Sweet Potato & Fennel Latkes

I’m back with some latkes for Chanukah! I couldn’t neglect the blog for this holiday – one of my favorite foodie holidays! Each year, I love coming up with fun, new twists on the traditional latke. From carrot ginger to corned beef and cabbage, I always have fun with this holiday treat. And this year, Chanukah coincides with Christmas, giving us Christmukkah. Did I spell it right? Just like Hanukkah, it has a bunch of different spellings. Anyhow, it’s time to have some fun.

This latke recipe that I’m sharing with you came about when I was eyeing the fennel at the local vegetable market. I love fennel, but I was thinking about how I could do something other than my standard of roasting it. And then I thought about Chanukah and latkes. I didn’t think it would stand up on it’s own as a latke, but I figured that if I combined it with a more starchy veggie, it could work. A regular potato is too plain in flavor, so I looked to the sweet potato and thought that the flavor combo could work. The sweet with the anise flavor.

I shredded up a couple of sweet potatoes with two fennel bulbs, along with some onion and garlic. I squeezed out whatever liquid I could get out of it. I mixed everything in a bowl with some egg, flour, salt and pepper. Then I fried the latke patties in some canola oil – draining them when they were crisp on both sides. You do have to be careful when frying, because these latkes go from nicely crisp to very burnt very quickly.

I’m so happy  with the way these latkes turned out though. It’s a nice change from the standard potato pancake. I served these latkes with the traditional sour cream, but these would also be great with creme fraiche or maybe a horseradish sauce. Have fun with it! Enjoy!


Sweet Potato & Fennel Latkes
 
Author:
Ingredients
  • 2 sweet potatoes
  • 2 fennel bulbs
  • 1 onion
  • 3 cloves of garlic
  • 2 tsp. salt
  • 2 tsp. ground black pepper
  • 3 eggs
  • 4 tbsp. all purpose flour or gluten free flour
  • additional salt and pepper to taste
  • canola oil for frying
Instructions
  1. Shred all of the veggie in your food processor with a grating disc, or shred by hand
  2. Squeeze out as much liquid as possible
  3. Mix everything together in a large bowl with the salt, pepper, eggs and flour
  4. Heat a large fry pan on medium high. Add oil to pan.
  5. Form mixture into small thin patties and fry in oil. About two minutes per side, until evenly brown and crispy.
  6. Drain on a cooling rack or on paper towels.
  7. Serve with sour cream or other topping.
  8. Enjoy!

Maple Bourbon Glazed Turkey Wings

turkeywings

Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Chanukah everybody! Hope everyone who celebrates is enjoying the holiday and relaxing a bit. I also hope you’ve indulged in some good foodie fun!

Because Chanukah and Thanksgiving only coincide once every 70,000 years or so, KOL Foods selected a group of eight bloggers to come together and share eight days of fabulous turkey recipes with you! At the end of Chanukah, you will have the opportunity to vote for your favorite Thanksgivukkah recipe and you’ll also have the opportunity to win $200 in credit towards your next KOL Foods purchases! Learn more about the contest here. If you aren’t familiar with KOL Foods, they are the only source online for domestic, 100% grass-fed, kosher beef and organic, pastured, kosher chicken, turkey and duck.

We’ve been celebrating Thanksgiving for the past few years with an assortment of good friends and family. The great turkey debate happens in the house each year. Our friends and family are a mixture of vegetarians and meat-eaters, and there is always a discussion of whether to change things up to a dairy Thanksgiving dinner. Somehow, tradition always wins out, and a giant turkey is prepared. Somehow, the turkey business always lands in my kitchen. I usually rely on my parents for trusty Thanksgiving turkey recipes. The giant 20-pound birds often intimidates me. I decided to come up with my own bird ideas this year.

Each year when we make the turkey, there always seems to be a race to the favorite turkey parts. In our gaggle of friends, the thighs and wings seem to be the most popular. Probably because they retain a lot of turkey flavor and juice. Unfortunately for us, turkeys only have two thighs and two wings. This year, I decided to forego the whole turkey and only cook up the various turkey parts that our guests prefer. I love using pastured, grass-fed turkey and KOL Foods sent me some turkey wings to work with. I decided to go with a maple bourbon glaze for my turkey. I’ve done a similar glaze on chicken and thought it would work well with turkey.

I preheated the oven, then I sliced some onions and laid them in my roasting pan, along with some cubed sweet potatoes, acorn squash, garlic and herbs. I used a combination of fresh thyme and fresh sage. I laid the turkey on top of the cubed veggies and stuffed some additional herbs and garlic under the skin. I ground some salt and pepper over the turkey skin. In a bowl, I mixed together the maple syrup, olive oil, bourbon, soy sauce, dijon mustard, garlic paste, apple cider vinegar, chopped sage and thyme. I poured everything over the turkey and veggie mixture.

prepped-turkey-wings

I then baked it in the oven for about an hour and a half or so. I checked on the turkey a few times to baste with the pan juices and to make sure that the turkey skin wasn’t burning. Some sort of magic happened in that oven. As I pulled the turkey out of the oven, even I, the turkey hater, was tempted to take an early bite of these turkey wings. That crispy skin promised to be amazing.

baked-wings

Good news. The turkey did not disappoint.

If you have some leftover  turkey wings (or other parts) from your recent turkey feast, I would recommend you lightly brush on some of the sauce and bake/reheat the turkey at 325 until heated through to a safe temperature. Keep in mind, for a few small pieces, you do not need as much sauce. It is a great way though to refresh a bland or drier turkey. You could also chop up leftover turkey and  pan fry with some of the glaze and chopped veggies and onions. It tastes amazing. We did this with a leftover semi-dry turkey breast and it totally revived the turkey!

Check out the recipe below and then head on over to KOL Foods to enter to win $200 in KOL Foods credit!

Maple Bourbon Glazed Turkey Wings
 
Author:
Ingredients
  • 6 cloves garlic, chopped
  • 10 sage leaves
  • 12 sprigs of thyme
  • 2 sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
  • 1 small acorn squash, peeled and cubed
  • 1 large onion. chopped
  • 4.5 lbs turkey wings
  • ½ cup Bourbon
  • ½ cup Maple Syrup - Grade B
  • 1 tbsp. olive oil
  • 1 tbsp. apple cider vinegar
  • 1 tbsp. dijon mustard
  • 1 tbsp. soy sauce
  • 1 tbsp. garlic paste
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 350
  2. Place the onions, sweet potatoes, squash and half of the garlic in the bottom of a roasting pan
  3. Chop up the herbs and place about a third of them over the veggies
  4. Place the turkey wings over the veggies and onions.
  5. Sprinkle ground pepper and salt over the turkey
  6. In a mixing bowl, mix up the bourbon, maple syrup, olive oil, vinegar, garlic paste, mustard and soy sauce. Mix in about a third of the herbs.
  7. Pour the sauce mixture over the turkey.
  8. Sprinkle the remaining herbs and garlic over the turkey.
  9. Bake in the oven for about 1.5-2 hours. Check and baste the turkey every 30 minutes.
  10. Enjoy!

turkeywings

VeganMoFo: Sweet Potato Burritos

I’m always looking for ways to tinker with our standard recipes. One easy meal in rotation at my house is a vegetarian burrito. They are very filling, easy to make and are easily adaptable.

A while back, at a restaurant, I had some fantastic sweet potato tacos. I loved the way that the sweet potato mingled with the other flavors. I wanted to do something similar with a burrito, and I had some sweet potatoes sitting on the counter that needed to be used up.

Sweet Potato Burritos
Ingredients: (made 6 burritos)

1 cup dry brown rice, cooked
2 sweet potatoes
1 tbsp. vegetable oil
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
3 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. cayenne (optional)
1 tsp. chili powder
2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. ground black pepper
2 tsp. vegan Worcestershire sauce
1 cup Daiya Cheese – Cheddar Flavor
Tofutti Sour Cream
6 tortillas

Directions:

Pierce the sweet potatoes with a fork a few times and microwave for about 6 minutes. The sweet potatoes should be tender but not too soft.

Peel and cube the potatoes.

Heat up the vegetable oil in large saute pan.

Add in the sweet potatoes and let them brown a bit.

Add in the onions and cook for a couple of minutes.

Add in the garlic and black beans and cook a few minutes.

Stir in the spices and the Worcestershire sauce and cook a few more minutes.

Now it’s time to assemble the burritos.

On each tortilla spread a bit of the vegan sour cream, then layer on some rice, next the sweet potato mixture and then finally the vegan cheese. Roll up and place seam side down in a baking dish.

Warm in the oven for about 10 minutes on 350. Alternatively, you can place in ziplock bag and freeze and reheat in microwave or oven whenever you’re hungry. These burritos reheat very well.

If you’d like the burritos to have a bit more heat, feel free to play with the flavors. Add some chopped jalapenos or maybe more cayenne, or even a fresh salsa at the end!

Enjoy!

Sweet Potato Burritos
veganmofo

Maple Roasted Chicken with Roasted Root Veggies

Really. it has been way too long. I really have been cooking. I haven’t just been feeding my kids fish sticks and mac and cheese out of a box. Though I have to admit, there have been many days where that is the only thing I feel like cooking. No, it’s not what you are thinking…I am not pregnant. All is ok.

Maple Roasted Chicken with Roasted Root Veggies
Ingredients:
2 medium red potatoes, cubed
2 carrots, sliced
1 large pasrnip, sliced
1 onion, cut up
1 turnip, cut up
1 sweet potato, cut up
2-3 shallots, chopped
6 cloves of garlic, chopped
Maple Syrup – approx. 1/4 cup
Dijon Mustard – 2-3 tbsp.
Olive Oil – 1/4 cup
Ginger Paste – 2-3 tbsp.
Salt
Pepper
Fresh Rosemary and Thyme, chopped
Chicken – either whole or cut up
1 Lemon, juiced if using chicken portions, cut in half, when using a whole chicken

In a roasting pan, lay out your cut veggies. Pour on a couple tablespoons of olive oil, salt, and pepper, and a portion of your chopped herbage . Mix them up a little bit.

Lay the chicken on top of the vegetables. Consider the vegetables a sort of nest for the chicken. If using a whole chicken, fill the chicken cavity with the halved lemon, some herbs, and a few garlic cloves. If using chicken cut in pieces, sprinkle lemon juice, salt, and pepper over the chicken.
Mix up the maple syrup, ginger, mustard, olive oil, garlic, and herbs. Pour over the chicken.

Place in a 375 degree oven covered for an hour. Remove the foil after an hour. Place back in oven for another 45 minutes. Enjoy!
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