spicy

Spicy Maple Sweet Potatoes

| ellenfobrien

Spicy maple sweet potatoes are a quick and easy way to add significant food value to any meal–including a whopping 14,187IU of Vitamin A (vs. a mere 2IU for white potatoes). This recipe is versatile and may be tweaked to taste.

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cooking Time: 20-30 minutes

Ingredients:
  • 2-3 sweet potatoes (dark orange-fleshed varieties provide the best nutrition)
  • 1/4 cup maple syrup
  • 1 tsp, each salt & pepper
  • 1 tsp sambal (adjust to taste)
  • 2 tbs butter
  • 2 tbs chopped chives, for garnish
Cooking Instructions:
  • Wash sweet potatoes and pierce multiple times with a fork
  • Place potatoes on a plate and set in your microwave for 8-10 minutes (depending upon the wattage of your unit). Test the potatoes at 8 minutes; if easily pierced with a fork, they are cooked.
  • Once the potatoes are cooked through, scoop out the flesh and place into a large bowl.
  • Mix in the salt, pepper and butter, mashing the potatoes thoroughly with a hand mixer. Slowly add in the maple syrup until potatoes are completely mashed. Add in the sambal a bit at a time, tasting to ensure that you reach the desired level of spice.
  • Serve the mash garnished with chives.

Spicy Tomato Jam

| ellenfobrien

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 45 minutes

Spicy tomato jam is a wonderful way to use the bounty that many of us harvest from the garden over the warm summer season. Fresh tomato jam is a wonderful fresh note on sandwiches, in omelettes and as a garnish on vegetables. I do freeze leftover jam for use over the winter, when a bright note is most welcome!

Ingredients

1 lb grape, or Roma tomatoes (if using Romas, you need to seed/core)
1/2 cup sugar, brown sugar, or honey, to taste
2 tbs water
1 tsp salt
3/4 tsp white pepper
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 1/2 tbs citrus juice (orange or lime if you prefer a sweeter jam, lemon or grapefruit if you prefer a more tart product)
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

Equipment needed:

A heavy bottomed, covered sauce pot is critical to ensure that the jam doesn’t burn!

Cooking instructions:
  • Rinse tomatoes and remove any stems. If using Roma instead of grape tomatoes, core and dice them.
  • Place in sauce pot with sugar and spices. Let mixture begin to melt and let the spices start to get aromatic.
  • Add water and vinegar. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until scraping a wooden spoon across the bottom of the pan doesn’t fill in immediately.
  • When jam reaches desired thickness, scoop into glass jar and refrigerate. Jam keeps for about a week in the fridge; if frozen into cubes, can last for several months in the freezer.