Variety makes Sweet Potato dishes a ready-made-meal option
It all started one January day…
Food Banks Alberta had a lot of sweet potatoes on hand to distribute around the province. Three full pallets of boxes arrived in Red Deer.
Naturally they were sorted and prepped to take to the hamper room to distribute with our emergency hampers. But there was concern, as often happens with fresh produce: What if we can’t distribute them before they spoiled?
This is why we LOVE having our chefs at the Rotary Club of Red Deer Community Kitchen!
Chef Shane and Chef Michael stepped up the past couple weeks preparing dishes in their own in-house Sweet Potato Challenge. They came up with at least four different one-pot meals with sweet potatoes as the star ingredient!
First up was Sweet Potato Curry. Chef Shane started with sauteing some onions, garlic and curry seasonings and adding chunks of sweet potato. Once everything was softened and taking on a golden color, he added in coconut milk, and voila! A simple and delicious curry was created.
Next up, Chef Michael created a flavorful Sweet Potato Jambalaya. He combined sweet potatoes with smoked pork belly and sauteed shrimp. Add some vegetables and spices to taste, and jumpin’ jambalaya - it was GOOD!
A few days later the guys decided to set aside the “Battle of the Ladles” and joined for forces to create two more delish dishes.
Jamaican Sweet Potato Stew was divine! Best of all, it was a simple on-the-fly creation that used many ingredients that can often be found in our hampers. The sweet potatoes were combined with canned peas, canned beans, red pepper, garlic, onion, and ginger, coconut milk, salt & pepper, some herbs (like cilantro), and he just happened to have a jar of Epicure’s Jamaican Jive.
Finally we caught a whiff - and a taste! - of Southwest Vegetarian Sweet Potato Chilli! Chef put together sweet potatoes, corn, black beans, chick peas, pumpkin puree, canned tomato, and spicy seasonings for a chilli that cleared the nasal passages yet didn’t leave a 2-day burn on the lips.
When they were finished, the boys in the kitchen used three boxes of the three pallets of sweet potatoes. All the rest were distributed fresh to our clients.
We asked Chef Michael what the secret is to creating such a wide variety of dishes from one simple, affordable ingredient. Was it the seasoning? Knowing what flavors work best with it?
“A lot of ‘the secret’,” says Chef Michael, “is to not be afraid to try something new. Experiment, play, look online for ideas. You can create delicious meals from the simplest ingredients. Substitute what you don’t have for what you do have. Think you don’t like a particular food? Try preparing it a different way.
Just have fun with it.”
All profits from the sale of catering & food services is used to support the Hamper Program at the Red Deer Food Bank. Any additional donations over and above the price of the meals also go directly to the use of the Red Deer Food Bank Hamper Program.