Mystery Lovers' Kitchen: Holiday Side Dish

Wednesday, March 20, 2024

Fancy Sweet Potatoes without Marshmallows #Recipe by @LibbyKlein #Easter

Libby Klein Sweet Potatoes are one of my favorite side dishes. I think the best way to eat them is very simple. Roasted and mashed. They don't even need butter. Maybe a little salt. But for the holidays, you want to zhuzh everything up a bit. And my grandkids will eat anything with marshmallows on it. Well, at least the marshmallows disappear. Confession: I really don't love candied yams. They're way too sweet for me. And everyone will take one spoonful and leave the leftovers for me. Then I end up eating candied yams for days. Well, if I'm going to eat the leftovers, I want to love them. So this is a sweet potato dish I can get behind. Grated fresh ginger makes the sweet potatoes sing - and they taste a little lemony. Don't try to use the spice in the baking section. It will not be the same. Fresh ginger is a rhizome. You could plant it in the ground and grow a ginger plant. Well, YOU could. I would kill it. So a good side to any spring vegetable. And a sprinkle of brown sugar on top caramelizes and makes the kids think they're getting away with something.

Tell me in the comments, how do you like your sweet potatoes?

Fancy Sweet Potatoes Without Marshmallows

Yield: 4 Servings

Ingredients:

4 fresh large sweet potatoes

4 Tablespoons butter

1 Tablespoon fresh ginger, grated

Heavy pinch salt

Topping:

3 Tbsp brown sugar

Directions

Wash your sweet potatoes and wrap them in foil. Place them on a baking sheet and roast in the oven at 400 degrees F for one hour or until soft. If your sweet potatoes are really fat, give them a squeeze to make sure they're full cooked and squishy. Remove them from the oven and let cool until you can handle them. Then scoop out the flesh from the skins.

Mash them with your hand mixer. Then add butter, salt and grated fresh ginger.

Mix together and transfer to a baking dish. Sprinkle some brown sugar - as much as you like. I kept it small. Three tablespoons. Just enough to caramelize the top. And bake for 15 minutes or until hot in case you made your sweet potatoes in advance and they got cold.

This can be made ahead and reheated right before dinner if you're having a big gathering. You can always add the marshmallows if the kids ask for them. At least what's under the marshmallows will be tasty. And the leftovers are divine. I would know. I ate them all.

Tell me in the comments, how do you like your sweet potatoes?

Gluten-free baker Poppy McAllister and her aunt Ginny are looking forward to a quiet, homey Christmas at their B&B in Cape May, but unfortunately, death isn’t taking a holiday this year . . .

Ever since Thanksgiving, Poppy and her pals have been left with an unsolved mystery of the romantic kind. But at least this mystery isn’t the kind that involves murder. That all changes when the body of a fish supplier is discovered in the kitchen of her ex’s restaurant—and he’s frozen, not fresh.

For once, it’s not Poppy who tripped over the corpse, yet she can’t escape being drawn in since the victim has a note taped to him reading Get Poppy. Figures—an engagement ring isn't labeled, but the dead guy is addressed to her. Now, while Aunt Ginny plans a tree-trimming party and pressures Poppy to decode a mysterious old diary, the amateur sleuth is asked to “unofficially” go undercover at the restaurant to help the police. Until then, the only crime Poppy had been dealing with was Figaro’s repeated thefts of bird ornaments from the tree; now it looks like it’s going to be a murder-y Christmas after all.

Libby Klein grew up in Cape May, NJ where she attended high school in the '80s. Her

classes revolved mostly around the Culinary sciences and Drama, with one brilliant semester in Poly-Sci that may have been an accident. She loves to drink coffee, bake gluten-free goodies, collect fluffy cats, and translate sarcasm for people who are too serious. She writes from her Northern Virginia office where she serves a very naughty black smoke Persian named Sir Figaro Newton. You can keep up with her shenanigans by signing up for her Mischief and Mayhem Newsletter on her website. www.LibbyKleinBooks.com/Newsletter/

Tuesday, February 11, 2020

Holiday Sprouts: A Festive Valentine Side Dish from Cleo Coyle #ValentinesDay

Cleo Coyle: Blue cheeses brings a rich and sophisticated flavor note to recipes, especially when paired with the sweetness of ripe or dried fruits. The second time I realized this was many years ago while stuffing my face in a beloved New York eatery called Bryant Park Grill, where I completely blissed-out over a pear and Stilton salad.

The first time I got a clue, I was in my early twenties, visiting a friend in England, who took me to a formal dinner at Oxford University. The dinner felt like something out of Harry Potter (without the magic wands and sorting hat :)). Then the close of the meal showed me true culinary magic, and I happily concluded that port and Stilton were my new best friends.

The elegant finish to that formal English meal introduced me to the idea of pairing blue cheese with the flavor of sweet, ripe fruit. It's the same happy pairing I've used in today's recipe.

As for my New York experience, here's a photo
of the beautiful restaurant where it took place...

New York magazine called Bryant Park Grill one of the best-situated and most attractive dining rooms in the city, and so it is. If you are planning a trip to Manhattan or even a romantic Valentine's dinner, click here or on the photo above to learn more about this lovely spot.

The 💗 Love Connection...

To learn more,
click here.

While Bryant Park Grill's famous pear and Stilton salad helped to inspire today's recipe, there is another connection between us: a literary one.

My husband and I have always loved the pretty city park location of this airy restaurant. We loved it so much, in fact, that we decided to use it as a featured setting in our 12th Coffeehouse Mystery HOLIDAY BUZZ.

Not only that...

This restaurant stands right behind New York Public Library's great and glorious main branch, a landmark Beaux-Arts building that we featured in our 8th Coffeehouse Mystery HOLIDAY GRIND.

So you see, with both literary and culinary love connections attached to this side dish, we couldn't help but feature it for Valentine's week...

A RECIPE NOTE FROM CLEO

Cleo Coyle has a partner in

crime-writing—her husband.

Learn about their books

by clicking here and here.

These fancied-up sprouts pair beautifully with almost any kind of main dish, and they're lovely served with wine or champagne.

When I first shared this recipe (over ten years ago), I suggested it as a festive side dish for holiday dinners. But the coupling of sophisticated flavors makes it a great side for a romantic Valentine's meal, as well.

Finally, although English Stilton is always an amazing choice, any blue cheese will work in this recipe, including Danish blue (aka Danablu), Italian Gorgonzola, or French Roquefort. And if you’re not a fan of dried figs, try substituting dried cranberries (or Craisins), which is an equally festive flavor. As long as you pair the blue with a sweet, dried fruit, you're on the right culinary track.

Where to buy Stilton?

Again, while any blue cheese will work in this recipe, if you're a fan of English Stilton and fancy a treat, click here to virtually visit my favorite cheese shop in New York City. Murray's Cheese Shop is located in the heart of Greenwich Village, where our Coffeehouse Mysteries are set, and they ship almost anywhere.

To download this recipe in a

free PDF that you can print,

save, or share, click here.

Click for the free recipe PDF.

Cleo Coyle's Holiday Sprouts
with Blue Cheese, Bacon, and Figs

Makes 4 servings

Ingredients:

3 slices thick bacon (or 4 slices thin)

1 large yellow onion, chopped

1 10-oz package of whole Brussels sprouts (about 18-20 sprouts)

10 dried mission figs, roughly chopped (Or 3/4 cup dried cranberries.)
1-1/4 cups water
Crumbled blue cheese (any blue will do; English Stilton is my fave)

DIRECTIONS:

(1) Prepare sprouts and figs: Wash and dry sprouts and slice each in half. Chop dried figs. Set aside. (If you aren’t a fan of figs, try 3/4 cup dried cranberries or Craisins.)

(2) Brown bacon pieces: Cut bacon slices into small pieces. In large skillet, fry bacon pieces until browned but not crisp. NOTE: As soon as you move to the next step in this recipe, the bacon will stop browning, so make sure your bacon displays some nice caramelized color before you move to step three and toss in your onions.

(3) Add chopped onions: Throw in the chopped onions and sauté until lightly caramelized. Remember: color equals flavor! If you move to the next step before the onions get a bit of color on them, they will not taste as sweet and the dish will not be as tasty. As with so many things in life, patience is a virtue, especially when sautéing onions!

(4) Toss in sprouts and figs: With the bacon browned and the onions sweetly caramelized, you are ready to throw your sliced sprouts and chopped figs into the pan. Fold these in well, until they are absolutely glistening with the rich, delicious flavor of rendered bacon fat!

(5) Add water, cover, and simmer: Here is the trickiest step. Pour in about one and one-quart cups of water (1-1/4 cups). Cover and simmer the mixture on medium-high heat for about 8 to 10 minutes. After about 8 minutes, lift the lid and stir. Bite into one of the sprouts to see how far it is from properly cooked through. You want a nice al dente texture and not mush. If the sprout is too hard, replace the lid and keep going, checking every few minutes.

Also check to see if the water is evaporating too slowly or quickly. If too slowly, remove the lid and turn up the heat. If too quickly, add a little more water so the mixture does not burn. While you do not want this dish to be swimming in liquid at the end of the cooking process, neither do you want it to scorch. The trick here is getting the water to evaporate at the proper rate so that the sprouts are perfectly cooked through and still browned a bit in the pan, giving you that beautiful little caramelized rim that you see in my photos. (Yes, color = flavor. But black = burned!)

(6) Finish: To serve, spoon onto serving plates and crumble your favorite blue cheese on top, whether it’s a Danish blue, an Italian Gorgonzola, or a French Roquefort. For a special treat, try English Stilton, which you can also serve as an appetizer with sweet slices of pear, or as a final course with a lovely glass of port before coffee, tea, or espresso.