Cooking for Sweet Rewards
Louisiana Sweet Potato Commission Awards $3,000 to Recipe Contest Winners
(ARA) – The Louisiana Sweet Potato Commission and Louisiana Cookin’ magazine have concluded the first Sweet Rewards Recipe Contest For Canned Sweet Potatoes, naming four first place winning recipes and one grand prize winner.
Over 400 entries from 38 states nationwide were narrowed down to 10 winning recipes in four categories: soups, sides, desserts, and breads and breakfast. These 10 dishes were then prepared for judging by students in the Culinary Arts program at Delgado Community College in New Orleans, La.
Grand prize winner Carole Resnick from Cleveland received $1,000 for her Baked Sweet Potatoes with Banana-Cranberry Chutney side dish recipe.
Four first place winners in each category were determined based on overall flavor, visual appeal, and creativity. Each received $500. Karen Gulkin from Greeley, Colo., placed first in the breads and breakfast category for her Pineapple Sweet Potato Muffins recipe. In the soups category, Stephanie Edwards from Portland, Ore., placed first for her Southwestern Yam Bisque recipe. Mary Ann Lee from Clifton Park, N.Y., placed first in the sides category for her Down Home Yam Soufflé recipe. In the desserts category, Lorie Roach from Buckatunna, Miss., placed first for her Sweet Potato Crepes with Honey-Praline Sauce and Brown Sugar n’ Spice Whipped Cream dish.
Judges for the competition in each category were Holly Clegg, Louisiana Sweet Potato Commission spokesperson and nationally known cookbook author; Marcy McCall, editor of Louisiana Cookin’; Tommy Simmons, food editor for the Baton Rouge Advocate and Tom Fitzmorris, New Orleans’ leading restaurant critic and daily columnist on the popular Web site NewOrleans.Com. Instructors from Delgado also helped judge the competition. The grand prize winner was selected by Mary Bartholomew, director of culinary arts and hospitality management at Delgado.
“I was overjoyed when I learned that I won the contest. Just the day before I had received news that I am cancer free, so that weekend was full of good news. I have been preparing new recipes and am anxious to enter next year’s recipe contest,” Resnick said. Next year’s contest will be held, in conjunction with Louisiana Cookin’ magazine, in spring of 2006. Louisiana Cookin’ has temporarily relocated to Baton Rouge after Hurricane Katrina, but plans to return to New Orleans, its home base, soon. The following recipe for Resnick’s prize winning Baked Sweet Potatoes with Banana-Cranberry Chutney is a perfect side dish to accompany any meat, poultry or fish. For more information about the contest or Louisiana sweet potatoes, call Bryce Malone, executive director of Louisiana Sweet Potato Commission, at (225) 922-1277. Free recipes and nutritional information about sweet potatoes are available on the commission’s Web site at www.sweetpotato.org.
The sweet potato is ranked No.1 as the most nutritional vegetable and is rated significantly higher in nutrients than the Idaho potato, spinach or broccoli, according to the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI). The sweet potato was ranked highest at 184. All other vegetables studied by the CSPI were ranked in nutritional value between 83 and 24.
Of its many nutritional attributes, the sweet potato is an excellent source of beta- carotene. The US Department of Agriculture and the National Cancer Institute recommend diets that provide 6 mg of beta-carotene a day. Sweet potatoes contain four times the recommended amount.
* Baked Sweet Potatoes with Banana-Cranberry Chutney
(makes 4 to 6 servings)
Ingredients:
3 cans (15 ounce) cut Louisiana canned sweet potatoes, drained
1/3 cup unsalted butter
1/3 cup brown sugar, packed
4 tablespoons rice vinegar, divided use
3 tablespoons fresh orange juice
2 tablespoons red onion, finely diced
2 tablespoons light brown sugar, packed
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
2 tablespoons vegetable or canola oil
1 large ripe banana, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
3 tablespoons dried cranberries
1 large orange, peeled and separated into sections, halved
Orange slices, for garnish (optional)
Dried cranberries, for garnish (optional)
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a 2 quart buttered casserole dish, combine the sweet potatoes, butter and brown sugar. Stir until well mixed. Bake until heated through, about 10 to15 minutes. In a small bowl, combine 3 tablespoons of vinegar, juice, light brown sugar, nutmeg and cloves. Mix well and set aside.
Heat oil in a small, nonstick skillet, until hot but not smoking. Add banana, cover and cook until golden brown (stirring often), about 3 to 4 minutes. Add 1 tablespoon of vinegar, cover and cook until liquid is almost absorbed, about 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in juice mixture and cook, over medium heat, until mixture begins to thicken, about 3 to 4 minutes. Stir in butter, cranberries and orange sections. Mound cooked potatoes in the center of a serving platter. Top with chutney. If desired, garnish platter with orange slices and/or cranberries. Serve immediately.
Courtesy of ARA Content
To Melancholy from “Songs of Cheer”
The last invitation anybody would accept is “Come, let us weep together.” If we keep melancholy at our house, we should be careful to have it under lock and key, so that no one will observe it.
Melancholy,
Melancholy,
I’ve no use for you, by Golly!
Yet I’m going to keep you hidden
In some chamber dark, forbidden,
Just as though you were a prize, sir,
Made of gold, and I a miser-
Not because I think you jolly,
Melancholy!
Not for that I mean to hoard you,
Keep you close and lodge and board you
As I would my sisters, brothers,
Cousins, aunts, and old grandmothers,
But that you shan’t bother others
With your sniffling, snuffling folly,
Howling,
Yowling,
Melancholy.
By John Kendrick Bangs
New York Style Cheesecake with Nut Crust
Note: Makes 1 9-inch cake, which can be cut into 12 goodly slices. This recipe can be baked without the crust if you want to lower the carb count further or macadamia nuts can be used in place of Brazil nuts.
Ingredients:
Crust
2 cups raw Brazil nuts
4 Tbsp. unsalted butter
2 tsp. Brown Sugar Twin
pinch of cinnamon
pinch of salt
Filling:
2 1/2 lbs. cream cheese, at room temperature
pinch of salt
5 Tbsp. granular Splenda
5 Tbsp. granular Sugar Twin
1/2 cup sour cream
2 tsp. fresh lemon juice
2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
2 large egg yolks
6 large eggs
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan with parchment paper and coat the inside of the pan with soft butter.
If you are using raw Brazil nuts, spread them on a baking sheet and roast for 10-15 minutes until they are lightly golden. If using roasted macadamia nuts, omit the roasting. Let cool. While the nuts are toasting, melt the butter. Transfer the nuts to a food processor and pulse until finely chopped. Add the remaining ingredients and pulse to combine. Pat evenly into the bottom of the springform pan. Place in the fridge.
Increase the oven temperature to 500°F. In a food processor or mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese until smooth. Add the sweeteners, sour cream, lemon juice and vanilla and process or beat until combined. Add the egg yolks and then the eggs, two at a time, beating until incorporated before you add the next two. Remember to scrape the bowl frequently while you are mixing.
Carefully pour the filling over the chilled crust and place the springform on a rimmed baking sheet or larger pan. Bake for 10 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 200°F and continue baking for 1 1/2 hours. Do not open the door! The cheesecake should suntill look soft in the center.
Transfer to a cooling rack. After 5 minutes, run a paring knife around the outside of the cheesecake to loosen it from the pan. Continue cooling to room temperature. You can serve it right away, or chill.
Yummy!!!
