Fried Plantains

During our trip through Arizona, we happened to visit a Cuban restaurant, where plantains were a garnish on our plates.  I had never tried them before and I fell in love with their starchy sweet flavor.  While in Mexico, they were always in the stores and I found them a wonderful accompaniment to the Mexican Hot Cakes I made with masa harina.

Breakfast Plantains

Peel and slice plantains as desired.  (vertically or crosswise) to about ¼” widths.

Heat coconut or other oil of your choice in a frying pan and add plantain slices.

Cook until plantains turn golden brown, then turn and brown on the opposite side. Drizzle honey over the cooked plantains and stir to coat.  Sprinkle lightly with cinnamon, if desired.

Serve over Mexican pancakes or as an accompaniment to any other suitable dish.

Black Eyed Pea Sausage Soup

Black Eyed Pea Sausage Soup

New Year’s Luck Soup (a soup version of Hoppin’ John)

2 lb dried black eyed peas

1 lb cooked link sausage of your choice (I used a chicken sausage – Adelle’s Pineapple-Bacon)

3 quarts chicken or vegetable broth plus water

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 yellow onions, chopped

3 cups carrots, chopped

3 cups celery, chopped

6 cloves garlic

2 tablespoons Italian seasoning

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon black pepper

2 bay leaves

1.    Sort through black eyed peas, removing pebbles, debris, etc.   Cover black eyed peas with water – about 2” above the level of the peas in your pot.  Soak for 4 hours or overnight.

2.    Caramelize onions in olive oil, then add the other vegetables and sauté them until all are tender.

3.    Add vegetables and bay leaves to stockpot and add drained, soaked black eyed peas.  Add broth.  Add more liquid as needed to keep the peas submerged during cooking.  Simmer several hours until peas are soft. 

4.    At this point, you may wish to remove several cups of the mixture and puree in the blender to make a creamier soup base.  Return the puree to the pot and add the diced cooked sausage and Italian seasoning, salt and pepper.  Simmer 30 minutes longer, taste and adjust seasonings as needed.

5.    For my New Year’s Open House, I made this soup the day before and reheated to serve it from the crock pot.  The flavor seemed to improve the second day.

Sweet Potato Casserole

Sweet Potato Casserole

2 orange yams

2 pale yellow sweet potatoes

1 small can pineapple juice or crushed pineapple (or use about 1 cup diced fresh pineapple)

1/3 cup safflower oil

1/3 cup whole pecans

Optional:

1/3 cup honey

Peel and slice yams and sweet potatoes and layer alternately into a casserole dish or shallow baking pan.  You may need more potatoes to fill your pan and if so, adjust other ingredients accordingly.

*I like to use both sweet potatoes and yams for the variety in color and texture, but either can be used alone. 

Pour over, the pineapple juice and safflower oil.  Add the honey if you want more sweetness – I used to include honey originally, but I currently do not add it.  Sprinkle pecans over the top.  Bake covered at 350 for an hour, stirring once for even cooking and flavor.  Uncover for the final 20 minutes to allow the liquid to evaporate and intensify the flavor. 

This is even better made a day ahead and reheated the next day.

Crockpot Antelope Stew

 Joe shot four antelope this fall in a special hunt near Worland, Wyoming.  I am cooking a lot of different dishes with antelope, but this stew was a favorite!

Antelope Stew

1 lb antelope (or venison) stew meat

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 large onion, chopped

2 quarts water or more as needed

1/2 cup celery, coarsly chopped

5 carrots, peeled and chopped

2 parsnips, peeled and chopped

3 white potatoes, diced

Salt and pepper

Bay leaf

Thyme leaves

1/4 cup brown rice flour for thickening

 Chop one onion and saute in a frying pan in olive oil until carmelized.  Transfer onions to crock pot.

In the same pan, brown the stew meat in small portions.  Transfer the stew meat to the crock pot.  When all the meat is browned, add chopped celery to the frying pan with a small amount of olive oil.  Saute slightly, then transfer celery to the crock pot.  Add a small amount of water to the frying pan and scrape up all the brown bits, transferring them to the crock pot.  Sprinkle stew generously with salt, pepper and add a light dusting of thyme leaves over the top.  Add a bay leaf and water to cover, then set the crock pot on to cook all day.

Midway through cooking, add carrots, parsnips, and white potatoes to the crock pot.

At this point, thoroughly mix the flour with about 1/2 cup water, and add this mixture to the stew, stirring to distribute it throughout the broth.

By the end of the day, the stew meat will be tender and the vegetables will be cooked just right.

This dish could also be cooked on the stove top - if so, plan on taking about 4 hours simmering to get the meat thoroughly cooked  and add the vegetables during the last hour of cooking.

Sweet Potato Salad - Mayo Free Version

I don't eat nightshades - potatoes seem to make me hurt more.....so I wanted to come up with a good recipe for sweet potato salad without mayonnaise, since I don't care for mayo (plus nearly every mayonnaise contains some ingredient that doesn't work for me).   Joe took two helpings the first time I served it.

Sweet Potato Salad – No Mayo

2 lb sweet potatoes / yams – I use a mixture of yellow and orange for a nice variety of color and texture

Peel and cut sweet potatoes into bite size pieces – 1 to ½” size.  Cook in a saucepan, just covered with water for about 15 minutes or until fork tender.  Drain and cool.

1 small red onion, finely chopped

3 stalks celery, sliced

½ cup chopped chives

Dressing:

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

3 tablespoons real maple syrup

Juice of 1 lime

1/3 cup oil of your choice ( I used equal parts olive and sunflower oil)
1/4 cup cider vinegar

1 ½ teaspoons salt (or to taste)

1 teaspoon finely ground black pepper

Blend all ingredients and chill for 2 hours before serving.  Or serve immediately.

Kale Apple Salad

Kale and Apple Salad

1 bunch kale, stems removed and sliced very thin

2 large carrots, grated

1 apple, cut into eighths and thinly sliced

¼ cup pumpkin seeds

4 green onions – sliced 1/8” width including tops

Dressing:

¼ cup each toasted sesame seed oil and honey

Blend dressing ingredients and pour over salad ingredients.  Toss gently until all ingredients are coated.  Salt and pepper to taste.