New years resolutions - part 2

Oh my sweet potato!
And no, this isn't a cute nickname, although after tasting this, it migt as well be..

So let's talk about food!

Now, I know that in january everybody is trying to lose weight, eat healthier etcetera.
Don't get me wrong, I love me some healthy food. Give me a crisp bowl of salad with some vinaigrette, and I'm a happy girl.

But, as most people, I also happen to love cream, butter, cheese, and bacon. Don't lie, you all do.
So fair warning: if you're on one of those '800 calories a day'-diets, or one where you're only allowed to eat raw food, or whatever the fad is today: than is not the post for you.
To be honest, this probably isn't the blog for you. But feel free to stay and read it anyway!

If you're like me, preferring food over diet, then you're going to love this recipe.

- sidenote: I am not trying to promote an unhealthy lifestyle, mind you. Excercise and eat right, but every now and then, you should be able to indulge in something with way more cheese than is necessary :)

Anyway, back to the food part.

A little while ago, I went a bit crazy with the vegetable shopping, under the guise of 'stocking up the pantry'. Not only did I have both floury and waxy potatoes, I had baby potatoes, sweet potatoes, and sunchokes as well. Oh and also, the freezer was stocked with meat, and I had a lot of canned foods. And I mean a LOT.

Upside: whenever I came home from work, I didn't have to mind about grocery shopping, because, well, there was plenty of it. Downside: what the heck was I going to dó with this amount of tubers?

A lot of mashes, wedges, gratins and soups later, I had almost completed the last of the tubers. However, I was still stuck with the sweet potato. To be honest, aside from replacing them for regular potatoes in aloo gobi, I didn't really know what to make with them. I'm not really a sweettooth, so why I even bought 1 kilo of sweet potatoes is beyond me. But nevertheless, they were here.

I remebered that a while back, I was intruiged by the idea of  a double-baked potato. First tenderzing the potato, then scooping out the flesh, and crisp up the potatoskin while the stuffing will remain soft.
That's it, I had to try it. As the potato flesh is quite sweet, a salty blue cheese would be a great way to complement that taste. Unfortunatley, the bf isn't a huge fan of blue cheese (he'll get there), so I went with a sharp cheddar instead.

Double baked stuffed sweet potato (serves 4)

Who knew that double-baking would make them double-yummy?

4 sweet potatoes, scrubbed clean

Half a (small) pack of baconstrips, sliced up on to little chunks

120 ml (aprox. 1/2 cup) sour cream 

+/- 200 gram (6 oz.) shredded Cheddar (or crubled up gorgonzola)

Chilipowder and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Preparation

Preheat oven to 200ºC (400ºF). 

Pierce potatoes all over with a fork and place in a shallow microwave-safe baking dish. Microwave on high for 10 minutes. Turn the potaties every 2minutes, so they will be cooked through and through. Set aside to cool for another 10 minutes. Make sure to turn them while cooling as well, otherwise one side will be to flattened/moist.

In a skillet over medium-high heat, cook bacon until crisp, about 8 minutes. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate to drain and cool. 

Halve potatoes lengthwise. Scoop out flesh into a large bowl, leaving shells of about 1/4-inch thickness. Drizzle the shells with a little olive oil, and place them, cut side up, on a baking sheet. Bake until crisp, this will take about about 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, prepare the filling, and try not to eat it all! Combine the potato-pulp with the sour cream, 3/4 of the cheese, and the bacon chunks. Mix well, and add the chilipowder/pepper until you've reached your ultimate combination of savory, spicy and sweet. 

Spoon the filling into the shells, and top it off with the remaining cheese. Retunr to the oven for another 10 minutes, or until the cheese is melted an bubbly.

Oh my goodness!

Oh my, this was glorious indeed. I served them with some roasted garlic-chicken and sautéed corn. 

It was a delicious comforting meal. The bf was happy as a clam and claimed that I should definitely make this again. I see a sweet potato future ahead of me..

Also, the leftover filling makes a perfect grilled cheese/mash sandwich! 

Never waste food, especially food this delicious..

New years resolutions - part 1

So, I might be just a little bit late to still jump upon the ‘resolutions’ bandwagon, but I’m gonna do it anyway.

My first resolution: find more time to blog about the things I’m passionate about (so, mainly food and wine).
My second resolution: stop apoligizing when in fact, I don’t blog at all. It’s not that I don’t want to, but it’s hard to find the time!

With that out of the way: let me get you guys up to speed. Because we haven’t spoken in over a year! *gasp*.

In said year, I've traded in the adorable city of Delft for my birthtown, Utrecht. I’m currently living there with one roommate (who, from henceforth will be known as ‘the roommate’), who is, unfortunately, lactose intolerant. The struggle is real, people!

I have actually tried eating fish again! My whole body rejected it with a clear 'NOPE', so the lesson learned here is that I am still allergic. But hey, it was worth a shot.

My heart got broken, but in the long run, that turned out to be a good thing. If that hadn't happened, I never would have met my current bf; Yoram.

And it may seem to you readers like I'm burning through boyfriends faster than you would burn through calories while eating celery, but this really isn't the case. Apparently, I'm just lucky. And to think, I never even forwarded any chainletters!

Anyway, I can assure you that I will be cooking for/enjoying wine with him for a long time to come. I'd choose him over aubergine, and that's saying a lot, coming from me!

When I met him, he wasn't much of a cook (and I mean at all), he wasn't used to most of my cuisine and he didn't drink wine. Needless to say, most of that has changed. Lucky for me, he keeps an open mind about food, so he will try whatever I put in front of him. And well, once people grow accustomed to wine, and mostly, to good wine, there's just no going back.

But I won't bore you with stories about my lovelife. After all, you're here to read about food! And there has been a lot of food cooked the past year. For example, I experimented with sunchokes (which are lovely, but the flatulence rumors are also true..), I made a turkey saltimbocca (which is so ridicilously easy I have to blog about that), and I've experienced some rural-cooking expriences in france.

So to start right of with my first resolution, blog about food. Stay tuned, as my first blog with recipe of 2015 with be published shortly!