Sweet Potato Mash (and Leg of Lamb)

This week's recipe is from Hot Off the Garlic Press. {no pics cause hers are great.} HG is written by a friend who I met in Taiwan. Her husband was working there at the time. Currently they are living in Sydney, Australia working for the same company. I'm so impressed with her site! She is amazing and all these recipes are her own originals. I'm not sure why I didn't spend more Sunday afternoons at her house eating dinner...or even better...cooking with her. If I had only known! But we did other fun things like excursions to the fabric market and the bead store.

I'm going to be honest I've only made a few recipes from her site...only because they all sound so fancy that I've been intimidated. However, I've gained some cooking confidence lately and I realized she has 2 little kids just like I do and so far I'm finding her recipes are rather practical. I've made the spaghetti sauce/lasagna many times and I love it! The Herb Roasted Sunday Chicken is great. The herb butter is great to have around. This week I tried the Cornflake and Almond Encrusted French Toast and loved it. I've got the Chocolate Pancakes with PB Syrup (seriously can't wait) and the Roasted Butternut and Eggplant Stuffed Cannelloni (which I'll top with the Parmesan and Garlic Beschemel Sauce with Mushrooms) on my menu in the next couple weeks.

I was really intrigued by the Sweet Potato Mash that she posted a few weeks ago with the Red Wine Braised Leg of Lamb. Sweet potatoes are supposedly the most healthy vegetable as they have iron, calcium, fiber and vitamin A and C. I try to feed them to Jack everyday and I am so pleased when I can put them in to something tasty for the rest of us. I think I'll be throwing a few into any batch of mashed potatoes in my future cause these were so good!

So here is the recipe for this week with emphasis on the Mash. To keep with the spirit of things I also made the lamb. The lamb was a bit pricey at $20 for the leg, but it was delicious. I think I'll make this my traditional Easter meal. I had some new people in the ward over for dinner and I'm pretty sure they left thinking I was a good cook. Fooled them! ;) No, I'm getting there...there are cooks that have a great collection of recipes and there are cooks that can whip up a delicious meal without a script. I'm doing pretty well with the former and I aspire for the latter.

On the Mash...allow plenty of time for the veggies. Natalie said she put hers in whole for 4 hours under the lamb. Mine were probably 3 to 3 1/2 and they weren't quite done enough. But that was at 300F. Cut them up or up the temperature to make them faster like she says. I recommend leaning toward the generous side of her recommended proportions of butter, cream and garlic. Oh man...I just realized I forgot the onion. That would have been even better. Darn.

On the Lamb (if you are up for it)...I'm not sure how much wine (I used white rather than red cause I had it) she used, but I put in probably 1 1/2 cups. It was enough to cook it and it was nice and tender, but for some reason I only had a couple tablespoons of juice (after I took out at least 1/2 C of fat...I want one of the fat separators) so I didn't have much gravy.

And about me...

Do you have any pet peeves?

Probably most of them are around my house. Like my toothbrush already wet when I go to brush cause "a roommate" used it and plates with the food still on them sitting in the sink.

Any other hobbies besides being an amazing cook?

Knitting. I can sew pretty well, but I hate it. Cycling.

What is your favorite summer activity?

I haven't had a normal summer in a while since last summer I had Jack and this summer was in D.C. and the summer before that we moved. So I can't really think of anything...definitely not moving, which I've done that 6 of the last 7 summers. Probably cycling.

Are you a morning or a night person?

Morning. I'm a worthless mass of human body after 10:30p. Even watching a movie is pretty much miserable for me even a minute past 11p. I love mornings...but I don't like to start them until 6:30a.

Are you a go-go-go vacationer or a lie-on-the-beach vacationer?

A perfect balance of both...but if it's one or the other I'll take the beach.

What is your favorite store?

I used to think Anthropologie, but I'm sick of it...everything being Anthropolified and I can't afford anything there. So, I think I'd have to say Ace Hardware cause it's so close and I find all those little things I need. Believe it or not...I rarely go to Target.

What is your favorite beverage?

Water. Chilled or icey. With a good flavor...which is why I have a water cooler in my home so I always have good water. I think soda is pretty worthless.

If you had to go back to school, what would your major be?

Finance. Just because I wish I was more educated about it in general.