Top Chef Sweet Potato Linguine and "Clean Eating" Fries

Did you watch Top Chef All-Stars this season? If you did you will know Richard Blais, the winner of Top Chef All-Stars, and the most talented and modest man in the kitchen! On one of the last episodes Richard made sweet potato noodles/linguine. If you don't watch the show I'll tell you that they do not show every step in the food preparation process (obviously) so when you see a recipe you want to make you sort of have to guess how to make it (or, as I found out after trying to re-create this recipe, you can actually find ALL the recipes online!!! They also sell a Top Chef cookbook).

Richard made sweet potato linguine that the judges loved. The cameras showed him using a mandoline to shave off long pieces of sweet potato and then adding them to boiling water. I thought, "I can do that!" So I got out my mandoline and started shaving....



My "linguine" were completely choppy and looked ridiculous. As I was boiling the "linguine" I was thinking to myself, "I am just taking a once-healthy sweet potato and ruining it by boiling out all the nutrients!".




It would have been one thing if they had turned out like Richard's, but they certainly did not.

But I still found ways to use my "sweet potato shreds"....



If you want the real recipe check it out here. The recipe is actually for sweet potato linguine with conch and spiny lobster. Richard boiled his "linguine" in chicken stock, not water. Brilliant! If you ever try this recipe, let me know, but I think I've personally given up on the idea of sweet potato noodles. However, I found a recipe for sweet potato fries in my Clean Eating magazine, which I made the other day. This recipe called for egg whites and zero oil, so I was intrigued.

SWEET POTATO FRIES

(The Clean Eating Way)

Ingredients

2 sweet potatoes

1 foamy egg white

Salt/pepper/cumin, whatever you want!

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees

2. Slice the potatoes (after washing and trimming the ends) into equally thick pieces

3. Soak in water for 30 minutes (to release the starch)

4. Rinse and pat dry, completely

5. Toss with two foamy egg white (beat an egg white for about a minute to make it foamy) and your favorite spices

6. Lay potatoes on a parchment-lined baking sheet and put in preheated oven.

7. Check for doneness every 15 minutes, and flip once. ** They did not give a time, but it took my fries about 40 minutes to get to proper doneness **

8. Reduce heat to 200 degrees to dry potatoes, for about 15-20 more minutes.

EAT!


These were definitely time consuming, but oh so delicious!

QUESTIONS: Have you ever used egg whites to make fries? What other vegetables have you used to make fries, other than potatoes?

Any fun weekend plans?? I'll be at work!

Wheat-Free Sweet Potato Gnocchi

I can't believe it's already December 1st! This year has gone by faster than ever, and I feel like I say that every year. It's just crazy. The fun thing about this holiday season is that it's our first holiday spent in our new house! Nick is like a child in that he can't wait to put lights up (we started last week) and buy a Christmas tree. We are actually buying our Christmas tree on Sunday, which is early because we usually buy it two weeks before Christmas. We're just really into the holidays this year (scratch that, HE'S into the holidays, I'm just soaking in that positive energy!). I have been heating cinnamon sticks and orange peels on the stove, and we even had our chimney cleaned out so we can start doing fires some nights. Ok, I'll admit, I'm into the holidays this year!

I already made plans with my mom to make our annual batch of chocolate waffle cones....



The Buckeyes already kicked some Michigan butt in the last scheduled game of the season...


And of course the holidays are impossible to escape when you work at one of the largest stores in town!!

And with the holidays comes cooking. Coco posted this sweet potato gnocchi a few months ago, and I finally got around to making it! This recipe was so simple. My favorite part about it was the short ingredient list;

Ingredients
(makes about 4 large servings)

2 large sweet potatoes

1 egg yolk

1/2 pound ricotta cheese (**I used reduced fat**)

2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour (** I used brown rice flour**)

2 tsp. salt

Directions

1. Cook the sweet potatoes either in the microwave or the oven (I chose the oven, 400 degrees for about 45 minutes)

2. Mash the sweet potatoes in a medium bowl

3. In a separate bowl, blend together the ricotta and the egg yolk

4. Mix together the ricotta/yolk and sweet potatoes

5. Add the flour to the above combination and form a soft dough

6. Create your gnocchi! (** I simply broke off ~1 T pieces and formed them into gnocchi by hand. This took some time, I will warn you**)

7. Throw the gnocchi into a large pot of boiling water, about 20 at a time (**I added a bit of EVOO to my water**)

8. When they start to float they are finished. (** It only took about 4 minutes for mine to start floating**)

CALORIES: ~350 in one large serving

Since I am an Italian who can't eat garlic or onion (and thus can't eat spaghetti sauce) I added canned stewed tomatoes (zero sodium) and parmesan cheese.

These gnocchi tasted fabulous. I plan on making these for my dad for his birthday, since he loves gnocchi. I would be really happy if he could start eating sweet potato gnocchi because at least there are some extra health benefits from the sweet potatoes and whole grain flour (beta carotene, alpha-carotene, fiber, vitamin C, more B-vitamins).

QUESTION: Have you ever tried gnocchi? Do you like it? Love it? Hate it?

Sweet Potatoes in Everything. Literally

There are two things in life that I believe taste good in or with just about anything. The first is nut butter (any kind; peanut, almond, cashew), and the second is sweet potato (or canned pumpkin, if I could ever find any!).

Just look at it. I mean, it's so ugly, right? Yet so good (and good for you)!

The other day Melissa mentioned that she'd been wanting to try the combination of almond butter and sweet potato. So of course I had to give it a try myself. I grabbed my new favorite almond butter; Blue Diamond Crunchy, and went to town.

Even cold, this combination was AMAZING!

The next morning I created this.....

I had been missing my pumpkin oats so Nick had the brilliant idea to add sweet potato to my oats! I knew I loved him for a reason (many reasons....). This combination is a MUST TRY! Oat bran, 1/2 skinless sweet potato, 1 T almond butter, 1/2 cup Organic plain yogurt, and 1/2 packet Truvia.

Sweet potato can also make a great thickening agent in a smoothie.

Yeah, the banana helps thicken as well, but the sweet potato ads a natural sweet taste, tons of beta carotene, and alpha carotene (both of which are cancer fighters, heart protectors, and quite possibly anti-aging nutrients), and fiber. Sorry Mr. Banana but you're not as amazing as the sweet potato (although I still love you).

After adding 1/2 cup frozen blueberries, 1/2 cup soy milk, and 1/4 cup juice, I blended this beauty and created this:

More Ways to Use Sweet Potato

Side dish, plain

All doctored-up (check this out)

Casseroles

Soups (here's a good recipe)

Fries

Chips

Post workout fuel (example)


Today's Trivia

Do you know the difference between a sweet potato and a yam? According to the book "Why Does Popcorn Pop", by Don Voorhees, yams are more starchy and less sweet. You really can't find yams in America, unless you live in specific parts of Florida (where they are grown). They are also grown in Latin America. When you see "canned yams" at the store, they are really sweet potatoes. Tricky, eh?!

Coming Up
Tomorrow I will be posting a new recipe, brought to you by my mother and the Columbus Dispatch! It's a keeper. Happy Memorial Day everyone! Enjoy your day off :)