Sweet Potato Pull-Apart Dinner Rolls . . . Let's Hear it for the Surprise Factor!

There is a small organic-farm stand in the equally small city where I live. It sits on a wide grassy lot between an old-fashioned ice cream shop and an antique store, on what serves as our town's main street. It's only been here for a few months but I really, really hope it's going to become a permanent seasonal fixture. The beautiful produce it sells comes entirely from Michigan farms, most of it not terribly far from the Detroit area, and everything is so exquisitely fresh. They strive to ensure that the produce they sell has been picked within 24 hours of reaching their stand. The items available on any given day are an eclectic mix, so the selection is kind of unpredictable, and that's one of the things I like most about the place--its surprise factor. You never know exactly what's going to be there or, more importantly, what's not.

One day this week, I thought I'd check there for basil and, hopefully, sweet potatoes. I'd seen some remarkable purple-and-reddish sweet potatoes there a couple of weeks before, and they were like no potato I had ever laid eyes on in the past. But they didn't have any at all the day I was planning to make these dinner rolls, so I just ended up buying some fragrant Jonagold apples and ripe tomatoes as my consolation prize.

It's an unequivocal treat to visit this stand, in part because the fruits and vegetables are so artfully arranged without their placement seeming contrived; all emphasis is on the incredibly vivid colors. From dusty crimson beets, to glossy eggplants, to slender carrots with long bushy greens, Peter Rabbit would risk life and limb for this stuff, drop off his loot, and then head back for more. Every time I stop here I wish I had my camera with me. I wonder what they'd do if I just showed up one day and started clicking away like a madwoman.

After purchasing the apples and tomatoes, I spent a few minutes marveling over the remarkable variety of heirloom pumpkins for sale. I had an intense impulse to take home one of everything. Knowing that it's all so fresh and, even more so, knowing that it's all from Michigan, makes this kind of produce irresistible to me. I think I could give Peter Rabbit a run for his money. We would be partners in crime.

About this recipe . . .

I ended up using two standard sweet-potatoes from the grocery store. And, as for the surprise factor, I suggest you serve these and see if people can guess their secret ingredient. My hubby, Andy, only needed to give them a few discerning sniffs before coming up with sweet potatoes as the right answer (he's good that way). He loves these rolls.

I adapted this recipe from one at the Red Star yeast site ("Pumpkin Pull-Apart Pan Rolls") that called for canned pumpkin and pumpkin spice (I omitted both). I figured a recipe from Red Star had to be good and I was about to give it a whirl, unaltered, when inspiration grabbed me. I thought sweet potatoes would likely make the rolls even better, in part because the addition of potatoes in certain bread-dough recipes seems to reliably have that effect. The rolls I ended up with were extremely good, and they seem to have an impressively long shelf life, staying soft and moist for at least two days. The potato flavor is pretty subtle, giving the rolls just a slight sweetness. This would be an excellent bread item to serve on Thanksgiving. The recipe makes 15 rolls in one 9"x13" pan. I froze about two thirds of the baked rolls after they'd cooled, and I defrosted and warmed a few of those last night in the oven on 250 degrees, wrapped loosely in foil. Served them alongside steaming bowls of white-chicken chili. They felt and tasted like they'd just been baked. This one's a definite keeper.

Sweet Potato Pull-Apart Dinner Rolls

(For a printable version of this recipe, click here!)

Yield: 15 rolls (One 9"x13" pan)

Ingredients:
1/2 cup lukewarm water, or more
2 tablespoons milk, no colder than room temperature
1/4 canola oil
1 cup of baked sweet potato (no skin), mashed, and cooled to room temperature
2 large eggs, room temperature, lightly beaten
unbleached bread flour, approximately four cups (have more on hand, just in case)
1 and 1/2 teaspoons salt (I used coarse kosher salt.)
1/3 cup light brown sugar, loosely packed
2 and 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast (or use 1 tablespoon active dry yeast)

melted butter, 1/4 cup

In the large bowl of your mixer, using the paddle attachment on the lowest speed, stir together 2 cups of the flour, the salt, brown sugar, and yeast.

In another bowl, stir together the water, milk, oil, and sweet potato. Pour all of it into the dry ingredients. Beat at medium speed for about 2 minutes. Add in the eggs, and continue beating for about 3 minutes. On lowest speed, slowly add in 1 and 1/2 cups more of the flour. If the dough seems too dry, sprinkle drops of water in a few at a time.

Use part of the remainder of your measured flour to liberally flour your work surface. Flour your hands. Dump the soft dough out onto the floury surface and knead it for at least 5 minutes; you want it to feel smooth, spongy, and elastic (it should feel tacky but not sticky). Add in additional pinches of flour as needed.

Grease, or spray with vegetable spray, a large bowl. Place the dough into the bowl, turning it over once to coat it. Cover the bowl with a piece of plastic wrap that's also been greased/sprayed; cover that with a thin dish towel. Let the dough rise at room temperature for up to two hours, or until almost doubled (whichever comes first). One way of telling when the dough is ready is to gently press a finger into it; if your finger leaves an obvious indentation that does not seem to spring back, the dough is ready to move to the next step.

Liberally grease a 9" by 13" pan with vegetable shortening.

Turn the risen dough out onto a very lightly floured surface (it's not a good idea to add much flour into the dough at this point). Have your melted butter close at hand (warm, but not hot). Very lightly flour your hands. Deflate the dough gently but firmly by pressing it with your palms.

Use a bench knife, or very sharp chef's knife, to divide the dough into three equal parts. Then divide each third into five even pieces (15 pieces total). Cover the pieces with the greased plastic wrap and let them rest, not touching each other, for about 12 minutes.

Remove the plastic wrap and shape each piece of dough into a ball, being careful to seal any seams on the bottom (if you're not quite sure of the best way to do this, here's a helpful tutorial that explains how to successfully shape dough into rounds). Dip the top of each dough ball into the butter. Place each buttered ball into the greased pan, in 3 long rows with 5 dough balls in each short row. Space them evenly, but don't worry if a few of them are almost touching. They will bake together in the oven in any case.

Cover the pan of dough with a piece of sprayed plastic wrap. Lightly cover that with the dish towel and let the dough proof (ie., let it have its final rise) for up to about 90 minutes, or until the dough leaves an impression when pressed with a finger; it won't necessarily looked doubled and that's okay.

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.

When the dough has risen, bake it on the middle rack of the oven for about 20 to 25 minutes. Check the rolls after about 18 minutes; if it appears to be browning too quickly, cover the pan loosely with foil. (The inside of the rolls should be about 190 to 200 degrees when they're all done; if you're not sure, poke an instant-read thermometer into one of the biggest rolls in the pan. I routinely do this when I'm not sure if bread is done baking.)  They will be quite golden, and dark golden on the bottom.

Remove them from the pan and let them cool on a rack.

(If you'd like to comment on this post, or to read any existing comments, please click on the purple COMMENTS below.)

A Walk through the Crow Wing State Park

Quote of the Day: There is nothing like walking to get the feel of a country. A fine landscape is like a piece of music; it must be taken at the right tempo. Even a bicycle goes too fast. ~Paul Scott Mowrer, The House of Europe

Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves. ~John Muir

Favorite Photos Friday, and a recurring theme - Walks

 

A couple of Friday's ago, the Biker Chef had the day off. After eating lunch at a local establishment, I said, "Is there some place we go for a walk?" So, he turned into the entrance of the Crow Wing State Park, bought a season pass (good until next October), and we took a little walk.

 

You are here.

 

The park offers many winding trails with information boards along the way. This is the location of an early settlement and town, a stop along the rivers, Crow Wing and Mississippi, for travelers and traders. The Chef brought back his best boy scout skills and gave me a guided tour.

 

 

An intersection of two water-ways.

The waters flow one way, and the wind blows another.

 

Isn't that how we feel sometimes? On the surface, we seem to be heading one direction, but underneath, our true course flows another way.

 

 

 

As I walk, I keep my camera open, looking for the beauty in nature. I start to wonder, Who walked these paths years before me? Who settled here? What were their hopes and dreams? If the trees could talk, they'd tell me stories of other walkers.

The rustling leaves are whispers of those stories. I listen, but can't quite here them. I look and see only subtle clues. What was once alive and vibrant is now at the end stages of dying and decay. That's what the fall of the year feels like, sometimes.

All summer my photographer's eye has been drawn to dead trees, standing tall, some polished bare, amidst the young saplings and new growth and strong, solid ones at their peak.  I'll probably share more of those photos on another Favorite Photos Friday. Until then, here's one for your imagination. What do you see in these twisted limbs?

I see a knobby-kneed cowboy crossing his feet. "Howdy Pardner!"

Go. Create. Inspire!
And, walk yourself into a creative mood.

Journaling Prompt:  Do you have a state park or historical site to go exploring?

Pasta with Cauliflower (Con Cavolfiori)

Whether its out of your backyard or from the local market, there is nothing like fresh Cauliflower.   This is a minimalist dish for sure, requiring very few ingredients.  Penne pasta works best for this dish to enable the cauliflower to get inside the tubular shape when mixed.  It's just simple and delicious. 

 

Ingredients:  Serves 6 people

One head of fresh cauliflower rinsed and broken into pieces.  Discard the thick stem

7 quarts of water to a boil with 2 tablespoons salt

4 tablespoons olive oil

2 cloves of garlic, left whole, smashed (to enable you to remove them before serving)

A handful of fresh parsley

Salt to taste

Black pepper to taste

1/2 teaspoon of red pepper

1/2 cup of white wine

1 pound of Penne Pasta

Method:  Bring your water to a boil and cook your cauliflower until soft and firm. 

 

  Reserving your water (to cook your pasta in later), drain your cauliflower.

 

  In the meantime, heat your olive oil in your saute pan and add your garlic and red pepper until fragrant.  At this point, if you do not like garlic in your pasta dish, remove the garlic cloves.  Your oil is flavored well enough to do without.  I like to leave in the garlic.   Add your cauliflower and mix. 

 

 Add your white wine and let the wine evaporate.  Add additional salt and pepper as you like.  

 

 

In the meantime, add additional water to your Cauliflower water if you need too.  Remember you must cook your pasta in the same water.  Using the same water ensures great flavor. 

Cook your pasta until al dente.  Toss in your pan with your cauliflower. 

Buon Appetito!

Special Notes:   If you like, add some Fontina cheese and put your pasta  in  oven proof bakers  for 5 minutes,  under light broil.   I like to sprinkle some Parmigiano Reggiano cheese and serve.   Enjoy!

 

Marscarpone Marble cake

There are just some things you just don't forget about growing up.  I remember getting off the train on 3rd avenue in Manhattan as a child and walking over to my Uncles bakery on 2nd avenue.   My grandmother, (who worked that window better than a patrol officer), would fill our bags with sugared donuts and black and white cookies on a Saturday morning.  For a child, it was as if we had found a pot of gold.  By the time we arrived at our destination (Nonna Maria's house, on 1st avenue ), our stomachs were full and our bags almost empty.   Nonna Maria would quickly suggest walking up and down the 5 flights of stairs it took to get to her apartment, to work up an appetite.   Mission Accomplished.
Nonna Barbara would always wrap up  pound cake for me to take over to Nonna Maria's house. That little white box wrapped up in Peppermint string (red and white).  It was the same little prize each time, over a 5 year period.  Nonna Maria would always be so excited, as if she not only was seeing it for the first time,  but she to,  had recieved her pot of gold.   
I need some Kleenex.

Ingredients:
1 tablespoons Marscarpone Cheese
2 tablespoons sour cream
5 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 egg
1 cup unbleached flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2  cup sugar
1/2 cup chocolate chips
3 tablespoons milk
One teaspoon vanilla extract

Method:
Sift together your dry ingredients and set aside.  Set your chocolate over some hot water and melt.  Whisk in your 3 tablespoons of milk and set aside.

Cream together your butter and sugar.  Add your beaten egg, sour cream and Marscarpone cheese.  Slowly add in your dry ingredients. Divide your batter in half.  Add your vanilla extract to one half and gently fold in the chocolate to the other.  

Grease your loaf pan (medium, 9x5x3) and line with parchment up the sides.  You may have to use some butter to cut and place your paper accordingly. 

Gently pour in some vanilla batter.  Then swirl in your chocolate alternatively.  Bake in a preheated 325degrees F oven for 40 minutes.  Insert a knife or toothpick to check if it comes out clean and is done.
Let cool on a wire rack.

Buon Appetito!

 

Guest Post by Laurel Garver

Today my guest is Laurel Garver, here to talk about her debut novel, Never Gone.
How did you get your ideas for Never Gone? What inspired you? 
The idea of parental haunting is pretty old. Shakespeare uses it in Hamlet, for example. I also was inspired by the TV show Providence that aired from 1999-2002, in which a young woman moves home after her mother’s death, and often has long heart-to-heart talks and arguments with her mother’s ghost. The idea of a parental presence lingering to help a child fascinated me, especially when it’s unclear why it’s happening (is it supernatural or psychological?).
After losing my own father, I began reading about grief experiences and how varied and confusing they can be, especially for kids. I got thinking about other circumstances that might make grieving more of a pressure cooker--like being left with the parent you’re alienated from, having a family culture that frowns on expressing negative emotions, and coming from a faith tradition that tends to emphasize the joys the departed gains in the afterlife. The question of “how do I cope without my loved one?” will be more urgently felt in circumstances like that. The psychology of father-daughter relationships inspired me quite a bit too. I’ll be talking more about that at Tyrean Martinson’s blog next Wednesday (http://tyreanswritingspot.blogspot.com/).
Clearly everything I read and experience is fodder for fiction. Putting research time into areas that naturally raise my curiosity has led me to be a bit more fearless about story situations I’m willing to tackle.
What kept you motivated to complete this project?
More than anything else, having a young fan who wanted to look at drafts kept me going. My pastor’s daughter and I struck up a friendship when she was around the age of my protagonist (she’s now in college). She’d recently moved to Philly from NYC, so I thought she’d have valuable insights. She gave me so much more than critiques (she rarely corrected anything, actually)—she gave me a reason to keep going. She wanted to know what happened next and loved my characters as much as I do. When I praised her highly in my acknowledgments, she was pretty surprised since she hadn’t really critiqued. I told her “everyone’s a critic, few are encouragers.”
Combining ghosts and God is pretty unusual. Why bring those things together?Generally, ghost lore in our culture is associated with bad deaths, with unfinished business. The question for me is whose unfinished business? The departed’s or the survivors’?
My protagonist, Danielle, is a fairly grounded Christian who knows enough “proof texts” (scripture quotes used to prove a particular point) to shut down her own natural emotions in the wake of a devastating loss. Her dad is bound for a happy eternity in heaven, she reasons, so she’s really not supposed to be upset.
This kind of warped stoicism that sometimes arises in my faith tradition concerns me. It’s bad theology to my mind, giving a false view of who God is and how he relates to humanity. In the face of it, a really hurting person can suffer some pretty deep internal fracturing. My story’s ghost is in some ways a manifestation of that inner state. I’d love to say more, but I’d only end up revealing spoilers. You’ll have to read the book to see how Danielle resolves her ghost problem.
===
Days after her father’s death, fifteen-year-old Dani Deane begins seeing him all around New York — wading through discarded sketches in her room, roaming the halls at church, socializing at his post-funeral reception. Is grief making her crazy? Or could her dad really be lingering between this world and the next, trying to contact her?
Dani desperately longs for his help. Without him keeping the peace, Dani’s relationship with her mother is deteriorating fast. Soon Mum ships her off to rural England with Dad’s relatives for a visit that Dani fears will become a permanent stay. But she won’t let her arty, urban life slip away without a fight, especially when daily phone calls with her lab partner Theo become her lifeline.
To find her way home, Dani must somehow reconnect with Mum. But as she seeks advice from relatives and insights from old letters, she uncovers family secrets that shake her to the core. Convinced that Dad’s ghost alone can help her, she sets out on a dangerous journey to contact him one last time.

Add it on Goodreads
The e-book is available at Amazon.com, Amazon UK, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, Smashwords
The paperback is available at CreateSpace, Amazon

Thanks, Laurel. It's great to have you here on my blog today. Your book sounds great. Thanks, also, for sharing your inspiration with me and my readers.

Go. Create. Inspire!

Journaling Prompt:  Do you believe in ghosts? What do you think happens in the afterlife?

An Update...

Hello!

First I want to just say I am sorry for the very LONG, and unplanned, absence.  Once the new school year started, I have found it increasingly difficult to maintain family, school, and the blog.  I hope all of you will accept my apology and wait for my return to blog land. 

Life here at my house has exploded with excitement since August.  I am in full swing with student teaching, which means the end is in sight--graduation is in December!  I now have a middle schooler, which is quite the adjustment for everyone, a 4th grader, and a 1st grader.  They are all doing incredibly well, but each is at different school which results in a lot of running around in the mornings.  My husband is working the dreamiest hours right now, day shift, which makes the balancing act so much easier.

I will close with a huge thank-you to all of you that read my posts, pin my recipes, and continue to support me even when I'm not around.  I appreciate all of you!

Happy cooking!

Jenn

Review of Appomattox at The Guthrie Theater

Quote of the Day:  No lie can live forever. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Appomattox by Christopher Hampton is a play in two acts, currently playing at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis. The first half of the play is set during the American Civil War with all the main players of the time, President Abraham Lincoln, Generals Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee, and their wives, generals, soldiers and slaves. The battle is raging to end slavery, save the union, and end oppression.

The second half of the play is set 100 years later during the Civil Rights movement with all the main players of the times, President Lyndon B. Johnson, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Governor George Wallace, J. Edgar Hoover, Lee Harvey Oswald and Edgar Ray Killen, and citizens who march, protest, and die.  The battle rages on to end oppression through desegration of schools, elimination of Jim Crow laws, and voting equality.

I expected this show to be filled with strong scenes of war, racism, and fight for justice. I prepared myself for an intense night of theater where history would come alive. I got glimpses of it. For the most part, though, it was all exposition. If I wasn't leaning forward, trying to catch all the lengthy dialogue, I was sitting back, wondering how late it was getting. The show runs two hours and 55 minutes, on a good night. We did not get a good night. The stage "broke" towards the end of Act I, and they halted the action. They pulled the curtain and gave us an early intermission. After we finally saw that scene, we wondered if they couldn't have acted around the set moving glitch and finished Act I. But, who knows. It might have messed up all sorts of blocking and prop/set moving. Either way, it added at least 35 minutes to an already long night. Since we had over two hours drive back north when it was done, and I'd brought my 14-year-old son, I was cringing. He had been interested in seeing this play. He's interested in history and politics and has dreams of becoming a lawyer. He said the show was hard to follow and was annoyed with President Johnson, calling him obnoxious. He said, "After the stage broke, I kind of wanted to go home because I wasn't following it very well." Although, we agreed that the second Act was better.

The play consists of scenes pulled out of history. What I like is that Hampton brings us into the intimate settings and conversations of those main players. We see their struggles with decisions about the wars, Civil and Vietnam, and the people who fought them, and why. We see them trying to make the right decision regarding people of other races. We see them as flawed human beings who were placed in positions of power.  I really liked the scene between Generals Grant and Lee. They show great respect for each other and compassion for the soldiers. Grant knows that in order to heal the nation, he needs to show the Confederate soldiers that they can go back to their farms and businesses with their horses and their dignity. Lee says something like, oh, we could pull back and hide in the hills and continue this fight through gorilla warfare, but for how long? And, to what end? Our men are starving, now. What will they do? So, they sign their treaty at Appomattox, hoping for a peace-filled future.

Act 2 starts out with a video clip of President John F. Kennedy on television stating that it is time to end oppression and give full freedom for voting, education, and job opportunities for all people, black, white or otherwise. At the same time, we see Lee Harvey Oswald spewing out obscenities towards the president and his N-loving ways. (We heard the N-word and the F-word many times in this play.)

The language is harsh in this play, coming from some hate-filled people, as well as those trying to sound powerful. I expected intense drama, scenes acted out that would cause an emotional reaction. What I got was more exposition and a telling of what happened. This play lacks action. Maybe they were trying too hard to make it look good and forgot to give the actors power to tell the story through their characters. Moving the set pieces off and on, while the actors rode on them, limited the action even more. We heard about Lincoln's death. We heard about Kennedy's assassination. We heard about the killings of the civil rights workers. In the final scene, we had to listen to two hard-hearted bigots talk of their killings and how they didn't even see them as crimes, even though they were in jail for committing them. It leaves you with a bleak picture of human beings, especially Americans, who live and die with hate. That no matter how many wars are fought, marches made, or laws enforced, hate lives on.

I did have a few favorites scenes, however. One was when the slaves learned that they'd been freed. They walked on singing the Battle Hymn of the Republic, "Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord." They saw President Lincoln, called him "Father Abraham" and kissed his hand in gratitude.

 

Photos from the Guthrie media page.

 

The other scene that really drew me in was when Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is speaking to a crowd before the March from Selma to Montgomery. The actor Shawn Hamilton became Dr. King. I felt the energy in the room rise. I had goosebumps on my arms all the way down to my toes, and we clapped along with the cast when he was done saying, "No lie can live forever. Truth crushed down to earth will rise again. We shall overcome...Mine eyes have seen the glory!" Oh, ya. I caught the connection. The battle rages, and we will march on. It is worth going to the show to see that performance in person.

 

 

I also enjoyed performances by Harry Groener as both President Abraham Lincoln and Lyndon B. Johnson, and Mark Benninghofen was excellent as General Grant and Nicholas Katzenbach, Johnson's attorney general. He actually had some stage movement and his face and body language helped to tell the story.

 

The female characters are horribly under-represented. They seem like just extensions of their husbands and have few lines. Perhaps Hamilton is trying to show how voiceless women were then. Even President Lincoln blows off the idea of women's right to vote. I'd like to see a play about Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Sojourner Truth. I love her famous line, "Ain't I a woman." Hampton touched on that for about one second of his play.

 

Appomattox is playing at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis through November 11, 2012. Go to their website for more information. Also to note, tickets are now on sale for A Christmas Carol, a great play for the family, but not the youngest ones. Appomattox is definitely for an older audience, as is Tales from Hollywood, which I enjoyed much more.

 

Go. Create. Inspire!

 

Journaling Prompt:  What main players from history would you like to see come to life on stage?