Dark Days and Turkey Day: the loaf and the sweet, sweet potatoes

Sunday, November 11, 2007

Last night’s Dark Days challenge meal (my third for this week!  The other two: a tomato omelet and a grilled cheese sandwich and ‘kitchen sink’ soup) coincides with FTP’s own Turkey Day challenge (Farm to Philly writers and their favorite Thanksgiving meal recipes) - how serendipitous! 

The Dark Days meal is meat loaf, cabbage gremolata, and cranberry glazed sweet potatoes.  It was delicious - a meal full of bright flavors!  And I’m happy to say that there are enough leftovers for a couple of lunches throughout the week, which is always fantastic! 

The meatloaf, a blend of local ground beef and turkey, was about as close to totally local as you can get - local garlic, carrots, shiitake mushrooms, parsley, my homemade, local catsup, bread crumbs from local bread, and local eggs and milk.  The only things not local: olive oil, salt, pepper, and soy sauce.  I was especially excited with the meatloaf, because this is the first opportunity I’ve had to use the catsup I made.  It’s yummy and ended up having a really great consistency.

The cabbage gremolata finally used up the cabbage from my CSA share that’s been hibernating on my counter for weeks!  Aside from the lemon juice and lemon rind from two lemons in it, it’s entirely local - cabbage, butter, shallots, garlic.  It was a really excellent way to use cabbage, and a new favorite side dish for my very picky husband.

And last but not least, the cranberry glazed sweet potatoes - and the Turkey Day portion of the meal!  I will confess to you that I do all the cooking for Thanksgiving for a very specific reason: I refuse to be in the vicinity of mashed sweet potatoes with melted marshmallow topping.  I think that particular dish is one of the most vile things on the planet.  Strangely, I think a lot of typical Thanksgiving fare is pretty grotesque - I also can’t abide the infamous green bean casserole with the canned cream soup and crispy onions on top...and I think I’ve expressed my hatred of canned cranberry gel before.  I know people love this stuff, but I just don’t get it.  Hey, different strokes and all that, right?

So anyway, as a replacement for the dreaded sweet potato/marshmallow concoction I always offer up cranberry glazed sweet potatoes.  The cranberries offer a wonderful sweetness and the sweet potatoes are delicious!

2 large sweet potatoes, sliced into 1/4 inch rounds (I use a mandoline to ensure uniformity)
1 c. water
4 Tbsp. melted butter
2 Tbsp. bourbon
salt and pepper
3/4 c. cranberries
1/3 c. brown sugar
a pinch of both cinnamon and cayenne

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Butter a large baking dish and arrange the potato slices in concentric circles, overlapping the slices slightly.  Pour 1/2 c. water over the potatoes and bake for 40 minutes (cover the dish with foil).

Increase the temp to 425 degrees at the end of the baking period.

Mix the melted butter and bourbon; pour over the potatoes and season with salt and pepper.  Continue baking 25 minutes.  Baste midway through.

Combine cranberries, 1/2 c. water, and brown sugar.  Bring to a boil over med-high heat until cranberries start to pop, about 10 minutes.  Drain the cranberries, reserving the liquid.  Stir cayenne and cinnamon into the liquid and drizzle it over the sweet potatoes.  Bake an additional 20 minutes.  During the last five minutes of baking, spread cranberries over top of the potatoes.

The brown sugar, bourbon, salt and pepper, cayenne and cinnamon are not local.  However, I think this would be just as good using local maple sugar in place of the brown sugar, and Sailor Jerry’s rum in place of the bourbon.