23.1.09

Elk Preserve


Pennsylvania, 2008

22.1.09

It's Super Natural

Now that the holidays are over I've been focusing on my exhaustive list of New Years resolutions such as: drinking less, cooking more, tackling the new spring semester (despite my growing indifference to grad school), practicing yoga as much time and my body allow it and a bunch of new age crap that I'm too embarrassed to admit to in a public space.
My friend Jes introduced me to an amazing cookbook Super Natural Cooking by Heidi Swanson (of 101 Cookbooks fame) which has definitely been inspiring me to keep up on the cooking resolution. Last week I made dinner for friends that included Quinou and Mushrooms with Cheese as well as Roasted Broccoli with Lemon. Both recipes were simple to prepare and used only (super natural!) unprocessed ingredients.
I was inspired to contribute my own recipe to the dinner. I was aiming for Brown Butter Maple Sweet Potato Hash Browns which turned more into mashed potatoes then hash browns. I need a potato ricer and some serious hash brown pointers before I attempt them again. Anyhow, here is the revised recipe. Enjoy!

Brown Butter and Maple Mashed Sweet Potatoes

4 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
2 large russet potatoes, cubed
1/2 cup butter
10 leaves of sage, whole
1 tbsp. maple syrup
milk
dash of salt

Boil cubed potatoes until tender and drain water. Melt butter on low heat. Add sage leaves and let butter reduce until it turns into a dark tan color and is slightly foamy. Pore melted butter and desire amount of milk on potatoes and mash away.