giant sweet potato!

My mother’s coworker grew a VERY LARGE SWEET POTATO. Here is Steve interacting with it. 

Annnnd one with the sweet potato actually in focus, so you can marvel at its girth. I know it’s difficult to spot in the photograph, but also worthy of marvel is Steve’s blue eyes when he wears this blue shirt. Just know- know they are there.

So a sweet potato that GIANT can make many amazing things.

I made mostly lazy things. LOTS of oven sweet potato fries, with my current favorite roasted veggie spice combo: paprika, cumin, and garlic powder.

Another lazy thing I did was chopped up some sweet potato (I used the outer pieces with skin on ‘em for the fries and used the inner pieces, already skinless and not in need of peeling for this), and chucked it in a pan with some red lentils and water. Threw on some garam masala and cooked it all til tender.

Had it the first night with yogurt. Excellent.

Had leftovers the next day with a FRIED EGG ON TOP! YES! Continuing with the Indian(ish) motif, also had some roasted cauliflower, that I’d tossed with a bit of curry powder pre-oven.

This was deeeeeeeeeeelicious and very filling.

I am not sure why my fried egg looks so creepy and wrinkly. It tasted good. Farmer’s market egg, heck yeah!

   

And of course, the oozy yolk made the most creamy, decadent sauce. Love it love it love it.

Now for a more formal sweet potato meal.

We begin with the standard onion/carrot/celery trifecta, sauteeing in a bit of olive oil:

Then throw in some ‘shrooms.

Then get out a packet of tempeh! I’m so into tempeh. It’s such hippie food. It just tastes so… earthy and grungy and unglamorous and tasty.

I cut it into little chunks, the midpoint of which can be seen here. BUT, you could definitely do them in smaller dice, like to approximate the consistency of ground beef. I’d probably do that next time.

The veggies, meanwhile, got a sprinkling of seasoning. I could’ve put thought into herbs, but instead I chucked some Italian seasoning on.

Then sprinkled on some flour…

And in went the tempeh, some wine, and some water, to make some sauciness (I’d add more liquid next time. I would’ve added vegetable stock, but for the simple reason that I’m out and left my Better than Buillion at Steve’s like A MONTH AGO AND KEEP FORGETTING TO TAKE IT BACK).

 

Into a baking dish it went…

  

All set to be TOPPED. Because friends, here’s where the sweet potato goodness comes in. Okay so apparently giant sweet potato actually had been all used up at that point, so I roasted two new ones.

And then as a wonnnnnnnnnnnnderful treat, we had some cream in the house leftover from Thanksgiving baking, so I added just a bit (like, seriously, probably a tablespoon- it’s so FLAVORFUL, let alone rich, that that’s all I needed).

 

And shmeared it over the top. Untraditional shepherd’s pie!

Given a bakesie for 20 minutes or so at 350, til golden brown and gorgeous. Delightful.

On a final note, CHRISTMAS ALERT. If there’s someone who likes eating or reading in your life, I highly recommend getting them Blood, Bones & Butter. It’s written by a well-known chef who happens to be ( a woman, but more than even about food it’s just an incredibly beautifully written memoir about a somewhat insane childhood, a few lost years (decades?) and a really fascinating/bizarre look into a crazy relationship (including some intoxicating chapters spent in Italy). I got it from the library and inhaled it. A great read!