TIME OUT: THANKSGIVING SUBSTITUTION

Sweet Potato and Apple Hash    

   If you are like my family and have a mixed variety of likes and dislikes when it comes to food, especially on the holidays.... this Chef Burrell recipe is a great happy medium for a sweet potato lover or hater on Thanksgiving. The sweet potato casserole and legendary potato bar have been a running family joke throughout the last decade. The oldest or “Golden Child” as we’d like to call him always demands a potato bar... and no I am not talking about a bar bar - the one with all you can drink liquor to devour with your Thanksgiving meal, I am talking about a bar with a plethora of baked potato toppings... things like bacon bits, sour cream, fresh chives, myriad of shredded cheeses, bread crumbs, chilli, just to name a few. And we have others with a more “sweet tooth” who have demanded a sweet potato casserole (which by the way always ends up being doused with too much rum and it ends up being a rum soup with sweet potato on the side). Either way it’s too much food to prepare to begin with without the demands of the picky eaters. So, if you are unsure how to please the masses this recipe is for you. Not to mention this is easy to make, quite delicious anytime, and can be enjoyed hot or cold! Chef Anne’s Sweet potato and Apple Hash is the name of the game tonight.

          To get inspired I enjoy an apple cider with a splash of rum.... kinda reminds me of my mother’s attempt at the sweet potato casserole... yum... rum... she will probably be angry when seeing this post! J

           Your ingredients tonight will be EVOO, 4 slices bacon, 1 onion, 2 sprigs of fresh rosemary (makes your kitchen smell delightful too), red pepper, salt, 3 sweet potatoes (peeled and cut into ½ inch dice), ¼ cup of maple syrup, 1 ½ cups of chicken stock, 1 bunch of scallions, 3 granny smith apples, and green pumpkin seeds toasted. Don’t all these ingredients make your mouth water?  And it kind of combines the whole “potato bar” and sweet potato casserole ingredients in one!

           To begin this delicious dish, you add some EVOO to a pan and add the sliced bacon at medium heat. (Dishes that begin with bacon have to be the best.) Once the bacon starts to get crispy and brown you are going to add the onion, rosemary, and red pepper. Season with salt and sauté the onions until soft and aromatic. What a mix of flavours this is... your kitchen has got to be heavenly right now!

           Next you add the sweet potatoes, syrup, and chicken stock and cover and cook for 15-20 minutes or until potatoes are soft, but not mushy. Then remove the lid and let liquid reduce by half then you add the scallion whites, apples and cook about 5 to 6 more minutes. Lastly stir in the scallion greens and toasted pumpkin seeds and BOOM there’s your Sweet potato and Apple Hash of Chef Anne Burrell. It’s so delicious. Have some tonight then you must have some for snack cold tomorrow! 

                I have been busy for the past month, so blogging Chef Burrell’s recipes have been on the back burner…. But since I’ve seen good friends and family… drinks have been exchanged and food creations have been made!  Let me share with you a few fun eats that have accompanied my red wine, fresh sangria mixtures, corona lights, and Ft. Lauderdale sunset cocktails!

Bahamian Calendar w/ Recipe

                This week I got a little creative... I have this Bahamian calendar hanging in my kitchen. I buy it or get as a gift every year. It’s full of destinations I’ve been to with girlfriends and places I’ve discovered while visiting my love. It also contains random local island recipes and for the month of April... Bahamian potato salad. I have two sailors to feed tonight so big we must go to fill these boys up. I decided to do a whole leg roasted chicken recipe as well that I found in a magazine. Tonight will be a little let loose entertainment night as well so to the store I go to get my ingredients, pick our drink poison, and make sure we have a full deck of cards for some gin rummy happenings!

                  

Chicken Recipe from Magazine

                For myself, I go for the 2 for $10 wine special with $10 fuel perks and for them next door for some Sailor Jerry and Coca-Cola. Deck of cards in the basket and all ingredients... time to get moving!

                To start, I must get the oven preheated to 400 degrees and potatoes chopped up. I love the multi-tasking of cooking. It’s almost like a high sometimes for me. Got to make sure everything is going on... maybe it’s the control freak in me. But, it’s exhilarating and a little red wine always helps me thrive! They Bahamian Potato Salad recipe called for 1 ½ pound of potatoes. I don’t know who they were trying to feed with this recipe, but I had potato salad left over for the next 2 dinners! So, beware of that! Potatoes are peeled and ready to go in the boiling water for about 20 minutes. Meanwhile, I am rinsing off chicken legs, wedging 2 red onions, and cleaning cherry tomatoes for the roasted chicken portion.

                Another reason for my excitement for this potato salad recipe is that it calls for 3 hard boiled eggs. I have never hard boiled eggs before and I know that I love a hardboiled egg with a little salt. So, tonight I will learn for this recipe and even get to enjoy a few more for breakfast the next few days! (If you have never hard boiled eggs, it’s quite easy just Google it and you will be all set!) You are going to add 1/2 diced onion, ½ diced green pepper, and chopped eggs to the potatoes and let them chill.

Chick and Veg ready to go in oven!

               Back to the Chicken... The Caramelized Chicken calls for a delicious marinade that once you complete you put with chicken and veggies in a bag and shake it all around so it gets all the great flavours. The marinade includes a teaspoon dried thyme, 2 tablespoons dark sugar, 3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce (my obsession), ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes (I used a ton more), 2 tablespoons soy sauce, 2 table spoons ketchup, 3 table spoons olive oil. Mix this all together, throw in bag, and add chicken and veggies and shake shake shake... this can be quit comical after your second round of drinks! Place chicken and veggies into baking dish and into the oven they go for about 20 minutes or until golden.

Potato Salad enough for 2 weeks! :)

               Meanwhile after the potatoes are cooling, you can combine ½ cup Mayo, 2 tablespoons yellow mustard, 2 tablespoons relish, some hot sauce o the potatoes and MIX LIKE CRAZY. Then add salt and pepper to taste. BOOM POTATOES ARE DONE and your caramelized chicken should be almost perfectly golden and ready to be eaten. I suggest having men come over for this dinner. It’s a ton of delicious food! I enjoyed mine with two men, a deck of cards to pay Gin Rummy, and some amazing Red Wine! Only thing missing is actually being in the Bahamas!