Thai steamed halibut w/ sweet potato

This is largely based on a recipe by Thai food guru Andy Richter, founder of Pok Pok. I just added vegetables to give the dish body in place of the traditional jasmine rice.  We have had amazing meals at the original Pok Pok in Portland as well as the new place near us in Red Hook.  He is a true student of classic Thai cooking, especially street food — no pad Thai.  I bought a bamboo steamer just to make this dish. So much fun — I loved cooking the sweet potatoes on one level and fish on another, and it left an amazing broth.  We had the miso slaw w/ daikon on side.

Serves 2

Sweet potato bisque

Yet another blended soup, made with leftover sweet potatoes from latke.  I often make butternut squash soup from the same recipe.  Potatoes make this bisque rich, filling and a beautiful color (that my crummy point and shoot Lumix does not do justice).

Serves 4

Sweet potato latke

My annual fried food quota is about five servings, divided among oysters and clams in the summer, latkes in the winter.   Okay, and the occasional bar batch of sweet potato fries.  Maybe five is wishful thinking.  And maybe talking about fried clams under a menorah photo is, well, an unintended testament to my non-kosherdom.   But onto these latkes, tweaked from the recipe in Plenty.  It took a few tries — lesson is make them super thin, truly no more than the 1T he suggests, spread with the back of a spoon.   Sweet potatoes just do not crisp through — you will get a nice crust around a gooey center.  If you want a traditional, crisp, shredded latke, use a Russet potato.

I served these latke with a yogurt sauce from Plenty recipe (see below), charred Brussels sprouts and some warm lentils with za’atar.   Yogurt sauce and a simple salad would be nice and refreshing too.

Serves 4

Happy Hanukah this weekend. Dying to make sweet potato latke!

Originally published in Yotam Ottolenghi’s column in the Guardian, Friday, Feb 9, 2007