Book Club Bites: Sweet Potato Flowers

What was your first fine dining “wow” moment? Perhaps it was a duck confit, made from a recipe that hasn’t changed in generations. Or an elaborate 30-component dessert. Or a simple bite of the world’s best ingredients.

In Food Whore, Tia's eyes are opened by a simple amuse bouche: a sweet potato flower with sesame-honey stamens.

Unlike some of the other dishes in Food Whore, which are based on real-life dishes I’ve seen or eaten, this one came entirely from my imagination. I’m no restaurant chef, and if you’re making this as a snack for your friends or family, you probably don’t want to spend restaurant-level time on this. So here’s my at-home version of Tia’s fine dining bite. The inside is soft, while the ends are crisp like chips. If you’re timing this to the book -- this dish appears in Chapter 11!

INGREDIENTS

sweet potatoes (this recipe will make enough seasoning for 4-5 potatoes, but you can make fewer)
1 egg
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons paprika
¼ teaspoon garlic powder
¼ teaspoon onion powder
¼ teaspoon cayenne

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Slice the sweet potatoes very thinly, preferably with a mandolin (I used the 1.3mm setting). On a non-stick baking sheet, fan 7 sweet potato slices into a circle.

In a bowl, mix egg, oil, salt, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder and cayenne. Mix well then dab onto the sweet potatoes with a silicone brush (or even your fingers) until evenly covered. Make sure sure to get where the slices meet, too.

Place in oven and bake for 12-14 minutes, or until the slices are slightly golden and very pliable. Remove from the the oven, then raise heat to 400 degrees.

Once cool enough to handle, pick up the circle and detach two of the slices so you have a broken circle. From one end, curl the perimeter of the circle, holding at the base and letting the top fan outwards like petals. Use two toothpicks in an X shape to secure the bottom.

Once you’re done, replace all your flowers on the baking sheet and bake at 400 degrees for 5 minutes, or until the ends of the flower “petals” are crisp. Remove and let cool. Before serving, remove toothpicks. 

Sweet Potato Roasted with Coconut

This is more hefty than a snack, more slight than a meal. And that's a good thing. 

On Tuesday nights I go to a writing workshop and leave the house around 6:45. I probably could eat a full diner, but I don't want to be too full during class. I also don't want my hunger to distract me. (I've never been the type of person who can just "forget to eat". What? My whole day revolves around eating.) 

So the other day I made this as a pre-class snack -- one sweet potato, roasted with coconut oil, topped with Maldon sea salt and coconut flakes. Like these soy-mirin-sesame glazed yams, this is a lovely blend of sweet and savory. I was inspired by coconut curries with starchy potatoes, yams, butternut squash. Maybe next time I'll make this with curry, but not before class. It's one thing to stain your own writing with curried fingers. Quite another to stain your classmate's. 

RECIPE: Preheat toaster oven to 450 degrees. Prick sweet potato with fork, slice into rounds, and rub with coconut oil. Roast for 15-20 minutes, or until a fork can easily slip into the slices. Sprinkle with coconut flakes and sea salt. 

Sesame Soy Mirin-Glazed Korean Yams

Let us now praise that trinity of sauces. Sesame. Soy sauce. Mirin. 

Sesame oil! Fragrant, nutty. Instantly recognizable. The base note. 

Soy sauce! Salt with umami. The mid-note.

Mirin! Sweet, with a ricey mouthfeel. The top note. 

Add it on Korean yams, and you have one of my favorite snacks. I like to keep roasted sweet potatoes on hand for carby snacking. If you do that, then making this is just one easy step away. It's sweet, savory, earthy. I personally like Korean yams for this because they are dryer and nuttier than sweet potatoes (which are, comparatively, wet, sweet). Think chestnuts over pumpkin. 

RECIPE: Wash, pierce, and roast Korean yams in 400 degree oven for 35 minutes, or until a fork can easily be slipped in with just slight resistance (you don't want it too mushy). Remove from oven and slice along the length, about 3/4 of the way to the bottom. Mix 2 parts soy sauce, 1 part mirin, 1 part sesame oil. Add some rice vinegar, too, to lighten it up. Pour on top of yams, making sure to get in the cracks. Roast for another 10 minutes, until glaze has infused. 

Highly recommend eating with fingers, dragging the pieces through the residual sauce.