Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Roasted Tomato Shrimp Sauce

INGREDIENTS:

(for the beer)

1 12 oz. bottle (or more!) Dogfish Head Punkin' Ale

(for the gnocchi: will make about 6 servings)

3 medium sweet potatoes, roasted (you can microwave them or boil them if you really prefer, but we found the dry cooking method made for less moisture to deal with--and you can be roasting the sauce elements at the same time)
1 1/2 cups white flour (approx.)
1 fresh egg
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 tsp. grated nutmeg
salt and pepper to taste

1) Peel your sweet potatoes and either shave them into a fine pulp with a knife or send them through a potato ricer. Don't overwork.
2) Pile the flesh in the middle of a big well-floured cutting board with the beaten egg, maple, and all dry spices in the center.
3) Sprinkle the pulp with flour, slowly incorporating the dry ingredients into the wet ones with a fork. Add only as much flour as needed--the dough should be sticky, nearly too sticky to handle although still workable.
4) Divide your dough into 4 ropes on a dry, well-floured surface, each about 1/2 inch thick. Cut the ropes into 1-inch segments with a floured knife.
5) Leave as much gnocchi as you want to cook immediately on your work surface. Transfer the rest to a nonstick baking sheet and place in the freezer (you'll have lots). When the individual dumplings are frozen enough not to be sticky, you can put them in a freezer bag and have gnocchi for later.
6) Boil a large pot of salted water while you make the sauce. Drop all the reserved gnocchi into the water when it reaches a rolling boil, and watch it carefully. When all of it floats, it's finished. Transfer with a slotted spoon directly into the sauce.

(for the sauce: serves 2)

(just oil the to-be-roasted ingredients lightly and cook them in the oven on a tin-foiled baking sheet for about 50 minutes at 400 degrees along with your sweet potatoes)
2 tbsp olive oil, divided
1 roasted onion, chopped
2 cloves roasted garlic, minced
2 roasted tomatoes, peeled and chopped
1 tbsp. tomato paste
1 or 2 scotch bonnet peppers, minced (go easy, these are very hot)
1/2 pound of shrimp, peeled, de-veined, tails removed
1 cup shrimp or fish or vegetable stock
1 tbsp. agave or sugar
salt and fresh pepper to taste
1/4 cup fresh chopped parsley

1) Heat the oil in a large skillet. When shimmering, add minced scotch bonnet. Saute 1 minute.
2) Add the roasted onion, roasted garlic, tomato paste, sugar, and roasted tomatoes along with the stock. (I always have shrimp stock on hand with shrimp dishes because I make it by boiling the shrimp tails and legs with a little bay leaf and black peppercorn and clove.) Allow to simmer until the tomato has melted into the oil and stock and the sauce has thickened, about 8 minutes.
3) Stir in the raw shrimp. Saute in the sauce until just pink and cooked through.
4) Add parsley. Drain the gnocchi and add directly to the sauce.
5) Sip Punkin' Ale. Enjoy together.

THE BEER:

Dogfish Head folks are crazy in a really good way. They are so passionate about brewing that they are very comfortable going to extremes and pushing boundaries, but we thought their classic pumpkin seasonal ale would be a great pairing with sweet potato gnocchi in an extra-spicy sauce.

This is a brown ale style brewed with pumpkin meat, brown sugar, and pumpkin pie spices. Although a very fun seasonal autumn brew, pumpkin beers often meet with one of two problems: either they don't taste much like pumpkin, or they taste shriekingly of pumpkin. Neither is delicious, although I'd prefer the latter over the former just to say I tasted the pumpkin at all. The nicest thing about Dogfish Head Punkin' Ale is that it both tastes of actual pumpkin and is also quite balanced. The cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, and malty pie-crusty flavors all blend together delightfully, but you don't feel as if you're drinking carbonated pumpkin pie in any way. This is still beer, baby.

THE AILMENT:

A word of caution when dealing with scotch bonnets. You know scotch bonnet peppers, yes? The ones pictured up top with Gabe holding them? Well, that's the color and the sole quantity in which my downstairs C-Town grocery store sells them. This is because, as I have deduced by now, my C-Town is making attempts on my life.

You can't buy one scotch bonnet, you see. Or even several. You have to buy oodles. And then there they are, all multicolored and beautiful and smelling of sweet grass when sweet grass tastes a bit like lava, and my natural reaction to their loveliness is to cook them. So about two years ago, when I was determined to eat Thai-style ground pork with green beans, I minced four of them up and dropped them into shimmering oil.

Here's where I slipped up.

I had my face over the pot.

Now, I know that life is a fragile and tangential continuum, multifaceted and painted in as many opinions and beliefs as there are shades of grey, but nevertheless breathing the air above newly simmering scotch bonnets is NEVER A GOOD IDEA.

Why, you might ask? I have a two-word answer to that question:

CHILI LUNG.

How does one cure Chili Lung, the reader desires to know? How do I know if I have Chili Lung? Is it hilarious? The answer to the third question: no. Well, a little. I'm going to answer the second question next: you know you have Chili Lung when you sound as if you have walking pneumonia for literally a THREE MONTH PERIOD OF TIME. Another good sign is when your cat (pictured, a very reasonable and non-reactionary feline) screams like the vacuum cleaner just came to life and flees the kitchen in a blur of panicked mammal the instant the peppers hit the pot. See, it turns out by pure linguistic coincidence that the active ingredient in pepper spray is...well, you're an intelligent reader, so I leave you to determine whether or not you have Chili Lung.

As to the first question, what should you do about it once you have given yourself (or, if we're blaming the nefarious source, C-Town has given you) Chili Lung? I have, by rigorous process of elimination, cataloged several remedies that do not work in the smallest degree:

1) Taking steam baths. Nope. Weak.
2) Covering your head with a towel and inhaling a steamed pot of eucalyptus. No. Sets you coughing again.
3) Sucking cough lozenges. Negligible effect.
4) Standing outside C-Town swearing like a theatre techie. This feels excellent, but the symptoms inevitably return. A temporary cure, though a pleasure.
5) Stealing your Dad's asthma inhaler. Promising, but you don't have asthma--so it just gives you a really weird, distant high before you start coughing again.

Solution: outfox C-Town. Do not get Chili Lung in the first place.

Which leads me to ask: who in their right mind buys this quantity of scotch bonnets at a go? And don't say "Dominicans," because I thought of that already, but my neighbors are bon vivants, not suicidal lunatics. I am left with my original conclusion. C-Town has designs on my life.

Chicken Pepper Soup with Sweet Potato and Coconut

INGREDIENTS (serves 6):

2 medium chicken breasts, cubed
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 inch of ginger, minced
2 garlic cloves, minced or pressed
3 large (mild) jalapeno peppers, minced
1 dry bay leaf
4 sprigs fresh thyme
1 medium onion, chopped
1 large sweet potato, cubed
1 large green bell pepper, cubed
2 ribs celery, chopped
1 carrot, sliced bite-size
4 cups hearty vegetable or chicken stock
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 cup coconut cream (not coconut milk--the sweet sticky stuff you use for pina coladas)
3 chives, diced
Salt and fresh black pepper

1) In a heavy soup pot, heat the oil until shimmering and add the ginger, garlic, onion, and jalapenos. Sweat for two minutes.
2) Add the sweet potato, carrot, celery, bay leaf, thyme, cinnamon, and vegetable stock, season well, and bring to the boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook for about 7 minutes.
3) Stir in the green pepper and chicken and simmer for another 6-8 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through and the vegetables are tender.
4) Remove bay leaf. Add coconut cream and taste, adjusting salt and pepper as needed. Garnish with chives and serve, by itself for lunch or over rice for a heartier meal.

THE SITUATION:
It's too cold in my apartment for me to even think about beer. What you need when you're freezing your nuts off is spicy coconut soup. Hence the abbreviated posting--I'm wearing (apart from a dress and two sweaters) tights with socks over them and fingerless gloves a la Bob Cratchit. Those of you who know me might well argue, "But Lyndsay, you dress like Bob Cratchit every day. You always look like you just barely survived an encounter with a serial knitter. I mean, your daily appearance is...whimsical would be a diplomatic way of putting it." Yes, well, the effort at the moment is in the direction of comfort, not style, and it turns out that feeding lumps of coal to one's radiator has negligible effect on the temperature of the room.

See, the trouble is that the temperature outside is above the legal limit at which the building must turn the heat on. Meanwhile, it's March. In New York. The cat has been trying to burrow under things for hibernation purposes all day. T. S. Eliot was mistaken about which month is cruelest. Spring needs to get itself sprung, and fast.

Winter Risotto with Sweet Potato, Brussels Sprouts, and Blue Cheese

INGREDIENTS:

1 large sweet potato, cubed small
10 oz. Brussels sprouts, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
6 oz. Danish blue cheese, crumbled
2/3 cup Arborio, Carnaroli, or other risotto rice
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 shallot, minced
5 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
3 tbsp. chopped fresh rosemary
Approx. 2 cups chicken stock, more if needed
Salt and pepper
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Bear Republic Brewing Co. Hop Rod Rye

1) Heat olive oil in a medium pot. Sweat shallot, carrot and garlic until fragrant, about 1 minute.
2) Add sweet potato and rice to the pot and toast for 2-3 minutes until rice is slightly translucent.
3) Add chopped rosemary and half a cup of chicken stock and stir constantly until the stock is absorbed.
4) Continue to add stock, half a cup at a time, stirring constantly and adding more when the liquid is nearly absorbed into the rice. It should take approx. 13-15 minutes for the rice to be cooked as the liquid is incorporated; if more liquid is needed, add more stock or water.
5) When the rice and sweet potato are nearly cooked (after about 10 minutes), add the chopped Brussels sprouts.
6) When rice is tender but still slightly firm in the center, add blue cheese and season to taste. After the cheese has melted in, spoon into bowls.
7) Open Hop Rod Rye.
8) Enjoy together.

THE BEER:
Oh, yum. Caraway and dark, sticky notes from the 20% rye used in the malt, a very well-balanced caramel sweetness against bitter orange rind hops, and a hint of fresh bread yeast. Bear Republic is in Healdsburg, California, and damn do they ever make a fine beer. If you're a fan of the rye IPA style (and when it's well done, it's one of our favorite beers of all time), this brew gets it exactly right. There's a reason this beer has won major gold and silver medals in festivals and competitions. Pairing a rye IPA (especially one of this magnitude and bittersweetness) with ANYTHING to do with blue cheese is a very, very good idea.

THE ADVENTURE:
You know what? Risotto is Italian comfort food, and comfort food is what's needed when the weather turns all crispy, and the leaves begin to fall, and you start grabbing a pashmina on your way out the door. No adventure here, kids. Predictably delicious, toothy, wholesome, and all around good. I (Lyndsay) used to work at a great Italian place called Osteria Laguna, and that's where I learned of the glories of risotto. Our chef Christina (an eighty-pound Venetian with a Rambo-style hair kerchief) made glorious risotto--beet and gorgonzola risotto, smoked mozzarella risotto, shellfish and tomato risotto, and it was always giddily perfect. The woman makes freaking beautiful food. I can't cook risotto like she can (I also can't yell nearly as loudly or project her levels of utter scorn), and so I salute her! She lives in Berkeley now with her wife and baby, but here she is posing like a rock star by our pizza oven and antipasto bar.

Sweet Potato and Quinoa Salad

This beautiful (if I do say so myself--don't you just want to put your face in it?) salad was inspired by a similarly simple recipe in Donna Hay's gorgeous Off the Shelf: Cooking from the Pantry. We changed several elements, but a shout out to Donna in any event; her food is visually striking, healthy, and simple. Woot woot!

INGREDIENTS:
1 cup quinoa
1 1/2 cups vegetable stock
2 sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
1/2 pound green beans, trimmed and chopped
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp. Thai roasted chili paste OR harissa OR Italian red pepper tapenade
1/2 cup chopped fresh mint
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 tbsp. honey
Salt and fresh black pepper
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Avery Brewing Company's Ale to the Chief American Pale Ale

1) Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees and line a baking sheet with foil.
2) Toss cubed sweet potato in the regular olive oil, seasoning if desired. Roast the potato on the baking sheet in the oven, uncovered, for 30-45 minutes depending on how large your cubes are. Remove from oven when cooked through and well browned, and set aside in a large bowl.
3) Place quinoa in a mesh sieve and rinse thoroughly--there is a substance called saponin that coats the outside, and can taste bitter if not rinsed off.
4) Combine quinoa and vegetable stock in a pot and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer 20 minutes until water is absorbed.
5) While quinoa is cooking, blanch green beans in boiling salted water until tender and bright green. Rinse with cold water and set aside with sweet potatoes.
6) Combine the last five ingredients, along with salt and pepper to taste, in a small mixing bowl or dressing shaker.
7) Fluff the quinoa and add it to the vegetables. Toss with the dressing.
8) Open Ale to the Chief.
9) Enjoy together.

THE BEER:
This beer is gorgeous. It's a lovely pumpkin orange color when poured, with resiny hops balanced by caramel-cereal malts. They brewed it as a special tribute to the lucky man who replaces Still-President Bush in November, and what a fine gesture it is! The floral sweetness rocks with the slightly spicy dressing of the salad, and the pine-bitter finish does well by the honey-tossed quinoa. Ale to the Chief indeed, and may he sip this fine vintage for solace while sitting in the Oval Office pondering how to get us out of this small fiscal snafu.

THE NOBLE QUEST IN YOUR PANTRY:
Donna Hay's books inspire great one-dish meals that can come together using practically anything in your refridgerator and shelves. Of course, I AM assuming that your refridgerator contains more than ketchup, Pabst, and month-old celery, but really, this recipe would work just as well with a can of chickpeas instead of sweet potatoes, rice instead of quinoa, and chives for mint. Go to town. Actually, no--don't go to town. That's the point: stay at home. You've ingredients enough.

THE AGONIZING ANTICIPATION:
Can we just vote tomorrow and know which guy Ale to the Chief is hailing? Would it be ok to corrall all the "Undecideds" at this point and build a nice compound for them where they can wander around trying to decide whether or not to take a shower, or whether they prefer to wear socks on their hands or their feet, or whether they should keep breathing? Vote for whomever you want. Seriously. But can we just get it over with now? Listen: you have two options. There's an old white conservative and a young black liberal. There you go. As Dave Sedaris put it, being undecided right now is like having this conversation on an airplane:

FLIGHT ATTENDANT: Hi. Would you like the chicken, or the pile of excrement with shards of glass in it?
UNDECIDED MAN: Hmm. Well, how is the chicken cooked?

Seriously, what are these people waiting for? Do they want McCain to come over to their house with Joe the Plumber and clear their clogged toilet? Do they want Obama to bring Bill Ayers to their backyard and punch him in the face? Are they waiting for either candidate to come back triumphant from an epic quest to find George Bush's Magic Wand? Do they know the Magic Wand doesn't exist???

My head hurts.