Best In Season - March - written by Chef Consultant, Celia Brooks
The sweetest potato
Good old potatoes are super in every way for deliciousness, versatility and basic carb-based energy, but they just don’t hold a candle to sweet potatoes for what they can deliver in the health department. Sorry spuds!
Sweet potatoes (incidentally, only very distantly related to ordinary potatoes) possess a spud-trumping talent – their orange pigment, which actively protects your health, supplying beta-carotene in abundant quantity and quality. In addition, sweet potatoes’ starch causes the body’s blood sugars to release more slowly than potatoes’ starch, giving you sustained energy rather than a sugar crash.
These ravishing orange roots are enjoying a bit of a renaissance in modern healthy cookery, and rightly so. They are cheap, they store well, they have a sexy colour, and their velvety texture and sweetness is irresistible. As for seasonality, they are not grown in the UK, but they are imported year-round, mostly from the US and Egypt.
You might come across white-fleshed sweet potatoes, but orange-fleshed sweet potatoes are always the ones to go for. This is not just because their colour is fabulous, but because orange = beta carotene / vitamin A which is this vegetable’s greatest (but not only) nutritional strength. Also the orange ones are dependably sweet, nutty and creamy-fleshed. White-fleshed varieties can turn a bit greyish when cooked. There are also some purple-fleshed varieties.
It’s sometimes hard to tell what colour the flesh is by the skin, which can be any shade of dark beige to purplish red – if you’re not sure, either ask the greengrocer or surreptitiously use your thumbnail to scratch off a tiny bit of skin to check the flesh colour underneath – just don’t get caught vandalising the produce!
It’s not essential to peel sweet potatoes, in fact - don’t, if you want to get the most out of them. The skin contains bonus nutrients and fibre. But they usually have a few nobbles, hairs or blemishes that need to be cut off, especially from the ends.
Following are a few easy savoury sweet potato side dishes (don’t forget, they make awesome desserts, too!), as well as a main course recipe. Enjoy!
Smoky sweet potato wedges: Cut chunky wedges, leaving the skin on. Toss in olive oil and sea salt, then arrange on a lined baking sheet and bake at 200C for 30 – 40 minutes until tender, turning once. Sprinkle with a little smoked paprika and serve.
Crisp sweet potato fries: Peel and cut into thin wedges and strips about 0.5cm / ¼ inch thick. Place in a sealable plastic bag or bowl and toss with a couple of spoonfuls of cornflour mixed with fine salt to taste. Next toss them in a light coating of olive oil and spread in one layer on a lined baking tray. Bake at 200C for about 20-25 minutes until crisp and golden, turning just once.
BBQ blackened rosemary sweet potatoes: Boil whole skin-on sweet potatoes in well-salted water for about 20 minutes until nearly cooked but still firm. Drain and cool completely. Slice into 1cm / ½ inch thick circles or ovals. Pound a handful of fresh rosemary leaves with sea salt in a mortar and stir in some olive oil. Brush the slices with the oil, then barbecue them on both sides until blackened and crisp.
SSmothered sweet potatoes with tangy mushrooms & mozzarella
From “SuperVeg” by Celia Brooks
The lemony garlic mushrooms here are a little tapas trick I learned from a Spanish chef - a super simple way to make ordinary mushrooms extraordinary. Along with all their juices, they make a delicious foil for the sugary creaminess of sweet potatoes. A crown of melting mozzarella fuses it all together for your eating pleasure in about 30 minutes if you use a microwave for speedy baking.
Ingredients
2 medium sweet potatoes (about 500g – 600g total weight)
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil + more for brushing
3 garlic cloves, sliced
250g chestnut or Portobello mushrooms, medium sliced
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon lemon juice
handful of parsley, chopped
100g pizza mozzarella, grated (or other hard cheese)
Method
Special equipment: microwave for cooking sweet potatoes (alternatively, oven bake for 40-50 minutes at 200C); baking tray; non-stick foil or baking paper
1) Preheat the oven to 200C and line the baking tray.
2) Scrub the sweet potatoes and cut off any major blemishes. Stab them several times with a fork. Wrap each one in a paper towel and place both on a suitable plate in the microwave. Cook at high power for 5 minutes, then use tongs to turn over. Cook for 3 more minutes, then leave to stand for 2 minutes. (Microwaves vary.)
3) Carefully unwrap the sweet potatoes and test first with a knife or skewer, which should penetrate without resistance. Protecting your hands from the heat, slice them in half lengthways and check again that they are cooked throughout. (If not, re-wrap and cook for 1-2 minutes more plus standing). Place the four halves on the baking tray, at first cut side down, then brush with oil. Flip over so that they face cut-side up, and use a fork to fluff the flesh slightly, keeping it contained in the skins.
4) Meanwhile, cook the mushrooms. Heat a frying pan over a medium heat and add the oil and garlic. Cook until the garlic starts to turn golden, then add the mushrooms and salt. Continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until the mushrooms are soft and have released the maximum amount of juice – the juicier the better. Take the pan off the heat and stir in the lemon juice and parsley, then add several twists of black pepper.
5) Strain the mushrooms over a jug. Pour the reserved juice on to the sweet potatoes to season the fluffed flesh. Pile the mushrooms evenly over the top of the sweet potatoes. Top each with cheese.
6) Place in the oven and cook for 10 minutes, until the cheese is melted and tinged with gold.