NEW LIFE FOR THE LEFTOVERS

 

Going to recycle the roast pork, sweet potato flans.

Remember those sweet potato flans from last week’s blog? We were only three for Christmas dinner, but I had made enough for a banquet. I frequently do that if I am testing the proportions for a recipe. Then I need to figure out what to do with the leftovers.

I found in the cupboard a carton of coconut milk (unsweetened beverage, not canned coconut “milk” for cooking) whose expiry date had come and gone. And some leeks that were threatening to expire as well as a bag of chopped chard, passed over more than once. Soup? Yes, a curried sweet-potato soup with coconut milk and chard.

Leftover sweet potato flans, mashed up and cooked with curry and coconut milk, get a new lease on life as soup.

Chunks of pork get recycled with black-eyed peas with spicy sofrito--good fortune for the New Year.

The main dish for the holiday meal was a boneless pork shoulder roast, done with a Venezuelan-style pernil marinade with orange juice (that recipe is here.). That pork went round a few more times, but in different guises. First was Chinese-style red-cooked pork. Since the pork was already well-seasoned and cooked, all I had to do was make the rich sauce—using leftover pork gravy, soy sauce, Sherry, ginger and star anise—and reheat chunks of pork in the sauce. I accompanied the pork with rice and stir-fried cabbage, recycled from a cabbage dish served at another meal.

The end chunks of the roast are heading for 2024 in a pot of black-eyed peas. Those guarantors of good fortune in the new year were cooked and ready-to-go in the freezer. All I needed to do was add a spicy sofrito. (The recipe for black-eyed peas with pork and sofrito is here. A vegetarian recipe for black-eyed peas is here.)

Even the pork marinade, half of which was stashed in the freezer, will re-emerge on New Year's Eve as a marinade for magret de pato, duck breast, with a different sort of orange sauce!

Curried Sweet Potato Soup

Sopa de Batatas al Curry

Some of the sweet potatoes I used for the soup were leftover flans that contained grated cheese and had been cooked with eggs. If you use plain pureed sweet potatoes, you may want to add a little grated cheese.  Once cooked, blend the soup. Add the cooked chard before serving.

Serves 4.

2 cups pureed sweet potatoes

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 cup chopped leeks or onions

1 clove chopped garlic

½ apple, diced

1 teaspoon curry powder

½ teaspoon grated fresh ginger

4 cups unsweetened coconut milk beverage

Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

¼ cup grated cheese (optional)

3 tablespoons lemon juice

1 cup cooked, chopped chard 

Chopped scallions, to garnish

Greek yogurt, to garnish

Smoked pimentón (sweet or hot)

Heat the oil in a pan and sauté the leeks and garlic until they are softened, 5 minutes. Add the apple, curry powder, ginger, and the pureed sweet potatoes. Mash the sweet potatoes into the sautéed leeks. Add the coconut milk. Season with salt and pepper. Add grated cheese, if using. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and cook 15 minutes, until leeks and apple are very soft. 

Use an immersion blender to blend the soup until quite smooth. Add lemon juice and reheat the soup before serving. Add chard to serve. Garnish with scallions and yogurt. Sprinkle with pimentón.

More recipes for recycling leftover food:

"Ropa Vieja" (Hash).

Chickpea Puree with Croutons.

Stuffed Eggplant with Lamb.

Cous Cous with Leftover Lamb.

Orange-Olive Salad with Leftover Chicken.

New Year's resolution: Join the movement! SIN DESPERDICIOS!  NO FOOD WASTE!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!    FELIZ AÑO NUEVO!

SWEET POTATOES, SAVORY OR SWEET

 

Sweet potato flans, savory (top) and sweet.

My dear friend, Charlotte (gone from us almost a year now), had a special dish for holidays—sweet potato soufflé. Although it was served as a side with the main course (usually stuffed turkey), it had sugar and sweet spices. I never liked her sweet potato soufflé—it was too much like dessert!

So, why not turn it into dessert? And make a savory version with herbs, cheese, and some hot spices to go with the main course? Here’s the scoop.

Char called the dish “soufflé,” but, although the sweet potatoes puff up during baking, they quickly deflate when resting. Both the sweet and savory versions are more like a flan, or a timbale, sometimes called a pudding. With that in mind, I decided to bake off some of them in flan cups. For easy unmolding, silicone muffin cups are best. Otherwise, generously oil the cups and dust them with flour. The flan can also be baked in an oven casserole.

Oh, incidentally, I am not serving the savory and the sweet flans at the same meal! That would be a little excessive. The savory version makes a good side with roast pork or ham, turkey, salmon. 

Savory sweet potato flans have cheese and a pinch of hot pimentón. A touch of vinegar balances the natural sweetness of the potatoes. A topping of crisp bacon contrasts with the smooth flan.

Same basic ingredients, but with sweet spices and cream cheese instead of  aged Manchego. Top the flans with crunchy walnuts and a drizzle of caramel sauce.

Mashed Sweet Potatoes

Puré de Batatas

Sweet potatoes in Spanish are batatas or boniatos. 

You will need cooked, mashed sweet potatoes for the flan. They can be roasted or boiled. I was making a double batch—one sweet, one savory—using two pounds of sweet potatoes. I chose to peel them, cut them up and boil them. One pound of sweet potatoes makes approximately 1 ½ cups mashed.

1 pound sweet potatoes (to make 1 ½ cups mashed)

Salt

Lemon zest

Peel the sweet potatoes, cut them in chunks and cover with water. Add salt and lemon zest. Bring to a boil and cook until they are fork tender, 15 to 18 minutes. Drain thoroughly. Mash the sweet potatoes with a fork or potato masher.

Mashed sweet potatoes with ingredients for the flans--savory on the left and sweet on the right.

Savory Sweet Potato Flan with Cheese

Flan de Batatas con Queso

The flan can be baked in individual molds and unmolded to serve, pictured, or in a casserole to be served direct to the table.

I used a cured Manchego (sheeps’ milk) cheese for this flan. Any firm, melting cheese could be substituted.

The smooth flan needs something crispy or crunchy to go with it. Chopped pistachios, crisp bacon bits, frizzled onions—take your pick.

 

Serves 8-10.

1 ½ cups cooked and mashed sweet potatoes

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 shallots, finely chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

1 tablespoon dry Sherry

¼ teaspoon pimentón picante de la Vera (smoked hot paprika) or cayenne

1 tablespoon flour

½ cup whole milk

½ teaspoon salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Pinch of thyme

1 tablespoon Sherry vinegar

½ cup grated Manchego

3 eggs, separated

2 drops of lemon juice

Fried bacon bits to garnish (optional)

Chopped pistachios to garnish (optional)

Greek yogurt, to serve (optional)

Heat the oil in a skillet on medium and sauté the shallot and garlic until softened, 4 minutes. Add the Sherry and cook off the alcohol. Add the pimentón and the flour and stir to mix with the oil. Add the milk and whisk the sauce until it thickens. Season with salt, pepper and thyme.

Preheat oven to 375ºF. Oil 8 to 10 muffin cups or an oven-safe casserole. 

Add the sweet potatoes to the skillet and mix well with the sauce. Stir in the vinegar and the grated cheese. Remove the pan from the heat. 

Beat egg whites stiff.

Stir the yolks together. Spoon some of the sweet potatoes into the yolks and mix. Add the yolks-potatoes to the pan and combine thoroughly.

Beat the egg whites until almost stiff. Beat in a pinch of salt and 2 drops of lemon juice. Beat until whites hold stiff peaks. Stir a quarter of the whites into the sweet potato mixture. Gently fold the remaining egg whites into the sweet potatoes. Spoon the mixture into 10 muffin cups or a casserole. Bake until the tops are golden and the flan has puffed up, 15 to 20 minutes for the muffin cups, 25 to 30 minutes for the casserole.

Unmold the cups onto an oiled serving platter. The casserole can go straight to the table. Serve the flans hot, warm or room temperature. Garnish, as desired with bacon bits, pistachios, yogurt, etc.

Flans puff up in baking, deflate as they cool.

Sweet Potato Flan

Flan de Batatas

You could caramelize the flan molds, if desired. I chose not to bother, but served the flans with a (store-bought) caramel sauce to drizzle over the tops once the flans were unmolded. Another possibility would be to use molasses instead of caramel—very reminiscent of a traditional Málaga dish of baked sweet potatoes with miel de caña, molasses.

1 pound sweet potatoes, cooked and mashed (1 ½ cups)

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon ground ginger

1/8 teaspoon ground cardamom

Grating of fresh nutmeg

½ teaspoon grated lemon zest

2 tablespoon olive oil

1 tablespoon flour

1 tablespoon PX (sweet) wine

½ cup whole milk

¼ cup brown sugar

½ cup cream cheese, softened

1 tablespoon + 2 drops lemon juice

3 eggs, separated

Pinch of salt

Walnuts, to garnish

Molasses or caramel sauce, to serve (optional)

Whipped cream, optional

Mix sweet potatoes and cheese.

Mash the cooked sweet potatoes with the cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, nutmeg and lemon zest. 

Heat the oil in a saucepan and stir in the flour. Cook the flour 1 minute. Add the wine and cook 1 minute, stirring. Whisk in the milk and cook until the sauce thickens. Add the brown sugar and stir well. Stir in the sweet potatoes. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the cream cheese and lemon juice.

Preheat oven to 375ºF. Oil 8 to 10 muffin cups or an oven-safe casserole.

Stir the egg yolks together in a bowl. Add a big spoonful of the sweet potatoes and mix well. Stir the yolk-sweet potato mixture into the pan and combine well. 

Beat the egg whites until almost stiff. Add salt and 2 drops of lemon juice and beat until the whites hold stiff peaks. Stir a quarter of the whites into the sweet potatoes to lighten them. Fold the remaining whites into the sweet potatoes.

Add caramel sauce, walnuts.

Spoon the flan mixture into the muffin cups or casserole. Bake until tops are golden and puffed, 15-20 minutes for the individual cups; 30 minutes for the casserole.

Unmold cups onto a serving platter. Use an offset spatula to transfer them to dessert plates. Garnish, as desired, with walnuts, a dribble of molasses or caramel, whipped cream. Serve warm or chilled.

More recipes with sweet potatoes:

Sweet Potato Fries.

Salad of Sweet Potatoes, Fennel and Clementines.

Sweet Potato Buns.

Turnovers with Sweet Potato Jam (Empanadillas)

Sweet Potato-Molasses Parfait.

Sweet Potato Compote.

A representation of a market in Bethlehem, from the Belén, or nativity scene, at the parochial church in my pueblo. Depicted are crates of sweet potatoes and potatoes, which certainly did not exist in that part of the world in Jesus's time! The figures in the dioramas are about half life-size. 

Happy Christmas! Feliz Navidad!

PIQUILLOS! THE MOST FESTIVE VEGETABLE

 

Piquillo peppers are holiday red!

Their brilliant red color surely qualifies piquillo peppers as the perfect holiday vegetable. Dress ‘em up, dress ‘em down, stuff them or cut them in strips, serve hot or cold, sauced or simply with extra virgin olive oil. 

Piquillo peppers are those small, flame-red peppers you buy in jars or cans at the grocery store. Cooks rave about them for their complex sweet and piquant flavor. The variety of pepper is grown in Navarra (northern Spain), in the area around Lodosa in the Ebro valley. The name, piquillo, means little “beak,” for the pointy tip of the pepper. 

Jar label for Lodosa piquillos.

Pimientos de Piquillo de Lodosa have PDO—protected denomination of origin. Piquillo peppers from Navarra are flame-roasted, hand-peeled and packed in cans or jars. The authentic Lodosa peppers contain, besides the peppers, only salt and an acidulating agent. However, not all piquillos are from Lodosa! Check the labels, because, even in Spain, the piquillos of many brands are imported from Peru and have added sugar.

I once grew piquillo peppers in my vegetable garden. They looked gorgeous, but proved impossible to roast and peel, so thin were the skins. I’m happy just to be able to buy them. 

The classic Basque recipe for stuffed piquillos is with bacalao, salt cod, in a cream sauce. After filling, the peppers are dipped in egg and fried before being finished in the oven. I usually do a similar recipe, using shrimp instead of the cod. (See below for links to more piquillo recipes.) But this week, I’m making a vegetarian version, with a mushroom stuffing. It’s a fine starter for a holiday meal. 

Piquillo peppers stuffed with mushrooms make a festive starter.

Peppers bake with a cheese sauce on top.

Stuffing for peppers is vegetarian.

Piquillo Peppers with Mushroom Stuffing and Cheese Sauce

Pimientos de Piquillo Rellenos con Setas y Salsa de Queso

Ideally, the stuffing would be made with seasonal wild mushrooms, but cultivated ones are delicious too. I used half ordinary white mushrooms and half oyster mushrooms. 

Although the recipe is vegetarian, it is not vegan. If preferred, substitute unsweetened  almond milk for the cream and use a picada topping instead of cheese sauce. (See the recipe for almond-hazelnut picada  here. ) 

Brandy gives the mushrooms real depth of flavor. Brandy de Jerez is aged in Sherry casks. 

The piquillo peppers can be stuffed in advance of baking. Store them, covered and refrigerated. Bring to room temperature before adding the sauce and baking. 

Serves 4 as a starter.

12 piquillo peppers (from a 225-gram jar)

10 ounces mushrooms

¼ cup olive oil + additional for the baking dish

2 shallots, finely chopped

1 clove garlic, finely chopped

¼ teaspoon pimentón de la Vera (smoked paprika) + more to garnish

3 tablespoons Brandy de Jerez

1 small (4-ounce) cooked potato

½ teaspoon salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Pinch of thyme

Pinch of pimentón picante or cayenne

½ cup light cream or evaporated milk

For the cheese sauce:

You will only need about half of this cheese sauce for 12 piquillos. Save the remaining sauce for another use. Broccoli gratin, perhaps?

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 ½ tablespoons flour

¼ teaspoon smoked pimentón

1 cup milk

½ teaspoon salt 

Freshly ground black pepper

2 ounces grated cheese (about 1 cup)

¼ cup hot water

Sauté mushrooms.

Remove peppers from the jar, saving their juices.

Trim mushrooms as needed and chop them coarsely. Heat the oil in a heavy skillet on medium-high. Add the mushrooms, shallots and garlic. Sauté until mushrooms are lightly browned and are beginning to sizzle in the oil. Stir in the pimentón and immediately add the brandy. Cook on medium until the alcohol cooks off, 2 minutes. 

Cut the potato in small dice and add it to the pan with salt, pepper, thyme and picante. Cook 2 minutes, then add the cream or evaporated milk. Cook, stirring and mashing the potatoes slightly. Remove the pan from the heat.

Stuff peppers.

Lightly oil a baking dish that will hold the peppers in one layer. Use a teaspoon (and fingers) to fill the piquillo peppers, gently pushing the filling to the tips. As they are filled, lay them in the baking dish. (The stuffed peppers can be prepared in advance and refrigerated, covered. Bring them to room temperature before baking.)

Stuffed and ready to bake.

For the cheese sauce: Heat the oil in a saucepan and stir in the flour and pimentón. Cook on medium heat for 2 minutes. Whisk in the milk and stir the sauce until it thickens. Season with salt and pepper and cook the sauce 5 minutes. Stir in the grated cheese. Remove the pan from the heat.

Preheat oven to 400ºF. Drizzle the peppers with olive oil and reserved juices drained from the peppers. Pour hot water around the peppers in the baking dish. Spoon the cheese sauce on top of the peppers. Bake the peppers until bubbly and the sauce lightly golden, 15 minutes. Serve hot.

Serve the peppers in the baking dish or carefully lift them out onto individual plates.

More recipes with piquillo peppers:

Piquillo Peppers Stuffed with Shrimp.

Piquillo Pepper Dip.

Cod with Piquillo Peppers, Bilbao Style.

Piquillo Pepper Alioli.

Braised Veal with Piquillo Peppers.