Our corner of the world becomes pretty bleak at this time of year with bare trees, plowed under gardens and occasional winter storms that blow through.
Ever on the lookout for new recipes, this one for sweet potato, roasted chickpeas and creamy hummus sauce caught our eye: tasty, colorful and with flavors that evoke a warmer time and place, this proved to be a great way to beat the winter blues! We’ve adapted it to our tastes and feel free to do the same. Filling–and meatless–this recipe will most likely find its way back on the table right into spring.
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Baked Sweet Potato with Roasted Chickpeas and Creamy Hummus Sauce
SERVINGS4
|
COOK TIME20mins, plus 45 minutes roasting time |
PREP TIME10mins |
READY IN |
Ingredients
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400. Line 2 metal cookie sheets with baking paper.
- Place the sweet potato halves on one cookie sheet and set aside.
- Place 1 cup of chickpeas in a bowl and lightly drizzle with olive oil. Dust with salt and pepper and gently toss until lightly coated. Pour in a single layer on the second cookie sheet.
- Put the potatoes and the chickpeas in the oven for roasting. Roast the chickpeas until they become a medium shade of brown, about 15 minutes. The sweet potatoes should be cooked until they are fork tender, about 45 minutes.
- While the potatoes and chickpeas are roasting, prepare the hummus sauce.
- Place remaining 2 cups of chickpeas in a food processor.
- Place remaining 2 cups of chickpeas in a food processor and begin to process while pouring in a thin stream of olive oil. Once the chickpeas begin to become a paste, add milk, lemon juice, zest, garlic, salt and pepper. The consistency should be thin enough to drizzle on the potatoes, but still be visible (not watery).
- Once the potatoes and chickpeas have finished in the oven, top the potatoes with the roasted chickpeas and drizzle them generously with the hummus sauce. For added color, garnish with fresh parsley or feta cheese and serve warm or room temperature.
When I spent time at our mission house in Italy, I fell in love with fennel. For many, this might be a vegetable you see in the grocery store and have absolutely no idea what you would do with it. It is an underutilized vegetable and during the doldrums of winter, it might just become your new favorite. It looks a bit like it might be a member of the celery family or some sort of cabbage, but instead, it’s a flowering plant of the carrot family. The flavor is subtle, slightly sweet and has hints of anise, but don’t worry, you won’t be eating a Twizzler when it is cooked correctly. It can be eaten raw – thinly sliced in a salad or slaw or carmelized and used in a soup or stew. In this simple recipe, we’ll show you how to take this lovely vegetable and transform it into a velvety and flavorful side dish.
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Braised Fennel
SERVINGS6
|
COOK TIME15mins |
PREP TIME10mins |
READY IN |
Ingredients
Instructions
- Cut each fennel half into 3 wedges. Melt 1 Tbsp butter in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add fennel; cook 7 minutes or until browned, stirring occasionally.
- Add wine, stock, salt, pepper, minced garlic and thyme sprigs; bring to a simmer. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes or until tender. Increase heat to medium-high; cook, uncovered, 1 minute or until liquid is slightly thickened. Remove thyme sprigs from pan; discard.
- Melt remaining 1 Tbsp.butter in a small skillet over medium heat. Add breadcrumbs; cook 3 minutes or until browned, stirring frequently. Remove pan from heat; stir in parsley and cheese. Arrange fennel wedges on a plate and sprinkle with breadcrumb mixture.
Looking for the perfect game day snack? How about warm and yummy Fried Mozzarella Sticks. For some reason, I always thought these to be a daunting task until I served them at several Christmas occasions that we catered. In reality, they were quite simple and fun, even when serving for twenty-five guests. I decided to try a gluten-free version so that everyone could enjoy them. They came out more golden and beautiful than the regular ones! Take time to prep them well and give them a good freeze and you’ll be happy with the results. (See tip below for other uses for this recipe.) For that next Big Game, consider trying these out with your favorite marinara sauce.
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Rating: 5
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Gluten Free Golden Fried Mozzarella Sticks
SERVINGS4servings
|
COOK TIME30mins |
PREP TIME20mins |
READY IN2hrs |
Ingredients
Instructions
- Cut mozzarella into 3 x½" pieces. Place gluten-free flour in a shallow dish and add some salt and pepper to season. Whisk eggs and milk in another shallow dish. Put 1/2 gluten-free breadcrumbs (or panko) in a third shallow dish (refilling dish as needed with crumbs).
- Working with one piece of mozzarella at a time, dredge in flour, shaking off excess. Dip in egg mixture, then coat in breadcrumbs, pressing to adhere. (Tip: Keep one hand clean to transfer from one dish to the next to avoid clumping or keep a bowl of water handy to dip into a bowl between dipping) Repeat steps for a second coating. Transfer to a wire rack set inside a rimmed baking sheet. Repeat with remaining mozzarella. Transfer rack with mozzarella to freezer and freeze at least 1 hour and up to 3 days.
- Using a fry-daddy or a large pot pour in oil to come 2" up sides. Heat over medium-high until a deep-fry thermometer registers 350°. Working in batches (don't overcrowd the pan!), fry mozzarella, occasionally turning, until golden brown and crisp, 2–2½ minutes. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate and season with salt while still hot. Serve with Marinara Sauce.
**Tip: This is a basic "dredging" technique that can be used for chicken, veal or pork cutlets as well. Simply follow the same steps going from seasoned flour to egg/milk mixture to panko or bread crumbs and fry. Delicious!
I’ve come to sing the praises of the famous Eastham Turnip: legendary bulbous taproots that some Cape Codders value even more than turkey at Thanksgiving! Whether one prefers them boiled, roasted and buttered the old fashioned way or chooses to have them roasted with bacon and scallions in a more upscale manner, their distinctive flavor is almost always addictive!
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Rating: 5
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Roasted Garden Turnip with Bacon and Scallions
SERVINGS4servings
|
COOK TIME20mins |
PREP TIME10mins |
READY IN30mins |
Ingredients
Instructions
- Put whole turnips into a shallow baking pan with an inch of water. Salt the water beforehand if desired.
- Cover the pan and bake the turnips until they begin to soften and the water is absorbed, about 10 minutes.
- Spread slices of bacon and scallions over the turnips and cook uncovered until the turnips are soft and the bacon is crisp.
- Remove turnips, bacon and scallions and serve as a tasty side dish with your meal!
Since St. Lucia’s Day (or St. Lucy’s Day) is just around the corner on December 13th, we thought we’d share this special Swedish bread with you – fantastic for the Holidays. The celebration of the day comes from stories that were told by Monks who first brought Christianity to Sweden. “St Lucia was a young Christian girl who was martyred, killed for her faith, in 304. The most common story told about St Lucia is that she would secretly bring food to the persecuted Christians in Rome, who lived in hiding in the catacombs under the city. She would wear candles on her head, so she had both her hands free to carry things. Lucy means ‘light’ so this is a very appropriate name.” (see note below**)
December 13th was also the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year, in the old ‘Julian’ Calendar and a pagan festival of lights in Sweden was turned into St. Lucia’s Day. It is now celebrated by a girl dressing in a white dress with a red sash around her waist and a crown of candles on her head. Thus, the wreath of bread dotted with candied “berries.” If you’d like you can also add small candles to the cake as well for a more festive look.
** read more at https://www.whychristmas.com/cultures/sweden.shtml
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St. Lucia Bread
SERVINGS2loaves
|
COOK TIME20-25mins |
PREP TIME30mins |
READY IN2-3hrs |
Ingredients
Instructions
- In a large mixer, soften the yeast in the warm water
- Heat the milk until warm. Add the oil and sugar and stir to dissolve.
- Add this mixture to the yeast mixture in the mixer
- Add salt and saffron
- Add the 3 slightly beaten eggs and mix with dough hook.
- Add the lemon zest, citron and almonds and continue mixing
- One cup at a time, add the flour and mix well after each addition. Stop adding the flour when the dough starts pulling away from the side of the bowl. Adding more flour if necessary.
- Turn the dough out onto a floured board and knead for 5 min, or until dough becomes smooth and elastic; adding flour as necessary.
- Place the dough in a greased bowl, cover, and let rise in a warm place until almost doubled in size, about 1 hr. (At this point, you can refrigerate the dough, if you want to work with it later).
- Divide the dough into six equal balls and roll into large ropes and then braid three together, making two braids.
- Pinch the two ends together and tuck under, forming two circular loaves.
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line two sheet pans with baking paper, or grease, and put a braided loaf on each pan.
- Cover and let rise in a warm place, until doubled.
- Combine the remaining egg with a tablespoon of water to make an egg wash, and brush on the braids.
- Bake for about 20-25 min or until the loaf feels firm to the touch. If you would like to use a thermometer, the internal temperature should read about 190 degrees.
- While the bread is baking, prepare your frosting, mixing all ingredients until smooth and on the thicker side. Cut your cherries in half.
- Remove bread from the oven and cool slightly, then decorate, using the green cherries as leaves, and the red as berries.
