I have a theory that the only people who don’t like sweet potatoes haven’t tried them. Or maybe they have tried them but they’ve tried them plain, cooked half-heartedly in a microwave and topped with something lackluster, like fat-free sour cream or worse: fake butter.


Sweet potatoes also take a lot of flack when it comes to French fries. Dedicated eaters have strong opinions about how they like their French fries: thick steak fries to drag through ketchup or barbecue sauce, thin crispy pommes frites to eat sprinkled with sea salt or truffle oil.

Now I’m giving myself a craving for French fries.

My point here is that sweet potatoes are easily an unsung hero in the tuber family and without having tried them in a wide variety of recipes that have different flavors and textures it’s hard to give them the credit they deserve.

Sweet potatoes offer a myriad of health benefits so when you’re making a hot, stick-to-your-ribs, spicy chili recipe they are a perfect way to inject a little nutrition into your dinner.

Recipe

Chipotle-Spiced Sweet Potato Chili

by In Good Taste on February 11, 2011 in Chili, Soups February 11, 2011

ChiliSoups

4.50 Mitt(s) 12 Rating(s)

Prep Time 30 Minutes

Cook Time 15 Minutes

Difficulty Intermediate

Servings 6

6

• + Print Recipe

Recipe Description

A hearty chili packed with sweet potatoes, black beans and smoky chipotle peppers with a little bit of fire.

Preparation Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place sweet potatoes on a rimmed baking sheet or jelly roll pan and toss with one tablespoon of olive oil. Season with salt and pepper as desired and bake for approximately 8–10 minutes or until sweet potatoes are just tender.

Heat a deep heavy pot over medium heat and add the remaining olive oil. Sauté the onions until lightly caramelized. Add the garlic, chili powder, chipotle powder and cumin and cook for an additional minute or until spices are fragrant. Stir them frequently so they don’t burn at the bottom of the pan.

Deglaze the pan with the beer and scrape up any browned bits (these are called fond and they’re full of flavor) from the bottom of the pan. Add the tomatoes, chipotle peppers, barbecue sauce, Worcestershire sauce and hot sauce.

Simmer the chili for about 15-20 minutes or until it begins to thicken slightly. Add the corn, beans, sweet potatoes, salt and pepper to taste.

Serve in a bowl topped with crushed tortilla chips, if desired.

Ingredients

• 1 pound Sweet Potatoes, Peeled And Cubed Into 1/2 Inch Dice
• 2 Tablespoons Extra-virgin Olive Oil, Divided
• 1 whole Onion, Medium Dice
• 2 cloves Garlic, Rough Chopped
• 1 Tablespoon Ground Chili Pepper
• 2 teaspoons Ground Cumin
• 1 teaspoon Ground Chipotle Pepper Powder
• 1 cup Dark Beer
• 1 can 28 Oz Can Whole Tomatoes
• 2 whole Chipotle Peppers In Adobo Sauce, Chopped
• ½ cups Barbecue Sauce
• 2 Tablespoons Worcestershire Sauce
• 1 Tablespoon Red Hot Sauce (more If Desired)
• 1-½ cup Frozen Corn
• 1 can (15 Oz. Can) Black Beans, Drained And Rinsed
• 2 cups Crushed Tortilla Chips, If Desired
• Salt And Pepper, to taste

 
 
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Maris Callahan is the author of In Good Taste, where she writes fresh, simple recipes for young professionals and busy cooks. When she isn’t working on her next recipe she is usually reading, writing, eating—or doing a combination of all three.

I continue to love, adore, and revere panko.

Panko are Japanese breadcrumbs, and are lighter and flakier than regular breadcrumbs. They absorb less oil, too, so after baking or frying they still have an incredibly crunchy texture.

Here’s what I really love: topping casseroles with panko breadcrumbs. They’re the modern day crushed potato chips or corn flakes. I make a zucchini and tomato casserole that’s absolutely transformed by the crunch of panko. I once made an Eggplant Parmesan with panko that pretty much changed my entire life. Just check out this list of recipes on Tasty Kitchen that use panko break crumbs…its magic can’t be denied!

Panko Recipes on Tasty Kitchen

Baked pastas are probably my favorite things to top with Panko. As perfectly delicious as they are on their own, the little crunch (and subtle flavor) that panko crumbs bring is such a treat. Try it on your favorite baked pasta dish; you’ll see what I mean!

Here’s a good, basic Mac & Cheese dish that’s perfect for your Labor Day potluck. Topped with beautiful tomatoes and panko crumbs, it’s pretty, crunchy…and will make you swoon.

 

Start by grating a pound of cheese. I’m using cheddar and Fontina, but you can use any combination of cheese you’d like. (You can even throw in some Gorgonzola or goat cheese. Yum.)

In a skillet melt 1/2 stick of butter over medium-low heat.

Sprinkle 1/4 cup of flour over the melted butter.

Whisk the flour into the butter until it’s totally combined.

Next, pour in 2 1/2 cups of milk.

Measure a couple of teaspoons of mustard powder.

Dump it in, and whisk, cooking the mixture for 2 to 3 minutes or until it starts to deepen in color. Add 1 teaspoon of salt and plenty of black pepper.

The mixture will be thick enough to coat a spoon.

Throw in the cheese!

Stir it together until the cheese melts.

Throw in the cooked pasta and stir it together.

Now rub the bottom of a baking dish with butter.

Pour the pasta in the dish…

And smooth it out to even the surface.

Now grab the package of panko crumbs…

And coat the surface generously! I’m not talking a tablespoon here, folks. I’m talking a bunch. You want to taste that crunch!

Now, slice up some Roma tomatoes. Not too thin—you’ll need them to hold together during the baking process.

Arrange them neatly over the surface of the dish.

Pretty! Now sprinkle the tomatoes lightly with salt and pepper.

Now add another layer of panko crumbs. Trust me. You want the tomatoes to be crunchy, too!

Now bake it at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. At the end, turn on the broiler and let it brown the top a little more. Watch it the whole time, though! You don’t want to burn this beauty.

 

And it is a beauty.

Look at the gorgeous topping!

What I love about this, too, is that the tomatoes make it easy to divide portions. Every portion gets a tomato!

I love it when the world makes sense.

And I love this macaroni and cheese.

Throw some panko crumbs onto your next pasta or vegetable casserole. They really change things up.

Enjoy!

Here’s a link to the printable. Make it for Labor Day. Speaking from experience, it’s almost more delicious at room temperature!

Mac and Cheese…and Panko

__________________________________

This is the last in a series of posts featuring Kikkoman panko crumbs (though it will hardly be the last time I use them!) Special thanks to Kikkoman for sponsoring this series.

 
Mmmm, does my house smell yummy. If you walked in right now, you’d drool.

 
Then you’d faint when you saw my laundry pile. But that’s another story!

Grab a sirloin steak and throw it into a dish or a Ziploc bag.

This is Ponzu sauce!

Pour it over the beef, add some lime juice, then cover it with plastic wrap (or seal the bag) and refrigerate it for at least a few hours. I like to do this step in the morning and let it marinate all day!)

Separately, slice two chicken breasts into strips and throw it in a bowl or plastic bag. Pour the ponzu sauce (with lime juice) over the top, cover (or seal) and marinate.

 
Now go…live your life!

To make the fajitas, wrap a stack of flour tortillas in aluminum foil and warm in the oven. (Though I went for the storebought stuff this time, try making homemade tortillas if you have the time—you won’t regret it!)

Slice up the veggies. I used onion and three colors of bell peppers because I love color, and because they were in my fridge! But I have made fajitas using sliced mushrooms, zucchini, and summer squash—anything you have on hand.

Heat some canola oil in a large skillet over high heat. You want to sizzle these veggie, baby!

Throw in the veggies and pour in a little Ponzu.

Let them cook over high heat for 4 to 5 minutes, or until they get a little color. You don’t want them to be soggy, though, so taste along the way and remove them while they’re still crisp.

Remove them to a plate and keep warm.

Grill up the steak until medium rare, about 1 1/2 to 2 minutes on both sides.

Remove the steak to a cutting board and let it rest while you cook the chicken.

Throw the chicken into the same skillet in which you cooked the veggies.

Flip and cook the chicken until it’s nice and brown (and done), then pour it onto a plate. Remove the tortillas from the oven and get whatever fixins you’d like: sour cream, cilantro, pico de gallo, guacamole (or just sliced avocado), chopped olives—just go for it!

Throw the veggies on the tortilla…

Then throw on the chicken.

Then I threw on some cheddar…

And sour cream, because I’m a bad, bad girl.

As for the beef, slice it very thinly. You’ll notice I took two different approaches with the chicken and the beef. For the chicken, I sliced it up, then marinated it, then cooked it. But for the beef, if you slice it before you cook it, you won’t be able to achieve medium rare doneness—it’ll cook too much and too fast. So I like to grill it in one piece, then slice away.

Pink and beautiful!

I loved these so much, I’m actually considering serving fajitas for our Fourth of July party. I can do a huge iron skillet on the grill itself, grill several sirloins, then just have a big spread set up with all the fixins.

It’ll be a mess…but a delicious one.

Enjoy! Here’s a link to the printable recipe: Ponzu Beef and Chicken Fajitas

Panko bread crumbs, in a word, are delicious. They’re indispensable. They’ve saved the word. And they’ve really burst into the mainstream in the last few years, and are available in most larger supermarkets—even stores in my neck of the woods!

Panko are Japanese breadcrumbs, and are lighter and flakier than regular breadcrumbs. They absorb less oil, too, so after frying they result in an incredibly crunchy texture. I just love panko. They’re a wonderful creation!

When I set out to make a recipe with panko bread crumbs, I started in the direction of something Asian/exotic. But Erika set me straight and said, simply, “Why not just make something simple…like mozzarella sticks?”

So guess what I did? I made mozzarella sticks!

Let me back up: my family LOVES fried mozzarella sticks. Loves them. Even Marlboro Man. I make fried mozzarella quite a bit, but I’ll tell you that without fail, they love the panko version the best. The panko crumbs are so light and incredibly crispy, which is such a necessary contrast to the soft, melted mozzarella inside. Coating the mozzarella adequately is the key; I’ll show you the best way I’ve found to get it all to stay put. And the great thing is, you can use this same method—and same recipe—with lost of other fried items. Zucchini spears would be perfect. I’ll wait till my garden is exploding with them!

Here we go: Panko Mozzarella Sticks!

Grab the panko breadcrumbs.

You’ll need a bunch of string cheese—one string cheese per two fried mozzarella sticks you’d like to make.

You’ll need a bowl of flour…

A couple of eggs…

A little milk…

And some dried parsley flakes.

Add the parsley flakes to the panko crumbs…

And stir them together with a fork. Now, you could certainly sprinkle in a little salt, garlic salt, or other seasoning mix—even a little cayenne pepper—but I wanted to keep things simple. I don’t think the crumbs really need much help.

Next, splash a little milk into the eggs…

And whip it together with a fork.

Finally, unwrap as many pieces of string cheese as you need…

And just slice them in half with a sharp knife.

Now, this is just a great, basic way to bread basically anything with panko crumbs. Use this method for everything from chicken tenders to zucchini spears. In this case, just set one of the pieces of mozzarella in the bowl of flour…

And roll it around to lightly coat.

Next, dip the flour-coated mozzarella in the egg/milk mixture.

Coat it completely…

Then place it straight into the seasoned panko crumbs.

Rather than roll it around and disturb the coating, I just use my hand to scoop panko crumbs on top of the mozzarella so that it’s adequately coated.

Pat it gently to make sure it’s all coated with crumbs, then gently remove from the crumbs…

And place on a clean tray or cookie sheet.

Repeat until all the pieces are coated.

Now—this is an important step: Place the tray, uncovered, directly into the freezer for 20 to 30 minutes. This will flash freeze the mozzarella sticks (at least partly), which will help them stay together better when it’s time to fry, and will also keep the mozzarella from melted too quickly when it hits the hot oil.

When you’re ready to fry ‘em up, heat a good inch to an inch-and-a-half of canola oil over medium heat. Medium high or high, at least on my stove, proves to be a little too hot for panko crumbs. Medium’s about right, but you can sort of gauge your stove and see what you need to do.

Pull the frozen sticks out of the freezer…

And carefully add a few to the hot oil.

Oh! And I always feel like saying this: be careful with pans of hot oil if you have cute little roly poly kids walking around the house. I always, out of habit—even now that my roly poly kids are getting bigger—keep pans on the back burner of the stove (handles far out of reach) if I’m going to fry with oil. It’s just one of those things that crawled into my brain at an early stage of parenting, and something I’m going to keep bugging you about anytime I share a recipe that involves frying with hot oil.

Hope you don’t mind.

Things will move quickly—be ready to roll them over to the other side when the first side gets brown. The trickiest part of making these is getting the oil to just the right temp in order to melt the cheese without burning the crumbs, but it isn’t difficult to get the swing of it right away. Keep in mind that the cheese will continue to soften/melt after you remove them from the oil.

When they’re nice and golden, remove them to a paper towel-lined plate.

Yum! Look at the yummy panko breading. If I took a bite of this, you could hear the crispiness in Yonkers!

Pretty dish.

Pretty dish filled with marinara sauce.

My kids and husband were gathered around as I was taking these photos. I had to beat them away with my tongs.

Because I wanted to try one first.

The Verdict: Perfection. These are not your typical run-of-the-mill fried mozzarella sticks. The panko crumbs absolutely make them. They add a much-needed crispiness and texture to this widely loved (but sometimes tired) bar-and-grill food. You’ll love them!

Here’s the printable recipe:

Panko Mozzarella Sticks

And remember: use this flour-egg/milk-panko breading process on any number of things:

chicken tenders
zucchini spears
raw, deveined shrimp
sweet potato sticks

The list goes on!

 
Well, that title caught your attention, I bet! The subject is steak and there are definitely 2 camps. The first is “Meat. Gimme only meat!” And the other is “Drizzle my meat with some luxurious sauce!”

Whether you’re in the nudist camp or love to be seduced by sauce, I’m sure you’ll agree that you can’t beat a well-cooked steak. Um … unless you’re a vegetarian and in that case, head on over here to Tasty Kitchen’s Salad Category!

So, if I was asked the question: How do you like your steak: naked or dressed? I would answer, “Naughtily half-dressed!” I love a creamy, cheesy sauce, just enough sauce to tease. But I also want my steak to show a little skin, baby!

What about you? Do you prefer your steaks Naked or Dressed?

 
 
Grilled Steaks with Gorgonzola Cream Sauce

4 steaks of your choice, 1 1/4″ thick (strip, ribeye, sirloin, filet etc.)
2 tablespoons cooking oil
salt and freshly ground black pepper
Gorgonzola Cream Sauce (see below)

1. Let steaks sit on the counter for 15 minutes to take off the chill. Pat the steaks very dry, brush each side with the oil and season with salt and pepper on both sides (go easy on seasoning the steak with salt—the gorgonzola is a salty cheese).

2. Heat a grill pan or frying pan over high heat. When very hot, add the steaks and cook 3 minutes. Flip the steaks, turn the heat to medium-high and cook for an additional 6 minutes or until you reach desired level of doneness. Let steaks rest. Top with the Gorgonzola Cream Sauce.

 
Gorgonzola Cream Sauce
Serves 4

1/2 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley or chives
4 ounces crumbled gorgonzola
2 ounces grated parmesan
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

In a small sauce pan over medium heat, stir in heavy cream, parsley or chives, gorgonzola and parmesan cheese. Season with nutmeg. Whisk and let simmer for 30 seconds or until the much of the cheese has melted. Serve the cream sauce over steaks.

 
 
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Jaden Hair is a food writer, television personality, and food photographer based in Tampa Bay, Florida. Find more of her recipes in her blog, Steamy Kitchen, where you can also read more about Jaden’s new book, The Steamy Kitchen Cookbook, and the rave reviews it’s received!

 
If you celebrated Easter this past Sunday and served a centerpiece ham, you must have leftover ham sitting in your fridge. By now, you’re probably a little tired of the usual: ham sandwiches, egg ‘n’ ham, ham casserole, etc. Or perhaps you’ve already banished the remaining ham to the freezer?!

So yesterday, Erika posted The Theme is…Grilled Cheese! and I thought I’d play off the warm sandwich idea and make a panini with leftover Easter ham, strawberries and brie cheese, an idea my little eye spied in Southern Living Magazine.

I also threw in some arugula growing in my backyard (which grows like a weed! My goodness, I can’t keep up with the arugula production at my home!) and spread some raspberry habanero jelly from this lovely lady who makes them in small batches.

So imagine this:

Slightly salty ham + sweet fresh strawberries + melty oozy brie + a gentle spicy sweet heat + satisfying crunch of the bread

I think your leftover ham would be darn proud to be in this sandwich!

 
What’s in this Strawberry Ham Brie Panini:

1 brie wheel
good crusty Italian bread
nice thick slices ham
big ol’ handful of baby arugula
fresh strawberries, sliced
raspberry habanero pepper jelly (or pepper jelly of your choice)

 
I know you probably have even better ideas for leftover ham. Send ‘em on this way!

 
 
_______________________________________

Jaden Hair is a food writer, television personality, and food photographer based in Tampa Bay, Florida. Find more of her recipes in her blog, Steamy Kitchen, where you can also read more about Jaden’s new book, The Steamy Kitchen Cookbook, and the rave reviews it’s received!

 
I think everyone should have a magical butter sauce recipe up their sleeves. One that you can pull out of a hat in an instant, without even looking the recipe up.

Don’t know what to make for dinner and don’t have time to think? Take any ingredient, sear, steam, broil, grill or even microwave … and pour the magical butter sauce on top. Bam!

Instant delicious.

I have several magical butter sauce recipes, and I discovered one yesterday that so far, I’ve had with four different dishes. Yes, in the past 24 hours, I’ve already paired it with pan-seared salmon (first photo), steamed asparagus, grilled artichoke halves and microwaved green beans.

That’s how magical it is!

What? You want me to share? Oh of course!

The magical butter sauce is derived from a brand new cookbook that I got called Southern Living Farmers Market Cookbook. Of course, they don’t call it magical butter sauce, but that’s my name for it, and I’m sticking with it!

 
 
Magical Butter Sauce Recipe

In a microwave safe bowl, melt 1/3 cup butter. Add 2 tablespoons fruit preserves (apricot, mango-jalapeno, blackberry, etc.), 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar, a good turn of the pepper mill and a generous pinch of salt.

Pour this over whatever your little heart desires.

And then tuck this simple little recipe in your mind’s recipe box, right between your killer cocktail and spaghetti ‘n meatballs recipe. There, you’ll always have it now!

Do you have a favorite magical sauce recipe you can divulge? One that is simple yet tastes good on everything?

 
 
_______________________________________

Jaden Hair is a food writer, television personality, and food photographer based in Tampa Bay, Florida. Find more of her recipes in her blog, Steamy Kitchen, where you can also read more about Jaden’s new book, The Steamy Kitchen Cookbook, and the rave reviews it’s received!

 
One of my dreams is to write a children’s cookbook. One that doesn’t promote sneaking brussels sprouts in brownies or spending an hour carving a bunny rabbit out of an apple. Not that I don’t think it’s cute, but I just don’t have an hour to play with an exacto knife on my vegetables and fruit.

So how do I get my kids to eat vegetables? Most of the time it’s easy, as long as the vegetable is a “not-tomato.” And I’ll confess that one of my tricks is to cut the vegetables so small that it’s too much of a bother for them to pick them out one by one.

You see, my kids are hungry and impatient just like me, and I sure know how to work it.

With a soup like this, my kids are so preoccupied with spelling silly words like “poopypants” and “gyarwk” (Nathan doesn’t quite know how to spell yet) that they really don’t notice or mind the vegetables.

These meatballs are made out of ground turkey, and are shaped into teensy tiny-sized “boulders,” perfect for kiddy mouths.

My assistant, Shelisa, whipped together this soup for my kids while I was frantically arranging and rearranging Japanese mushrooms for a client photoshoot.

Here’s the recipe for the ABC Meatball Soup.

How do you get your kids to eat and enjoy their vegetables?

Recipe

ABC Meatball Soup

by steamykitchen on March 3, 2010 in Brothy Soups, Soups
See this recipe post on steamykitchen’s site! March 3, 2010

Brothy SoupsSoups

4.50 Mitt(s) 2 Rating(s)

Prep Time 15 Minutes

Cook Time 30 Minutes

Difficulty Easy

Servings 4

4

• + Print Recipe

Recipe Description

Combining fun, the chance to spell silly words, and vegetables cut so small that it’s too much work to pick them out, this soup is one of the ways I get my kids to eat and enjoy their vegetables.

Preparation Instructions

There are a couple of tricks here. Sauté your vegetables first before adding the broth so that you get a nice mellow, sweet caramelization going on with the vegetables. Also, cook your pasta separate from the soup, and then combine them at the end just before serving. Dry pasta releases flavorless starch (which is why your pasta water is cloudy), and you don’t want that in your precious soup.

1. In a large bowl, combine the meatball ingredients and roll into three-quarter inch meatballs.

2. Heat a large pot over medium-high heat with just half of the olive oil. When hot, add the meatballs, not touching. Cook the meatballs until browned on all sides, about two minutes. You don’t have to cook the meatballs through, as you will be adding them back into the soup to finish cooking. Scoop out the meatballs and set aside.

3. Pour in the remaining olive oil, and when hot, add the diced carrots, celery, bell pepper, onion. Sauté until the vegetables have softened, about two minutes. Season with the ground cumin and ground coriander. Give it a good stir. Pour in the chicken broth and water. Add the meatballs back in. Bring to a boil then turn the heat to low and let simmer for 20 minutes.

4. In the meantime, boil a pot of water and cook the pasta according to package instructions. Drain and set aside.

5. When the soup is ready, taste and season the soup with salt to your liking. Stir in the chopped spinach and the cooked pasta. Simmer for an additional 2 minutes and serve.

Ingredients

• ½ pounds Dry ABC-shaped Pasta
• 4 ounces, weight Fresh Baby Spinach, Chopped
• 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil, Divided
• _____
• FOR THE TURKEY MEATBALLS:
• ½ pounds Ground Turkey
• ½ teaspoons Kosher Salt
• Freshly Ground Pepper, to taste
• ¼ cups Breadcrumbs
• 1 whole Egg
• ¼ teaspoons Poultry Seasoning
• _____
• FOR THE SOUP:
• 1 whole Carrot Diced
• 1 stalk Celery, Diced
• ½ whole Bell Pepper, Diced
• ½ whole Small Onion, Diced
• ½ teaspoons Ground Cumin
• ½ teaspoons Ground Coriander
• 2 cups Prepared Chicken Broth (or Vegetable Broth)
• 2 cups Water

 
 
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Jaden Hair is a food writer, television personality, and food photographer based in Tampa Bay, Florida. Find more of her recipes in her blog, Steamy Kitchen, where you can also read more about Jaden’s new book, The Steamy Kitchen Cookbook, and the rave reviews it’s received!