Recipe: Roasted Sweet Potatoes

🍠 Here's what happened to these bad boys:


They were tossed (skin on!) in olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic powder and smoked paprika and then roasted in a 400 degree oven for 45 minutes (and turned halfway through).

They were a revelation. Why? Two reasons. Leaving the skin on made them chewy in a way that peeling them never has. Seasoning them with an eye to the savory side of things (rather than with cinnamon and nutmeg) just sent them over the top. Good grief. Try it, you'll be glad you did.

Recipe: Lenny's Louisiana Hot Sauce

I used to be very vanilla when it came to spice in my food. Mild, baby. It had to be M - I - L - D. Somewhere along the way, due to a combination of age, the expansion of my palette and all the time we spend in New Orleans I developed a serious hot sauce habit. It brings me so much pleasure. The initial kick, the way it heightens the other flavours, the weird buzz you get minutes after eating it. It's the best.

This year I decided to try and make my own homemade hot sauce for some Christmas Gifts for friends and family. I like giving gifts from my kitchen and considering all the sweets we all get this time of year, I thought I'd go in the other direction and bring the spice!

Never having made my own hot sauce before I perused Pinterest for recipes. There are so many ways you can go with hot sauce. Some really complex layered flavours. I was surprised to see one recipe that included carrots! None of them were really what I was after; I didn't have time to ferment anything and the flavour I was hoping to achieve was something really simple, with heavy vinegar overtones. There's this hot sauce you find in New Orleans called Crystal, it costs less than a dollar for a little bottle of it and the flavours are simple and bright...basically just Cayenne Peppers and Vinegar, it's pretty mild too, which is a good thing if you're giving it as a gift.

This non-recipe-recipe from The New York Times sounded like it would fit the bill perfectly. Here it is with my modifications:

What you'll need:

Cayenne Peppers (about a dozen, maybe more)

White Vinegar

Salt

Directions:

1) Wash and trim the peppers (leave in the seeds)

2) Put into food processor or blender

3) Submerge Peppers in Vinegar

4) Add about 1 tbsp of Salt

5) Blend until smooth

6) Transfer the sauce to a pot and bring to a boil, stirring frequently (avoid getting the fumes in your eyes because...ouch)

7) Let sauce cool in pot

8) Run cooled sauce through a sieve 

9) Funnel into bottles and refrigerate 

Keep refrigerated, shake before use and expect it to last a month or so.

The good news? This tastes JUST like Crystal.

I created this label for it, to make it look more official :)

Lenny was very happy to have her name right there on the label. Ever the entrepreneur she thinks we should open a shop to sell the stuff. Or, at least see if we can sell it at a Farmer's Market. I fully expect this child to have 3 or 4 functioning businesses by the time she's 10 years old.

Let me know if you try this recipe, or if you have a go-to hot sauce recipe that you'd like to share!

Recipe: Perfect Avocado Toast

Not all recipes are created equally. In fact, some are too basic to even really be considered recipes at all. Avocado Toast isn't hard. I mean, make toast, put avocado on it, right? Boom, you've got Avocado Toast. But the perfect Avocado Toast? That's another story altogether. I've spent ages perfecting my Avocado Toast...the right bread, the right toppings. When something is so deceptively simple, the details and ingredients really matter. Want to make your Avocado Toast perfect every time? Read on...

What you'll need:

1 small ripe avocado
salt and pepper to taste
1 large piece of multi grain rye bread

For my money, Rudolph's makes the ultimate multi grain rye bread.

Directions:

1. Make your toast
2. Mush up your ripe avocado with a fork, adding salt and pepper to taste
3. Spread it on your toast

At this point, yeah, you could be done. Good enough to eat for breakfast lunch or dinner.

But why stop there? The topping options are endless. My favourites include sliced roma tomatoes with a drizzle of balsamic vinegar and sprouts or thinly sliced cheese (Beemster! Sharp Cheddar!) or a sprinkle of arugula and a thin slice of prosciutto sort of draped on top like a ribbon.

This morning, I topped mine with a poached egg and some hot sauce.

There's a pretty good chance I'm going to eat nothing but this for the next month or two.

Perfect.

How do you like to top your Avocado Toast? Any tips?