Sweet Potato Salad

Sweet potato is one of the fall staple foods. Growing in the cold fall and winter all across america, it is a nutritious bomb, and for those who don ‘t know it is not really a potato, it is a tubor. As always with most of the blog posts, before we start the recipe, we will discuss the history and the background of the food to be cooked. Sweet potatoes are native to the tropical parts of South America, and were domesticated there at least 5000 years ago. They spread very early throughout the region, including the Caribbean. They were also known before western exploration in Polynesia. How exactly they arrived there is a subject of ongoing research and discussion of various hypotheses involving archaeological, linguistic and genetic evidence.

The plant does not tolerate frost. It grows best at an average temperature of 24 °C (75 °F), abundant sunshine and warm nights. Annual rainfalls of 750-1000 mm are considered most suitable, with a minimum of 500 mm in the growing season. The crop is sensitive to drought at the tuber initiation stage 50-60 days after planting and is not tolerant to water-logging, as it may cause tuber rots and reduce growth of storage roots if aeration is poor. Don ‘t be confused, this is just the growth conditions. As soon as the root ripens it can be kept in the underground

Besides simple starches, sweet potatoes are rich in complex carbohydrates, dietary fiber, beta carotene (a vitamin A equivalent nutrient), vitamin C, and vitamin B6. In 1992, the Center for Science in the Public Interest compared the nutritional value of sweet potatoes to other vegetables. Considering fiber content, complex carbohydrates, protein, vitamins A and C, iron, and calcium, the sweet potato ranked highest in nutritional value. According to these criteria, sweet potatoes earned 184 points, 100 points over the next on the list, the common potato.

Enough talking!!! Let’s eat! Well before we eat we need to cook for that we need ingredients, that are in the lovely picture below.

For this recipe we need:

• 6 medium white sweet potatoes
• 2 large red peppers
• 2 medium onions
• 4 Jalapeno peppers (optional, but strongly recommended)
• 2 Thai peppers (completely optional)
• Olive oil
• Pam (yeah as an ingredient)
• salt and peper (yeah peper is not in the picture but I am sorry)

The ingredients proportions are customize to fit my teste buds, I love the sweet and spicy combination, but I grand you that not every one does. So customise them as you wish. You can use any potato but the white is less sweet and blends a bit better with the rest of the ingredients.

Start by rinsing the potatoes.

Dry the potatoes with a kitchen towel.

Take a large baking dish.

Add aluminum foil.

Add the potatoes and cover them.

Set your oven at 400 F.

Setting an oven at a certain temperature, does not mean that it will be at that temperature. There is… stuff that sticks on the temperature probe and sets it off. So next time you are wondering why the cake did not raise, or got burned… don ‘t… Your temperature probe is out of alignent.

While the potatoes are baking, rinse the various peppers.

Cut a ring from the top of the bell pepper to expose the seeds.

And pull them out.

Cut the rest of the pepers in rings.

Just like this.

Follow with the Jalapeños.

Decapitate them,

Spit in half.

Remove the seeds with a spoon.

Cut each piece lengthwise, and set aside. Yeah.. be careful with those peppers. They are hot. You can heart an eye or… other… organs…

Peel the onions. You should know how to do it by now.

Stick some toothpicks, with about 1/2 to 1/4 inch appart.

Cut in between the toothpicks. Now you should have nice slices of the onion that are nicely held by the toothpicks. You can skip the toothpicks all-together , but the slices will be falling apart and it will be ugly (?)

Take a baking sheet and cover it with aluminum foil.

Place your vegetables with the

Lube them up with the PAM. You can also brush them with oil but this is so much easier!

PAM is distributing a nice coating of oil that will help the brown. You can brush them with olive oil, but I find that brushing them makes them very greasy.

Pu them to the bottom rack or closer to the heating element.

Let them brown at the bottom side, and the flip them

Let the pepper brown and char a bit.

Chop the thai chilies as well. Chop, as much as you want or not at all this is just some heat addition.

Stretch the rings to straight ribbons…

and chop them.

similarly for the Jalapenos…

Just chop them, in fairly large pieces. The heat mellow the sweetness.

Add all the roasted veggies and mix them.

Add now the thai chillies (optional).

And by that time the sweet potatoes should be ready.

While still hot, peel the a perry knife.

CAREFUL!!! It is hot!

Cut them in slices about 1/4 inch.

When all sliced…

add olive oil, and since they are hot they will soak it up really nice.

Add salt and stir.

Add the vegies and…

pepper. Mix gently. I use a pair of tongs to make the mixing more uniform.

And is ready…

Enjoy one of the best dishes… Simple, hearty, warm, rustic. A great dish to feel the fall, cause here in Florida, it is not fall without sweet potatoes, squash and pecans.