a dollop of yogurt or sour cream and some fresh chopped herbs on top and you have a pretty nice meal that didn't take all that much time, or heat in the kitchen. You could also bake them in a 350 degree oven if you are worried about the frying, but seriously, the frying is what I'm talking about. You could grate some cardboard and fry it up and I'd be chomping on it, happy as a clam.

It's getting hot enough that I'm starting to forget to eat because I'm just too hot and lazy. I should be so lucky to forget to eat, right? Good thing there are no beaches here in the Hudson Valley. I recently had a run in with a half-gallon of cream which led me into this kind of trouble: pot de creme, strawberry ice cream, butter, etc. How about a salad with some French lentils tossed with olive oil, red wine vinegar, cumin, garlic, salt, pepper, a goodly amount of preserved lemon, loads of fresh parsley and scallion, and topped with some grilled chicken? To be honest, I see the words grilled chicken breast and I yawn, but it's good stuff. It's just because that's all we eat now that we bought forty pounds of local and humanely raised Murray's chickens.

I'm on my way to the fine city of Montreal in a bit, to indulge in all sorts of luxe items and to visit with some wonderful friends. How cool is that? I think I might have a cheese frenzy while I'm gone. When I get back I'm going to cleanse the dairy (and alcohol?) from my system for a bit. I'm also going to catch up on all the cool things that happened in June that kept me living, and not documenting, life. Like meeting so many can jammers that I met through Tigress' Can Jam: Sarah from Toronto Tasting Notes, Shae from Hitchhiking to Heaven, Kate from Hip Girl's Guide to Homemaking, and Tigress herself, from Tigress in a Jam and Tigress in a Pickle. (I already talked about meeting Doris and Jilly Cooks here.) I've also been doing some freelance pickling for a local drinking establishment, and just took a meat curing class with Peter at Qui Si Mangia Bene. Whew. That's a lot of links. That's making me tired enough to go drink some super cold rosé. You don't drink it you say? Check out Peter's FAQ on rosé and change your mind.

Baked Sweet Potato Fries

I actually saw another blog had posted about this today, and I know this isn't anything original, but did you know that baked sweet potato fries are the bomb in early spring? Peeled and sliced like fries, tossed in olive oil on a baking tray, seasoned with salt and pepper, and put in a 400 degree oven for about thirty minutes. Make sure to flip them once or twice so all the sides get baked. These hit the spot for both adults and little babies. Well, maybe not little babies. Toddlers who eat everything in their path, like the kind I have. And paired with some steaks on the grill (from Cedar Hill Farms in Amenia), caramelized onions doused with pomegranate vinegar, and some horseradish cream to dip the fries in, that is what I call "being in business." Isn't it disgusting that I even put a pat of butter on the steak? I guess I was thinking I was in Peter Luger's or something, excepting the service was super attentive. Not that I don't appreciate a surly waiter. I do. I was one once!

Buckwheat Pancakes, Key Lime Curd, and Sweet Potato Latkes

We started the morning right, with the wood stove cranking (five days straight now, it's been cold!) and Jonathan Richman's Corner Store playing on the phonograph. If that song can't get you moving, then go back to bed and call it a day. I had a hearty breakfast forming in my head in preparation for being snowed in, but the storm fizzled. No matter. It's not like we go anywhere anyway!

For the savory side of things, I baked these sweet potato latkes for last night's dinner, a light repast with just a dollop of yogurt. I've been eyeballing all the latke recipes (must try Sunchoke latkes when we harvest next) and also hearing about all the hot oil burns. I had this great recipe ripped from a Women's Health magazine (ripped it out at a dentist's office--that's okay, right?) tucked in a folder and pulled it out. These are baked so I guess that's better for you than all that oil...

2 large sweet potatoes (or 2 lbs.) peeled grated

1 medium onion, grated

2 beaten eggs

1/4 cup flour

1/4 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. nutmeg (it also called for cinnamon, but I'm getting cinnamon-ed out these days.)

Preheat oven to 400. Oil two cookie sheets. Mix all ingredients. Drop by quarter cupfuls onto sheet. Flatten with spatula. I got twelve out of this. Bake for 25 minutes; flip and bake for an additional ten minutes. Mine cooked quickly and hotly, but that's due to my crappy pans and uneven oven. You know. Eyeball it.

In the morning, I whipped up this batch of buckwheat pancakes from one of my favorite breakfast cookbooks, The Good Breakfast Book by Nikki and David Goldbeck (1975). I love buckwheat. I love pancakes. Need we elaborate?

1 cup buckwheat flour

1/2 cup whole wheat (I used all purpose; didn't feel like going to the larder and opening a new bag of whole wheat. Sooo lazy.)

3 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 cup nonfat dry milk powder (omitted this)

1 1/2 cups water (used 1 cup water, 1/2 cup milk; not sure why)

1 tbsp. oil

2 tsp. molasses (I used honey)

Combine dry ingredients. Add wet to dry. Do that pancake thing. It never fails that my first two pancakes are awful. But still tasty. I plug ahead and the last one is always stellar. Sigh.

Yesterday, I tackled the little bag of key limes that my mother sent me. She knows I'm partial to these kind of things. Z and I had fun squeezing all the little green marbles to gather the precious juice. (Not really; I did it while he sat on the counter next to me play mixing in an empty coffee mug. They are like squeezing hard little leathery nuts. I persevered because they needed to be consumed.) I was going to make cookies until I thought of curd, and found this super easy recipe from Coconut & Lime. It really only took ten minutes and it would have come out even better if Z didn't wake from his nap right in the middle of the cooking time, thus making me a tad distracted. My only sub was that I used vanilla sugar in this. It was delicious: not too sweet and super tart.

Lately, there have been a huge flock of turkeys hanging out. They are still lingering, and it's mid afternoon. It's not a great picture--so much grayness these days!--but this is out the dining room window. You can see the neighbor's cat under the tree being overwhelmed by all these large, fearless birds. He initially was creeping up on them, but there must have been twenty of them! Not that it matters. You've got to be a really tough house cat to take on a wild turkey. He soon realized this was not a conquest he could attempt and ran back to his house. Smart cat.

Parsnip and Sweet Potato Sheperd's Pie

What to do with some extra poached chicken? How about using it in a riff on sheperd's pie? This was great for the whole family: big, hungry dad, ravenous mom, and hungry little baby alike. Need I mention it was terribly easy? There are a few things that take up time, but there's not too much work involved.

For example, roast a sweet potato at 375 for an hour so it's all nice and oozing with its own caramelized sugar. While you are at it, roast off a sugar pumpkin for tomorrow's dessert, and a finger of ginger. It makes the whole house smell great when you walk in from the brisk and frost bitten outdoors. In a pot on the stovetop, you can simmer steam a nice big parsnip that you peeled and sliced. You can puree both of these together (peel the hot skin off the potato first!) with a little butter and milk, salt an pepper and the peeled roasted ginger.

While that sits and waits for you, get a peeled carrot, rib of celery, some parsley and scallions and whiz them up in the processor. Sautee them in olive oil and a leetle bit of butter for a few. Then take that diced poached chicken breast (one whole, or if you like, two sides) and let that cook a bit--five minutes? Sprinkle in a tablespoon of flour and toss to coat. Add 3/4 cup of chicken broth, some rosemary and thyme, salt and pepper. Let it all simmer until thickened. Pour this into a greased baking dish (glass 13x9 sounds right) and top with the puree, smoothing it out all nice. You might, if you are so inclined, dot the top with butter, but I left it naked. Bake for about a half hour at 400 degrees.

I love the mix of sweet potato and parsnip. The celery/parsley flavor that the parsnip has cut the sweetness of the roasted sweet potato. The color was lovely, and who doesn't love chicken in gravy? And, all told it was quite a light meal. Not too heavy but satisfying. I made sure to leave a small bit for lunch today. But I tell you, I had to hide it in the fridge.