North Carolina is the leading producer in the US, and we are seeing plenty of them coming in this Fall. If you have a sweet potato or two as well as a leek from this week's delivery, you might consider this recipe for Sweet Potato Cakes with a tangy lemon and yogurt sauce. This recipe takes a little more time to steam the sweet potatoes, and create the Sweet Potato Cake mix, but the result is a hearty and delicious potato cake contrasted by a light tangy sauce. Adapted from the Sprouted Kitchen blog (http://www.sproutedkitchen.com/home/2012/3/14/sweet-potato-cakes.html). Very delicious!
Papa Spud's:
1.75 lbs. sweet potatoes, cut in large chunks
1 leek, halved and sliced into half moons
Your Kitchen:
2 teaspoons soy sauce
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon salt
red pepper flakes, a pinch
1/2 cup unbleached all purpose flour
1 egg, whisked
-Yogurt sauce ingredients
1 cup greek yogurt
4 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons olive oil
6 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
salt and pepper to taste
1) Steam sweet potato chunks until tender, about 20-25 minutes. After cooked, set sweet potatoes aside to cool.
2) While sweet potatoes cook, saute leeks in butter for just 1-2 minutes, remove from heat and let cool.
3) Blend yogurt sauce ingredients except for basil. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add basil, and spin just a few more times to coarsely chop basil.
4) When the sweet potatoes stop releasing steam, mash/mix them in a bowl with soy sauce, garlic, salt, red pepper flakes, and flour. Mixture will be sticky and tacky, but should not be too runny to hold shape. If it's too wet, add more flour. Mix in leeks and egg.
5) Heat butter over medium high heat. Form small balls of sweet potato mix (they don't have to be perfect), and drop them in the pan. Once they start to cook and brown a bit, flatten them into patties with a spatula. Cook until well browned on each side. Once cooked, remove from heat and place on paper towels to drain.
6) Serve topped with the lemon yogurt sauce, and a side salad.
