2013 Food Challenge: Sweet Potatoes, with due credit to Tomatoes.

I was going to write a post on cherry and grape tomatoes, but that would be too easy. All I have to do with those babies is open the box and eat. No-brainer there. True, they are from Florida... and they did fill the quota, along with carrots and arugula, of my vegetable intake for the 9 days I spent in the car last month crisscrossing the continent. Thank you tomatoes. I love your sweetness, plumpness, and cheerful sunny colors.

But I will write about sweet potatoes instead. Yes, the one that looks like a potato and, once you buy it, have no idea what to do with it.

Sweet potatoes are an incredible vegetable. Traditionally, they are considered to be good for the blood. In Western lingo, sweet potatoes contain iron, which is an important nutrient for women like me that do not eat a whole lot of meat. Those sweeties will also give you vitamins B6, C and D, carotenoids, magnesium and potassium. Yes potatoes do pale in comparison: http://www.care2.com/greenliving/9-reasons-to-love-sweet-potatoes.html?page=1.

Why sweet potatoes? Because I happen to be cooking them tonight, plain and simple. Cut them up to look like potato fries. Toss them, with your hands, in a generous amount of olive oil and sea salt... and feel the softness that the oil gives your hands afterwards- added bonus. Then place them in a glass ware or cast iron pan to roast. I like to bake them in Florence, my cast iron pan, because it is easier to clean Florence than to scrub away crusty glass pans. I also use, when Florence is not available, a stainless steel frying pan. Never use Teflon!!!!! Never. Throw that junk, along with anything Calphalon, away. How many times have I written this, along with info to back it up? Not enough. So here it is: http://www.freshfoodunderground.com/2010/02/on-quest-to-get-rid-of-teflon.html, and http://www.freshfoodunderground.com/2010/12/what-are-you-cooking-your-food-in.html.

Now that your hands are nice, salty and oily, you can lick them, or you can just proceed to step 2- wash them. Step 3, place the potatoes in the oven preheated to 400ºF. If you are like me, and don't want to deal with waiting, put them to bake as the oven preheats to the right temp. Those babies are so hardy, they come out tasting great no matter what. Bake/roast for about 15 minutes, toss them around, put them back and bake/roast for another 15, or until they are as blackened as you wish them to be. I love mine like this. Take them out, and they are ready to eat alone with a nice beer, or with a salad and quinoa as I am about to enjoy mine. They are also yummy with chicken, kibbies, for school lunches, snacks, rice and beans... you name it, and they will follow your orders. Enjoy!

My New Iron BFF.

Sweet potato greens.

I had previously written about how I borrowed my friend's cast iron pan over this summer in order to keep my sanity. I mean, cook.
When I arrived back in Jacksonville and found my own place, I realized that keeping my sanity not only served me well, it was actually quite enjoyable. So I decided to keep on cooking- with my own cast iron pan. A simple 8 inch pan.
My cast iron pan stays on top on my stove. I don't ever put it away, as I use it for pretty much everything I cook. Bacon for the beans, eggs, spanish tortilla, mexican tortillas, granola in the oven,  meat, corn bread, roasted chicken, vegetables, greens... all I need to do, when done cooking, is rinse it, without soap, and put it on the hot burner for half a minute for it to dry. Done. It goes hand in hand with living simply, using my time efficiently, and eating well. Good, wholesome, tasty food that is nourishing, fresh, and free of crap- pesticides, hormones, antibiotics. Food that is not processed.

Roasted chicken.

My challenge living alone, or even when I have my children with me, is to eat a broad, good-quality variety of food, especially when it comes to vegetables. It is so easy to say to myself ''oh, this is so complicated to make, it takes so long, I don't have the time, I need to study, I want to go climb, I just want to go ride or run, I am too tired to deal...''  I don't want to commit to hours in the kitchen. I already must wash all dishes by hand, mine and my kids'- that takes time. I don't want to toil all day in the kitchen, I am done with that part of my life. But I still want, and need for my own and my children's health, to eat well. Bling! Along comes my BFF!

Portabello in coconut oil.

My BFF can cook anything in minutes. Baby spinach that is about to go bad because the package is too goddamn big for me to eat it all as salad? Throw it in the cast iron with butter. Sweet potato greens from the local farm that only last a few days before turning brown? Cast iron with olive oil. Left over mushrooms that my son asked me to buy and never ate? Cast iron with butter. My daughter doesn't want to eat anything for breakfast? Throw her in the cast iron. Just kidding, throw some eggs in the cast iron, and let her cook them. Zucchini, peppers, eggplants, onions, garlic... sautée them with the fat of choice on high heat, and no matter what kind of vegetables they may be, simple or complicated, they are ready to eat in a few minutes. Serve over, or with, quinoa, roasted potatoes, farro salad, rice, chicken, meat, pasta... the choices are infinite.
Thank you, cast iron, for being there for me. Your companionship and loyalty is deeply appreciated. Even if you burn me sometimes- I understand.

How to Roast Beets, Potatoes etc

Beets and potatoes ready for the oven...

For those of you daunted by the prospect of cooking a ''root vegetable...'' here is an easy way to do it: pretend you are cooking a potato. 
Except one that is far more nutritious than just plain starch. The easiest way to cook a potato, and therefore any vegetable that has the same consistency as that of a potato, is to roast it. Sweet potatoes, beets, turnips, parsnips, carrots, butternut squash, onions... 

Beets, parsnips, turnips, potatoes...

Tonight, in an effort to expand my kids' food repertory, I mixed beets, parsnips and turnips with the potatoes. Roasted to a beautiful golden brown, it was challenging to tell a potato and a turnip apart. Miles took a full piece of ''potato'' into his mouth, and only when he started to chew he asked what vegetable that was. Elena, for the part, told me that her potato tasted ''really weird.''


How to roast...


1. Chop the vegetables you choose that day- or night... about 1 inch per side sounds about right. Some will be round, others square, others shapeless... not a problem. As long as they are all about the same size, they will cook evenly.


2. Place the vegetables in a Pirex 9X13 dish, or whatever glass/ceramic ware you may have. Do not use Teflon bakeware!


3. Generously coat vegetables with olive oil and sea salt, pepper or any other spice you may choose. 


4. Bake at 500ºF, in the middle rack of the oven, for about 15 minutes. Take casserole out of the oven, stir vegetables around, and put them back to cook for another 15 to 20 minutes, depending on how soft and/ or browned you like your roasted ''potatoes.'' If the oven does not quite reach 500ºF, no worries. 400ºF to 450ºF roasts just as well- it just takes a bit longer.


And where does one find all those vegetables, along with good quality olive oil and sea salt? Head over to Grassroots- tell them ''Sofia sent you!"