April 3, 2020 • Nancy Wolfson-Moche
As winter wanes and cold temps remain in the northeast, this bright purple sweet potato mixed with the sweet, tangy combo of onions, apples and dried cherries is a harbinger of spring.
adapted from Ava Jane’s Kitchen
Ingredients to serve 2
2 medium-sized sweet potatoes (I used Frieda’s organic Stokes purple variety)
1 tablespoon olive oil
½ cup onion, minced
1 ¼ cups apple, peeled and diced (I used gala here; Granny Smiths are delish too)
3 tablespoons maple syrup
½ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ cup dried cherries
½ teaspoon medium grade sea salt
fresh pepper to taste
a few fresh basil leaves
Process
Preheat the oven to 400°F and line a baking sheet or pyrex dish with parchment paper.
Place the potatoes on the sheet and bake until soft, about 45-55 minutes.
Set aside to cool.
Reduce oven temperature to 350°F.
Heat a large stainless steel or cast-iron skillet on a medium-high flame for about 30 seconds. Add the olive oil and heat for another 30 seconds.
Add the onion to the pan, cooking until it softens and becomes translucent, about 2-3 minutes. Add the sea salt, apple and cherries and cook until the apples begin to soften, another 2-3 minutes.
Make a clean cut down the center of each of the sweet potatoes. Gently peel back enough of the skin to allow you to scoop about 90% of the soft purple potato flesh. Leave 10% so the potato skin maintains its form. Be careful not to break the skin: you are going to refill them.
Mash the sweet potatoes in the bowl until they are smooth. Add half of the apple-onion-cherry mixture to the mashed potatoes, leaving the other half in the skillet for topping. Add the maple syrup, cinnamon and a little more sea salt to the bowl; mix until well-combined.
Gently scoop the filling back into each potato. Put the reserved apple-onion-cherry mix along the top center of each potato. Garnish with a few fresh basil leaves, if desired.
Bake in the oven for another 15 minutes or so, until the potatoes are hot.
Vegetables for Breakfast is a blog, a book and a way of transforming the way you eat. Eating veggies for breakfast can change your relationship with food by changing the way you absorb, digest and metabolize food. For one year, from June 19, 2013 until June 19, 2014, I posted the vegetable dish I served for breakfast, almost daily. Since June 19, 2014, I have been posting monthly and sometimes post the whole breakfast: the vegetable dish accompanied by a grain and (often) a plant protein.
I loved Ms. Nancy’s cooking class so much.! I have been in this cooking class for two years and I would love to sign up for another one. I tried a lot of new foods like winter squash, cardamom, Brussels sprouts and kale. My favorite salad was the kiwi, carrot, radish salad.
Not only did we cook and eat, we also did labs about food. We used rulers to measure the size of plants. We also explored stone fruits and their ripe season. Now in my house we have window boxes and I am growing cherry tomatoes and basil.
I learned that we can use a lot of different tools to cook, not just our hands and senses. We used safety knives, potato peelers and a carrot sharpener (I wonder if you could sharpen a pencil with it?) !!!
Because of this class I can help papi make dinner and I will try any new food at least once to see if I like it. Thank you, Ms. Nancy for making cooking fun and interesting and helping me be excited about food.
