Author: ajeanneinthekitchen

I always thought that sweet potatoes were part of the potato family.  I mean they look like potatoes and have a lot of similar characteristics as potatoes, and they can be used and cooked in a lot of recipes that call for regular potatoes.  I often cook them together too.  But they are actually NOT part of the potato family at all.  There are a starchy root vegetable from the bindweed family.  Potatoes are part of the nightshade family.  Who knew?  They are very healthy, containing a bunch of vitamins and minerals including calcium and selenium, as well as vitamins B and C.  They are also full of the antioxidant known as beta-carotene, which converts vitamins to energy once they are consumed.  It is believed that sweet potatoes, as well as their cousin the purple potato (which we learned about earlier), help defend the body against free radicals, which may in turn, reduce the risk of cancer, particularly lung cancer.  Although the research studies are still inconclusive at the moment.   It is also believed that eating sweet potatoes can help prevent gastric ulcers, and they can also help improve blood sugar regulation for people with Type 2 diabetes.  However, on the down side, if people are prone to kidney stones, they may want to limit their intake of the sweet potato, since they contain oxalates which bind calcium and other minerals together that could cause kidney stones.   Overall though, eating sweet potatoes is a very good, healthy thing to do.

Sweet potatoes are very versatile and can be found all over the world.  I cook with sweet potatoes a lot.   I often use them when I make my dogs’ food as well.

Today, I made sweet potato latkes, which are very similar to their cousin potato latkes, only they have a bit more pizzazz.  Both are equally delicious, they just have a different style.

Frying them up.

The ingredients.

Putting everything together.

Sweet Potato Latkes

1 large sweet potato, peeled and shredded

2 jalapenos, chopped fine

1 heaping TBSP ginger, fresh or from a jar

salt, pepper & red pepper flakes to taste

cilantro, chopped fine

1/2 cup flour

2 eggs

cooking oil for frying

I use my food processor all the time, and I have an attachment that shreds, so I use this all the time as well.  Mix all your ingredients together.    The best way to mix them is with your hands.  Yes, you are going to get your hands dirty and sticky.  Sorry about that.  You want the mixture to be thick enough to form a ball and keep it’s shape, but not to firm or stiff.  Form into balls and press slightly to flatten them out.  I made mine about the size of a tennis ball, but you can make them any size you like.  Line a baking pan with parchment paper and place your sweet potato balls on the paper.  I like to refrigerate mine for at least 1 hour before cooking, so everything sets.  You don’t need much oil, but you do want it very hot before placing your sweet potato balls in the pan.  Brown them to a nice golden brown on both sides, for about 5-7 minutes per side.   I had some leftover chili-lime dressing that I put on top, but sour cream and chives would work well too.  I served these as a I side dish to my Thai basil-coconut shrimp.

I love seafood of all kinds, but shrimp has always been one of my favorites, and it is so versatile too.  You can do just about anything with shrimp, and it can be interchanged into a lot of recipes that call for chicken as well.  Different sizes and varieties of shrimp and prawns are found all over the world, so there are many different ethnic ways of preparing it as well.  When I was a little girl, my grandfather had a marina right on the Sabine River, separating South East Texas from Louisiana, and he had live shrimp tanks there.  They would go out shrimping and fishing all the time.  But they didn’t just catch regular shrimp.  He and his fishing buddies caught the huge giant prawns that were almost the size of small lobsters.   Today, those giant prawns are hard to find, especially inland and in Colorado, but I still love, love, love shrimp, and we eat a lot of it.

I served my Thai basil-coconut shrimp over rice with green beans and sweet potato latkes. I served it with a light chardonnay with hints of apricots and honey, but a dry, semi-sweet Riesling or even a light Gerwertztreminer would go nicely with the meal as well.  The lighter, slightly sweet wines go really well with spicy dishes.  I served chardonnay because that is what I had, plus it is my favorite wine, but you can serve it with anything you like.

You can substitute chicken, scallops, or mix and match however you like.  You can even use tofu for vegetarians.

Putting it all together.

Thai Basil-Coconut Shrimp

1 large shallot, thinly sliced

cooking or olive oil

3/4 cup toasted coconut

1 TBSP black sesame seeds

1 cup basil, chiffonade or rolled and sliced very thin

3 TBSP candied ginger, chopped fine

2 jalapenos, diced fine

1 can coconut milk

garlic

1-1 1/2 lbs shrimp, peeled and deveined

red chili flakes to taste

1-2 TBSP chili lime dressing

salt & pepper to taste

Toast the coconut in a small pan until it is golden brown and set aside.  Pan-fry the sliced shallots, ginger and garlic in just a little oil until the shallots are crispy and set aside.

Saute the shrimp.  Once cooked, remove from the heat and set aside.  Pour your coconut milk into the same pan you cooked your shrimp and shallot-ginger mixture in, making sure to incorporate all the bits at the bottom of the pan.  Add the chili lime dressing and mix well.  Add the shrimp and the rest of the ingredients except the toasted coconut and the basil.  Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and let simmer for about 5 minutes.  Add the basil chiffonade, saving some for the topping when serving, and mix well into the dish.  Plate your shrimp, serving it over rice or noodles, and top with the toasted coconut and basil.  Delicious!

I use roasted peppers and chilies in a lot of my dishes and recipes.  I love the flavor of fire roasted chilies and peppers.  For some reason, people think they are difficult to do, when in fact, they are actually very east to roast.  I have a gas stove, and would not trade a gas stove with open flames for anything.  I personally, am not a fan of electric stoves at all (most chefs I know also feel the same about electric stoves).  One of the many reasons, is because of the open flame.   I can put foods I want to fire roast directly on the flame, so they get nice and charred on the outside, and soft on the inside.  You can also put your peppers, chilies and whatever other foods you are fire roasting on a grill as well, especially if you are making them in larger batches.  Usually I only do 1 or 2 at a time, so it is real easy to do on the stove.  Make sure the whole pepper is completely blackened on the outside, which will take about 10-15 minutes or so.

Once the pepper is thoroughly blackened, remove it from the flame and wrap it in a plastic bag to let it cool and sweat for at least about 30 minutes.  This will loosen the skin which will make it very easy to remove.

After the pepper has been sweated, it is real easy to peel the blackened skin right off with your fingers.  If the pepper is not completely cooked, the skin will be a little tougher, and may stick a bit, but it still comes off pretty easily.  Once you have removed all the skin, rinse off and use in your recipes as you like.

Spring is here, and everything is starting to bloom and wake up from their winter’s nap.  Mostly, this is a very nice thing, but today, my allergies were killing me, so I could not enjoy it as much as I normally do.  But you know what?  I would never sacrifice this, even though I am very allergic to pollen.  You have to take the good with the bad, and the good definitely outweighs the bad by a lot.  We love eating outside, and we do it as often as we can.  Tonight was our first al fresco dinner of the season, with many more coming up ahead in the very near future,  We live on the first of 6 ponds, with a gorgeous view of the ponds and the Rockie mountains outside of Boulder, CO.  Usually we see all different kinds of water fowl, but the ponds were quiet tonight.  It was still a perfect night though.  No complaints here.  This is one of our favorite things to do.   It was so peaceful  and relaxing.  It is like stepping away from all of life’s confusion, even if only for just a short while.  After a nice, relaxing dinner on the deck, we feel refreshed and revitalized.

Tonight’s deck dinner was a margarita chicken salad served with a chili-lime dressing and jalapeno cornbread with honey butter.  I served a crisp, lightly-fruity chardonnay with the salad, that has hints of apricot and green apples.  The wine went along very nicely with the salad.

Margarita Chicken Salad

Marinating the chicken.

I let it marinade in my marinade for about 4 hours, then we grilled it.

The marinade was made from garlic, thinly sliced red onions red pepper flakes, cilantro, lime juice, sweet and sour margarita mix, tequila and olive oil.  It came out very flavorful and tender. These chicken breasts were huge and very thick, so we butterflied them to make sure they cooked through thoroughly.

The Salad

romaine lettuce, chopped in large chunks or shreds

cooked chicken, (mine was marinaded in the above mentioned marinade.  You can substitute any kind of protein or vegetarian protein you like)

red onion, sliced very thin

shredded cheese (optional)

jicama, cut in matchstick size pieces

tomato, diced

roasted red pepper, medium dice

cooked beans (I used some of my leftover bayou beans)

green onions, cut thin

avocado slices

tortilla strips, sliced very thin and pan-fried

cooking oil for the tortilla strips

Layer your salad how you like it.  Slice the cooked chicken and place it on top of your salad mixture.  Top with avocado slices and fried tortilla strips and your dressing of choice.  I made a chili-lime vinaigrette.  The tortilla strips only take a few second to brown and crisp up.  You have to watch them very carefully, since they burn very easily.  Once they are fired to a light, golden brown, remove from the heat and oil and set aside.

Chili-lime Vinaigrette

spicy Thai red chili sauce

garlic

cilantro, chopped fine

tequila

lime juice

olive oil

honey

Mix all the ingredients together until well blended and top your salad.

r

This is the perfect meal to have while down on the bayou or when you are just having a relaxing day, hanging out with friends; grilled Andouille sausage rolls with creole mustard, sweet corn on the cob and bayou beans.  If you like beer, a nice cold one would be a good accompaniment to the meal.  If you prefer wines, like I do, a smooth red pairs well with the bold and spicy flavors of both the Andouille sausage and the bayou beans.

Prepping the beans.

Sauteing the peppers and onions.

Bayou Beans

Dried beans.  I used Anastasi beans, but kidney beans or any other dried beans of your choice will work as well.  Soak the beans in warm water for at least 1-2 hours.  Drain the beans and them and enough fresh water to completely cover the beans.  Bring to a boil and let boil for about 5 minutes, then reduce to a simmer, and cook for at least 2 hours.  Different types of beans will have different cooking times.  Drain and set aside.

dried beans of your choice

bacon

green and red bell peppers

jalapeno peppers

onion, small chop

garlic

salt & pepper to taste

Cajun spices

cumin

cilantro, chopped fine

Cook your bacon to your desired doneness, and set aside.  Saute all the remaining ingredients, except the cilantro, in the bacon grease.  You may need to add a little additional cooking or olive oil.  Saute until the vegetables are soft and translucent.  Chop or crumble your bacon and add the cilantro.  Combine all the ingredients with the beans.  You can serve either at room temperature or hot.  Both ways are just as tasty.  Sit back, relax and enjoy.  Laissez le bontemps roulez!

***The Cajun spice mixture is from Savory Spice, located in Denver, CO.

Dinner tonight was a typical Cajun, meal cooked in the traditional Lousianne way.  We had jambalaya with jalapeno cornbread and honey butter.  Y’all are goin’ to love this, I gar-ron-tee it.  All that was missing was some Cajun zydeco music.

Long before jambalaya was trendy, it was the poor man’s food from down in the bayous of Louisiana.  It is a spicy rice dish made with little bits of this and little bits of that and basically whatever was leftover.   Jambalaya is very similar to the Spanish Paella.  It almost always has a variety of meats, like shrimp, Andouille sausage, and chicken, along with Cajun spices, red beans, bell peppers, garlic, jalapenos, onions, tomatoes and Tobasco sauce.  Mine is made in the traditional way, with all those delicious items, and the most important ingredient, a lot of love.  My mother was from Port Arthur Texas, and I had an aunt was was Cajun, raised in the bayous of Lousianne.   Cajun food is a staple in the South, particularly in South East Texas and Louisiana, so I was raised on this.  A Cajun cook never measures anything and my aunt was a huge influence on my love for cooking, so this is probably why I rarely measure anything when I cook.  I learned from a true Cajun.

Jambalaya

shrimp, cooked

cooked Andouille sausage, sliced

cooked chicken, cubed

garlic

onions, medium chopped

red bell & green bell pepper, medium chop

jalapeno, diced fine

1 can kidney beans, using the juice as well

tomatoes, chopped medium

3 cups chicken broth

Tobasco to taste

salt & pepper to taste

oregano

cumin

marjoram

Cajun spices

I 1/2 cups rice

olive oil

Cook all your meats separately then set aside.

Saute all your vegetables in olive oil for about 7 minutes or until soft.  Make sure you are using a large skillet, cause this is going to make a lot.  Add your rice and stir, coating it well in the oil.  Add the rest of your ingredients, adding enough chicken broth to cover the top of all your ingredients.  Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and cook until all the liquid is gone and the rice is cooked, which should be about 40 minutes or so.  Make it as spicy as you like.  This dish is supposed to have a major kick.   So grab a plate and fix it up.  Laissez le bontemps roullez or let the good times roll.

There are so many reasons to fall in love with and leave your heart in the city of San Francisco; the beautiful romance of the city; the mysterious Golden Gate Bridge; Fisherman’s Wharf; the beautiful view of the California coastline; all the wonderful food and wine; and of course, Ghirardelli Chocolate.   Ghirardelli Chocolate was established in San Francisco in the 1840’s, during the time of the California gold rush, by Domingo Ghirardelli, who came from Rapallo, Italy.  By the 1880’s the Ghirardelli Chocolate Company was one of the largest chocolate companies on the West, selling over 50,000 lbs of chocolate a year.  The ground chocolate was the product that was the staple of the Ghirardelli business.  The process of grinding the cocoa was a process Mr. Ghirardelli invented and patented himself.  Ghirardelli Chocolate was headquartered right in the heart of the city, overlooking the beautiful San Francisco Bay down below until 1966.  Today, this is one of the main tourist attractions when visiting the city.  The Ghirardelli corporate headquarters are now located in nearby San Leandro, CA.  Ghirardelli is one of the only premiere chocolates made in America.  Most of the other premiere chocolates hail from Europe.

I lived up in San Francisco many moons ago and I worked at a large Public Relations firm while there.  Ghirardelli Chocolate was one of the many food clients that we represented.  There were many perks associated with that job, one of which was I got to be amongst the first to try some of their new products and recipes that our firm created in our own test kitchen.  I think it was while working at this job that my love affair with cookbooks really started to blossom.  I have a very old, but well loved cookbook from Ghirardelli Chocolate and my Gold Rush Chocolate Zucchini cake was inspired from this old treasure.

Making the chocolate gold.

The rich, luscious chocolate zucchini Gold Rush Cake.

Chocolate Zucchini Gold Rush Cake

1 1/2 cups vegetable oil

1 2/3 cups sugar

4 eggs

1/3 cup Ghirardelli cocoa powder

2 tsp baking soda

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp salt

3 cups shredded zucchini (you can also substitute shredded carrots if you prefer)

3/4 cups Ghirardelli semi-sweet chocolate chips

Chopped nuts are optional if you like.  I did not put nuts in my cake though.

Mix the oil and sugar together until well blended.  Add the eggs, one at a time and blend well.  Mix all the dry ingredients together and add 1/2 at a time to the egg and sugar mixture and mix well. Gently fold in the zucchini and chocolate chips and nuts if you are using them, and incorporate well into the batter.  Pour into a prepared baking pan with a little cooking spray and flour.  I used a bundt pan, which is going to having a slightly longer cooking time, but you can also use a 9×13 baking dish if you prefer.  For a bundt, bake at 350*F for about 1 hour or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the cake.  If you are using a 9×13 baking dish, the cooking time will be about 50 minutes.  Cool and remove from the pan.  Once the cake is cooled, you can frost and decorate it.

Chocolate Frosting

3 cups powdered sugar

3 oz of either mascarpone cheese or cream cheese, softened.  (I used mascarpone this time).

3 TBSP heavy whipping cream

2 tsp vanilla

1/8 tsp salt

2/3 cup Ghirardelli cocoa powder

2 TBSP butter

Mix everything together in a mixer and spread over the cake.  You might need to use a little warm water to dip the spreader in while spreading the frosting on the cake.  Decorate as you desire.  The result will be chocolate zucchini gold.  There is gold in them thar cakes from San Francisco.

*** If you are making a carrot cake instead of a zucchini cake, use the same frosting only eliminate using the cocoa powder.

We have all heard how important it is to eat our greens and vegetables.  In general, the more vegetables a person eats, the healthier they will be.  No questions or disputes about that.  But did you know that eating purple is really good for you too?  Well, it is.   There are many health benefits found in the purple pigmentation or anthocyanin, found in purple fruits, vegetables and purple potatoes.  The American Chemical Society found that eating purple potatoes may lower your blood pressure; may prevent blood clots; can reduce inflammation; can help with liver dysfunction; can help reduce the risks of eye diseases and infections; and can help eliminate constipation and irregularity.  And for athletes, particularly those preparing for a big race by loading up on carbs, eating potatoes, especially the purple potatoes, actually provides more carbs and nutrients than eating pasta, without as many negative side effects, while also being easier to digest.  Potatoes in general are full of potassium, but apparently the purple pigmentation allows for the purple ones to store and produce even more potassium than other potatoes.  They are the most nutrient dense of all the different varieties of potatoes.

Purple potatoes are found mostly in Peru and Bolivia, and have been around since at least 1817.  They are part of the nightshade vegetables, also known as the Solanaceae family, along with tomatoes, eggplants and peppers. Purple potatoes have many names, including purple majesty, purple viking, and the purple Peruvian.  So in summary, yes, definitely eat your greens, but eat your purple too.

Preparing everything for purple and red potatoes lyonnaise.

Potatoes Lyonnaise

Note to self … if using purple potatoes, cook them separately from other potatoes, since their cooking time is a little different.  You do not want them to become mushy by over cooking them.

2 lbs potatoes – your choice of variety, or mix and match as I did

vegetable or canola oil for frying

1 TBSP olive oil

1-2 large shallots, sliced very thin

2 TBSP butter

1-2 heaping TBSP garlic

salt and pepper to taste

chopped parsley

Saute the shallots and garlic with the olive oil and butter, stirring frequently.  You want the shallots and garlic to be a light golden brown and crispy.  Remove from the heat and set aside.

Rinse and clean the potatoes and put in a large pan.  Cover with water and bring to a boil  and simmer for about 10 minutes.  Drain the water and let cool slightly.  Heat the cooking oil in a large skillet.  Once the oil is hot, add the potatoes, in batches.  Let them pan fry for about 10 minutes or until crisp.  Toss together with the cooked shallots and garlic, along with salt & pepper to taste and fresh chopped parsley.  You can also add cooked ham or bacon as well, if you want, to make them a little hardier.

It’s been said many times by the health experts that one of the healthiest ways to eat, particularly when it comes to fruits and vegetables, is to have a wide variety of colors and textures be a part of the meal.  Tonight’s dinner certainly had a range of colors and textures.  Our vegetables covered the spectrum of the rainbow, from purple to yellow.  I did a medley of sauteed vegetables with sauteed zucchini, yellow squash, red onions, sweet grape tomatoes, mushrooms, garlic and kobiashi squash (orange on the inside), which was accompanied by purple lyonnaise potatoes and marinated steak.

Yes, purple potatoes.  They are a beautiful deep purple and hail from Peru.  They are a little sweeter than most potatoes, though not sweet like sweet potatoes, and have a little more starch, but otherwise taste much the same as any other regular potato.  They are just so cool because of their beautiful, vibrant color.  I was experimenting with them and mixed them with red potatoes.  The cooking time is a little different, so next time I might cook them separately, but they still came out very tasty and delicious.

A dear friend of mine had asked me about rubs and marinades for meats and seafood.   A rub is a mixture of dry ingredients that you rub on the meat and a marinade is more of a liquid that your soak the meat in.  I use all kinds of things.  I usually make my own, but there are some great rubs and marinades on the market, coming in all flavors and styles.  Just find something that tickles your fancy and try it out.  There really are no rules when it comes to rubs and marinades, but anything with an acidic base, like lemon juice or vinegar, is going to also act as a meat tenderizer because it will break down the proteins of the meats.  Heavier meats, like steak can marinate for up to about 24 hours.  Lighter meats, like chicken can’t take being in the marinade for more than 3-4 hours, or it will come out really mushy.  And seafood  really should not be marinated for more than about 30 minutes to 1 hour max.  If you are using a dry rub, then time does not matter too much.  For our steak, since we had potatoes from Peru, I thought I would somewhat stick to the South American theme, and made a rub/marinade consisting of dried lime peel, crushed aleppo chilies, chili lime powder, cayenne pepper, as well a little lime juice.  The steak was very flavorful and very tender.  I marinated it for about 7 hours.  The wine choice for the evening was a very smooth, red French Regnie that paired very nicely with the meal.  Desfruitas y Bon Appetite!

Tonight’s ingredients for the meal.   The Lime Peel and Crushed Aleppo Chilies are from Savory Spice Shop, a local company based here in the Denver Metro area.  If you have never been, you should definitely check it out.  It is a spice lover’s dream.

The vegetables, potatoes and shallots for the potatoes.

Our rainbow dinner.

Colorado is known for it’s green chili.  You can find many different varieties everywhere  all throughout the state.  Some people like it thin and some people like it thick, but everyone has their own unique style and recipe.   I like mine thick and spicy, with a lot of pork.  Just like when I make soups, I make a big pot and freeze a lot of it, so I can use it again later, especially when the temperature drops and we need something to warm us up from the inside out.   We like it served just about anyway you can serve it, but our favorite way is to serve it over tamales.  This time, however, we are not going to get too much of it, since my husband volunteered me to make it for his co-workers.  Darn, I’ll just have to make some more just for us sometime soon.   If you don’t like pork, you can substitute chicken, or to make it vegetarian or vegan, you can use the vegan sausages.

Cooking both the pork and the vegetables.

It’s almost done. The pork and the vegetables are added together.  It’s in the simmering stage.  Let it simmer for at least about 1 1/2 hours, stirring frequently to make sure it doesn’t stick or burn.

Served over tamales with a margarita especial.

Jeanne’s Green Chili

I cook everything to taste.  When cooking, I rarely measure anything,hence the reason you don’t see a lot of amounts in my recipes.  About the only time I really measure anything is when I am baking, since baking is more of an exact science and cooking is more like the artist’s perception.

3-4 lbs pork loin, cubed

flour to coat the pork, if using to thicken

tomatillos, peeled and diced

onions, diced

jalapenos, diced fine (use as many as you need to spice it up depending on your level of spiciness)

roasted hatch chili peppers, skinned and seeded, diced (we get both the green and the red mixed together because we like it spicy)

green bell peppers, diced (I also use pasilla or Anaheim chilies a lot as well)

garlic

cumin

oregano

thyme

marjoram

salt & pepper to taste

olive oil

chicken broth

cilantro

top with sour cream, cheese, cilantro (optional.  Sometimes we even like to top it with Fritos as well.)

Cut all your vegetables, except the roasted peppers, and saute them all together, in olive oil until tender, for about 10 minutes.  As your vegetables are cooking, in a separate pot, cook your pork.  Since I like my green chili thick, I coat my pork pieces in flour and saute in hot oil until cooked thoroughly.  Add the cooked pork, making sure to get all the flour coatings and drippings, to the vegetables along with your chicken broth, roasted peppers and spices.  Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer, and continue cooking for at least 1 1/2 hours, stirring frequently.  If you do not like your green chili thick, don’t add the flour, or add less of it to make it to your desired thickness.  Once it’s all done, make yourself a nice margarita or two, and enjoy.

Margarita Especial

Tequila

Sweet & Sour mix

Grand Marnier

a splash of lime juice

a splash of sprite

I like mine on the rocks with no salt, but if you like them blended, just pour everything into a blender over ice and blend until it becomes slushy,