Sweet Potatoes Rock!

Amy Ephron and One for the Table rounded up a half dozen sweet potato recipes for a contest held by “The North Carolina Sweet Potato Association’s Food Bloggers’ Recipe Contest." The recipes she submitted take sweet potatoes from savory to sweet.

I contributed a recipe for Sweet Potato Inari Suishi.

By definition sweet potatoes bring a deep sweetness to any dish. If anything, sweet potatoes are so strongly flavored, they must be used with a deft hand. Sweet potato pie is great, but sweet potatoes work as well as a savory ingredient in beef stews, chicken pot pies, and simply sauteed as a side dish.

You can read the recipes Amy submitted to the contest on One for the Table.

Grilled Sweet Potatoes

Yield: 4 servings
Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

2 sweet potatoes, washed, peeled, thinly sliced into rounds
1/4 cup olive oil
Sea salt and pepper

Method

Taking a tip from Japanese robata grilling, first steam the potato slices for 5 minutes in a covered pan in lightly salted water (1 teaspoon to a quart of water). Drain and let cool.

Put the olive oil on a plate, season with sea salt and freshly ground pepper. Dredge each sweet potato round through the seasoned olive oil, both sides.

Grill for a few minutes on each side until tender. If you don't want to use a grill, then put them on a cookie tray covered with a Silpat sheet or piece of aluminum foil. Roast in a 350 degree oven, turning once, for 5-10 minutes or until tender.

Serve as a side dish with grilled chicken breasts or julienne the rounds and saute with garlic and parsley and toss with pasta.

Qatar Chronicles: Lounging in Luxury

Posted on Peter Greenberg's travel site. Read the previous entries in the Qatar Chronicles…From Rainy Seattle to the Desert City of Doha and From the Boeing Factory to the Sky.

In Doha I found evidence that the economic downturn may be pervasive right now, but some people have faith that it will be short lived.

Visiting Qatar Airways’ Premium Terminal in Doha, you would never know there’s a recession.

Many of us have either been lucky enough to have been inside airline VIP lounges, or at the very least, we’ve walked past them en route to our gates.

They are the oases of the airports, places to relax, or patiently wait for flights when there are delays.

Many international airlines upped the ante years ago by creating different lounges for their first and business class passengers.

But now, in the global game of one-upsmanship, some foreign carriers have gone a step further. In Germany, Lufthansa built a separate, all luxury, dedicated first class terminal, complete with its own restaurant, immigration, security and customs, and stylish way of getting you to your plane—by chauffeured Mercedes or Porsche, driving along the tarmac directly to the plane.

Not to be outdone, the folks at Qatar Airways have now built super, over-the-top first class terminal at its main hub in Doha. And if you’re lucky enough to experience it when departing this country, well … then, you have really arrived.

Qatar Airways’ Premium Terminal literally covers an entire terminal—more than 107,000 square feet to be exact.

Valets meet first and business-class passengers to load bags onto luggage carriers.

You line up … never.

A concierge escorts passengers to plush leather chairs at the check-in desk. Besides a fully serviced business center and three conference rooms, there are men and women’s prayer rooms, a children’s play area and nursery complete with on-call nannies, a room for families, and a video game room. A Duty-Free shop is dedicated entirely to upper-class travelers. The First Class Lounge additionally has a spa with showers, a sauna, Jacuzzi, sleeping rooms, and massage treatment rooms. There’s even a medical center with a doctor and nurse on staff.

But even more amazingly—and characteristic of life in fast-changing Doha—this $100 million sanctuary is only a temporary setup. The space that was built as recently as November 2006 (a week before the Asian Games) will actually be torn down in a few years, along with the rest of the airport to make way for an even more luxurious facility.

Three miles away, the new Doha International Airport is being constructed to better handle an expected increase in passenger traffic. Designed to handle 24-26 million passengers, the new terminal will double the capacity of the old terminal. The first phase is expected to be completed in 2012, the second by 2015. A new and even more luxurious Premium Terminal will replace the current one.

In fact, it’s not just the airport that’s getting an overhaul. Even in this tough economy, Qatar Airways is moving ahead with its long-term plans to expand operations to more than 100 cities globally. Qatar Airways announced last Wednesday that it plans to launch scheduled flights to Australia and expand its operations in India and Europe, and the carrier will increase frequency to several destinations in its network this summer.

Qatar Airways is also planning to add one new aircraft to its fleet every month, with more than 200 new Boeing and Airbus aircraft worth more than $40 billion already on order.

Global economic crisis? What global economic crisis?

From Los Angeles to Seattle to Doha, Qatar

A few weeks ago I took my first trip to the Middle East. It was an amazing experience in more ways than one. The most recent post is on Peter Greenberg's site, reprinted here:

Qatar Chronicles: From the Boeing Factory to the Sky

Recently, I flew from Los Angeles to Seattle to Doha, in Qatar.

Certainly not the most direct route, but it was the most impressive because I got to explore the process, and then the product—something few passengers ever do.

It started with an inside, private tour of the Boeing Plant in Everett, Washington.

Maybe this is a guy thing, but I got a major kick out of the Boeing plant with its row after row of 747s, 777s, and even the yet-to-debut 787s (the revolutionary Dreamliner). I can’t tell you how cool it was to see all these planes being assembled. The scale of the engineering was impressive as was the precision of the manufacturing process.

Luckily Boeing allowed us to take some photographs (usually a big no-no).

Walking through mock-ups of their new 787 and the redesigned 747-8, they talked us through a design process that focused on controlling details to make flying more pleasurable: full-spectrum LED cabin lighting instead of white lights that are either on or off; a higher ceiling on the entryway of the 787; and even something simple like the overhead bin latches which are being redesigned to work by pulling or pushing, the choice is the passenger’s.

If Boeing does its job right, they told us, once passengers enter the cabin, they will leave behind the difficulties of the day and re-experience the magic of flying. OK, so much for fluffy brochure language.

But first, Boeing has to deliver at least one operational 787—and they have been delayed more than two years already. Coupled with a tough economy in which a number of airlines may be cancelling orders for the new plane, that’s not a lot of magic.

But the real magic is that Boeing did deliver a new 777 on time, and both the plane and I were ready to go. I was onboard on the delivery flight of a Boeing 777-200LR, flying from Boeing Field outside Seattle to Doha International Airport, and its new owner, Qatar Airways.

With Doha as its hub and routes already well established in Asia, the Indian subcontinent, and, of course, the Middle East, the Boeing 777-200LR gives Qatar Airways a reach of 8,000 nautical miles, putting them in striking distance of just about any destination in the world.

Several years ago Qatar Airways pushed into the American market with non-stop service to New York and Washington, D.C. Starting March 30, 2009, the airline will begin flights between Houston and Doha. With service to Houston, they hope to strengthen their relationship with American energy businesses.

For the next year, Boeing is scheduled to deliver one airplane a month to Doha as the airline upgrades its fleet. While other airlines are cutting back, Qatar Airways says it sees an opportunity to expand routes and strengthen its business class service. To maximize profits, Qatar Airways eliminated first class on the Houston-Doha route, so they could increase the number of business class seats.

The coach compartment on Qatar Airways’ 200LR feels roomy. The 50-inch height of the seat back allows most passengers to look above the seat in front of them, adding to their sense of space. A 3-3-3 seat configuration, instead of the more typical 3-4-3, adds extra room. The airline ordered their coach seats with a 34-inch pitch (the industry average is 32 inches), with the result that there is both the feeling and the reality of more space, making the seats that much more comfortable.

In business class, Qatar Airways asked Boeing to outfit their 777-200LRs with upgraded features: seats with a 78-inch pitch in the upright position; in the fully reclined position, each seat goes completely flat to create a full-sized bed; 17-inch flat-screen televisions for each passenger with interactive controls that include an innovative USB mouse; bathrooms that are twice the normal width with motion activated sinks.

When you push the “make this seat into a bed”-button on the 200LR, the back slowly reclines, a foot rest extends, you stretch out, curl up with your very plush Qatar Airways blanket, and enjoy just enough engine noise to help you sleep. Oh, and you’re wearing your Qatar Airways pajamas and socks.

Personally, I still think flying is magical. Which doesn’t mean I don’t feel hassled whenever I fly. I do. Often times, I question whether I really needed to take the trip after all.

But then I hear the whine of the engines that says the pilot has gotten the go-ahead. As the plane speeds down the runway, it’s like something out of a dream when the wheels hang noiselessly in the air as the plane’s lift levitates it above the runway.

My rational brain still questions how it is that an object weighing many tons can slice through the air and float high above the ground. But emotionally I don’t care. At that moment I glory in the magic of flight.

And then, we landed in Doha, the third in my triple play of firsts: the Boeing factory, a delivery flight, and … Qatar.

Next up: the Qatar Premium Terminal, and the Museum of Islamic Art and Al Jazeera studios. We are also scheduled to visit the restored Souk Waqif and take a desert safari. The questionnaire for the safari company wanted to know just how “rough” we liked our dune bugging.

Oh boy …

Sweet Potato Inari Sushi

I love sweet potatoes: baked, mashed, sautéed, grilled, or deep fried. I just discovered that they also make a delicious stuffing for inari sushi.

Inari sushi are made by filling abura-age, fried tofu skin pounches, with rice and vegetables. Abura-age is sold in Asian markets and in the specialty aisles of major supermarkets, either in cans or in a dry pack.

You've probably seen inari sushi at a sushi bar and wondered what they are. Usually they're served rice side down, so from the top they look like wrinkled footballs.

They're actually made out of thin pieces of fried tofu, joined together on three sides to make a pocket. They're soft and sweet and usually stuffed with white sushi rice. Sometimes flecks of vegetables like carrots are added for color.

Besides being tasty, they're a good bargain. For less than three dollars you can make two dozen of these healthy taste treats.

Sweet Potato Inari Sushi

Taking a western approach, I sauté the sweet potatoes in olive oil with a little garlic. The sweet potatoes give the inari sushi a unique flavor that works equally well as a snack or a party appetizer.

Yield: 4 servings
Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients

2 sweet potatoes, medium sized, washed, peeled, finely chopped
1 small yellow onion, washed, peeled, finely sliced
2 garlic cloves, peeled, mashed, finely chopped
1 can or dry pack abura-age or inari sushi, 20-24 pieces
2 cups cooked rice, preferably Japanese white rice or organic brown rice
Olive oil
Sea salt and pepper

Sauté the sweet potatoes, onions, and garlic in the olive oil, seasoned with sea salt and pepper, until lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Mix together with the cooked rice.

When you open the can of inari sushi, you'll find two dozen flattened tofu wrappers. Use your fingers to carefully open each one. Gently rinse them with water and pat dry. Spoon in the sweet potato-rice mixture, being careful not to tear the tofu skin.

Serve at room temperature or warmed in a 250 degree oven for 10 minutes.

Sprouted Broccoli from Green Spring Farm in Petaluma, California

Recently we spent a weekend in Sonoma. Since I like to shop at farmers' markets, I was happy to learn that the valley is home to more than a 100 organic farms.

We would have liked to stop at a dozen or more but this was a short trip, so we zeroed in on Green String Farm. Although the farm is small, its produce is well-known, supplying many Bay Area restaurants, including Alice Waters' Chez Panise, Terzo, Camino, and Hog Island Oyster Company.

Ross Cannard gave us a walking tour of the farm his father, Bob, started years ago with wine maker, Fred Cline. He took us through ankle high grasses to check out the fields under cultivation, the pasture enclosures with goats and sheep, and the chicken trailer.

At times it was difficult to see exactly what was under cultivation and what wasn't. The philosophy of the farm is summed up in a simple description:

...by maintaining an important balance between crops grown for human consumption and crops grown to improve the soil, Green String farmers always give back to the earth the same amount the earth gives to us. Unlike conventional produce which is grown in conditions specifically designed to put out the highest and fastest possible yields (and without room for anything but the food crop), Green String produce grows under more natural conditions, with the help of farmers who are listening to what their land tells them throughout the year.

"Listening to what their land tells them" means, no chemical pesticides and fertilizers. Beneficial plants (we'd call them "weeds") grow side by side with celery, broccoli, kale, onions, artichokes, and lettuces. Before planting, the chickens and livestock add to the mix, literally. By creating portable enclosures the animals are moved from one field to another. Their hooves aerate the soil, as their waste provides fertilizer.

The proof of any system is the quality of the product. All the produce looked so delicious, we had to hold back from buying too much.

With produce this fresh, it makes sense to use simple preparations, the better to savor the quality of the vegetables.

Braised Sprouted Broccoli

In an email Ross explained how Green Spring Farm perennializes its broccoli:

It's Italian green sprouting broccoli, which is a standard variety. What's different is in our method of picking it. We let it head up, then pick it, like everyone else does, but then, if you keep it in the ground, it keeps growing these nice little heads, which you have to keep picking to prevent the plant from flowering. This way, though, you don't have to replant your broccoli all the time, you just keep on picking the ones you have, and we prefer these little heads to the giant supermarket-style heads anyway.Sprouted broccoli is really worth finding. The taste is sweeter, the flavor more, well, "broccoli"-ish. It can be found in farmers' markets and some specialty supermarkets like Whole Foods and Gelson's.

Yield: serves 4
Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients

1 pound sprouted broccoli, washed, ends of stems trimmed, keep leaves on
4 garlic cloves, peeled, mashed, roughly chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
Sea salt and pepper
1/3 cup water
1 tablespoon sweet butter (optional)

Method

Heat the olive oil in a frying or chef's pan over a medium-high flame. Season the oil with sea salt and pepper, add the broccoli and toss with tongs until the leaves wilt. Add the chopped garlic and continue tossing until the garlic and broccoli are lightly browned, about 5 minutes.

Reduce the heat to medium-low, add water to deglaze the pan, lay a piece of aluminum foil over the top and let simmer. Turn the broccoli after 2 minutes. After a total of 5 minutes the broccoli should be tender. Taste and adjust seasonings. Add a pat of sweet butter (optional) and toss.

Serve hot as a side dish with meat, poultry, tofu, or fish.

Sautéed Kale Satisfies as a Side Dish or an Entree

The idea to sauté kale came accidentally. For a dinner party we had been given a massively large platter with grapes, blueberries, strawberries, and half a dozen assorted cheeses on top of a layer of kale leaves. Wanting to make the cheeses and fruit more presentable, we moved them onto nice plates. That left the kale and the plastic platter.

The first impulse was to chuck both. Since kale leaves are large and sturdy, they are frequently used to disguise the awfulness of disposable plastic deli platters. Discarding the kale is the culinary equivalent of throwing the baby out with the bath water.

Sautéing kale with other vegetables makes a delicious side dish that goes equally well with tofu, meat, poultry, or fish.

But don't stop there. Turn the side dish into an entree by adding pasta or rice. Keep it vegetarian or add cooked chicken, beef or pork or uncooked shrimp or pieces of skinned, deboned fish.

Sautéed Kale with Farm Fresh Vegetables

Yield: 4 servings
Time: 20-30 minutes

Ingredients

One bunch farmers' market fresh kale, washed
1 medium onion, washed, peeled, roughly chopped
4 garlic cloves, peeled, mashed, roughly chopped
6 shiitake or brown mushrooms, washed, dried, thinly sliced
1 large carrot, washed, trimmed, peeled, roughly chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
Sea salt and pepper
1 tablespoon sweet butter (optional)
1 cup chicken stock or water (optional)
1 cup firm tofu, cut into small cubes (optional)
2 cups cooked meat, poultry, or uncooked seafood (optional)
3 cups cooked rice or 4 cups cooked pasta (optional)

Method

Trim off the ends off the kale, then roughly chop into dime-sized pieces. Heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a chef's pan, add all the vegetables. Season with sea salt and pepper. Sauté until lightly browned. Finish with the sweet butter (optional).

If you want to continue on and use the kale-saute with pasta or rice, keep the dish vegetarian by deglazing the pan with water, add cubes of tofu, rice or pasta and let simmer for 5 minutes. Taste and adjust the seasoning with sea salt and pepper.

For a meat entree, use stock to deglaze, then add either meat, poultry or seafood, the cooked rice or pasta and simmer 5-10 minutes. Taste and adjust the seasoning with sea salt and pepper.

Variations

Add other vegetables like broccoli or cauliflower florets

Add peppers, hot or sweet

Add 1/4 teaspoon each ground cumin, coriander, and turmeric to the saute

Salt Crusted Fingerling Potatoes

To great acclaim, José Andrés recently opened four restaurants (Rojo, Blanco, Saam, & Patisserie) and a bar (Bar Centro) on the ground floor of the SLS Hotel (465 S. La Cienega, Los Angeles, CA 90048; 310/246-5555). Collectively called The Bazaar, the space reflects Andrés' elegance, playfulness, energy, and love of food.

Serving an eclectic menu, Andrés uses foam and flavor essentials reflecting his relationship with Ferran Adrià. Serving the best hams and cheeses cements his connection to the Spanish tapas bars where working people gather to eat, drink, and talk.

Over several visits to the Bazaar, I enjoyed wildly extravagant treats like his crispy cones filled with cauliflower cream and topped with American caviar or the whimsical, delicious sticks of foie gras wrapped in cotton candy, but the most memorable dish was something extraordinarily simple: an appetizer of salt crusted potatoes with a cilantro-parsley dip.

José stopped by our table and talked passionately about the dishes he had created for the Bazaar. He said he loved all of his "children" equally but when he talked about his "winkled potatoes" you heard a special passion in his voice. After we had eaten them, we understood completely.

So easy to make, their simple textures and flavors show how easy it is to elevate even the mostly lowly of ingredients into something magical...if you know how.

José Andrés' Salt Crusted Potatoes with Cilantro-Parsley Sauce (Salty wrinkled potatoes with "mojo verde")

José uses potatoes from Cape Verde but locally grown fingerling potatoes are more accessible. If possible, buy the ingredients at your local farmers' market. Select the smallest fingerling potatoes without blemishes. Serve the potatoes and sauce at room temperature.

Yield: 4 servings
Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

1/2 pound fingerling potatoes, washed
2 cups water
1/2 cup Kosher salt
2 garlic cloves, skins on
1 cup Italian parsley, washed, leaves only
1 cup cilantro, washed, leaves only
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Method

Put the potatoes, water, and Kosher salt into a pot and simmer for 10 minutes. With a wooden skewer, test to see if they are almost cooked. Pour off most of the water being careful to reserve as much salt as possible.

Lower the heat and keep a watchful eye on the potatoes. The goal is to evaporate the water completely so the potatoes are coated in salt, being careful not to burn the salt or the potatoes. Cook another 3-4 minutes, then remove the potatoes from the pot and let cool.

Using a kitchen towel, wipe the excess salt off each potato so there's only a light dusting of salt on each. Do the potatoes one by one so the skin doesn't break.

Place the potatoes on a plate.

Run a skewer through the garlic cloves and char them on an open flame. Brush off the blackened skins and roughly chop. Place the parsley and cilantro leaves, the roasted garlic, black pepper, and olive oil into a mini-blender and puree to a smooth consistency.

Pour the sauce into a small bowl and serve with the potatoes. The sauce will keep for a week in a closed container in the refrigerator and can be served with fish and chicken.

Variations for the sauce

Use parsley only.

Add 1 scallion, washed, green and white parts.

Add 1 teaspoon dry roasted almonds, finely ground.

A Trip to Italy is Just Around the Corner at Il Fornaio

One of the things I like about Il Fornaio's monthly, regional menus is the chance to take an armchair journey to Italy. This month's region is Calabria.

Located on the toe of the Italian boot and extending into the Mediterranean, Calabria has developed dishes that feature seafood.

With a group of friends, we went to our neighborhood Il Fornaio in Santa Monica (1551 Ocean Avenue across from the Santa Monica Pier; 310/451-7800) and shared the dishes family style.

While we read through the menu, we ate baskets of Il Fornaio bread dipped in seasoned olive oil. The fresh bread is so delicious there's always the risk that we'll be full before we even begin the meal.

We started with bowls of the delicious three bean soup (Zuppa Millecuselle) which paired cannellini, borlotti, and garbanzo beans in a vegetarian broth, flavored with lentils, mushrooms, and cabbage and thickened with tomatoes. Adding the lentils was an especially nice touch because they grounded all the contrasting flavors.

We followed the soup with an inventive salad of organic greens (Insalata Monte Poro) with fried goat cheese balls, dressed with fresh strawberries and a strawberry-raspberry red wine vinaigrette. With these two dishes we had a Greco Bianco by Alberto and Antonio Statti (2007), a crisp, light white that complimented the soup and salad.

For our pasta course, we shared plates of spaghetti with shell fish (Spaghettata du Pescatori Calabrisi). Fresh black mussels, butter clams, calamari rings, and shrimp were tossed in a spicy tomato sauce with saltiness provided by capers and slices of giant green olives. We were still drinking the Greco but decided we should try the other wine from the region, a Gaglioppo also from the Satti brothers (2007).

For the main course we had a choice of chicken with mushrooms (Petto di Pollo alla Cacciatora), roasted boneless leg of lamb (Agnello Arrustutu), or a swordfish loin (Involtino di Spada). We decided on the swordfish because the menu said it was a favorite of the region.

Chef Bruno Amato, the Il Fornaio Chef-Partner, who designed the menu, prepared the fish in a manner I've never seen before. Instead of grilling the swordfish, he stuffed it with a mixture of shrimp, almonds, garlic, pecorino, and caciocavallo cheese. Topped with bread crumbs and drizzled with olive oil, the fish was a masterful combination of textures: crunchy, soft, and moist. Accompanying the fish were roasted potatoes, eggplant, and red and yellow peppers in a tomato sauce with a touch of heat. We had more of the Gaglioppo. It benefited from spending time in the glass. Its flavors had softened so it paired perfectly with the swordfish.

For dessert we had the ricotta pudding (Budino di Ricotta) which reminded me of ricotta cheese cakes I used to eat in Providence, Rhode Island. Not too sweet, a little on the dry side, and delightfully flavored with golden raisins, orange, and lemon zest

The regional menu is served until March 15th, so we have time to go back and try the ravioli stuffed with salami and ricotta (Ravioli ca 'Sopressata) and have another bowl of the delicious soup.

For more posts about Il Fornaio's Festa Regionale check out:
Grilled Vegetable Couscous Salad
A Tasting at Il Fornaio, Santa Monica--Trentino-Alto Adige
A Trip to Italy is Just Around the Corner at Il Fornaio--Calabria
Il Fornaio Heads South to Campania for May's Regionale
Il Fornaio Heads North to Lombardia
Abruzzo at Il Fornaio, Santa Monica
Friuli-Venezia Giulia at Il Fornaio