Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Bacon Wrapped Curried Sweet Potato Bundles

In order to try to make amends with you fine readers for my absence yesterday I present to you this gift: bacon. And sweet potatoes. And heaven. I can't even explain how this recipe popped into my head. You know how all amazing things start off as accidents? Like saccharin? JUST KIDDING. That's so not amazing. Artificial sugar = bleghhh. But it was indeed an accidental discovery. Kind of a gross accidental discovery that makes you wonder why anyone in their right mind would ever eat it. Read about it here. Well, this was concocted by accident. And it's amazing. Not like fake sugar amazing. Like dark chocolate amazing. Which I consumed waaaayyyy too much of this past weekend. Faiiiil.

Speaking of this past weekend let's do a recap! Because you all care so much about what I do and eat. Friday I drove home (Northern VA) from Blacksburg (Southwest VA). Most boring drive ever. Immediately when I got into the NOVA-ish area I stopped at a health food store I used to go to when I was studying at the Smithsonian in Front Royal. I grabbed some essentials (coconut oil, chocolate chips...you know) and headed to my house about 30 miles down the road where I then proceeded to make some of PaleOMG's Chocolate Chip Cupcakes. I tinkered with the recipe a little and the pictures came out beautifully (for once) so those will be in a post tomorrow. I bought a CrossFit Blacksburg sweatshirt before leaving - yay! I promised myself if I completed 2 months I'd start swaggin' out if I was addicted enough. Let's be real: I was addicted after the first WOD. Dunno why, I just was. It's so strange that I've only been CFing for 2 months. I'm SOOOO FREAKING CLOSE to my pull-up I can taste it. I want it so bad.

Grainy picture, but thar she blow! My sweatshirt that is. Love it. I own a total of 0 sweatshirts I feel comfortable in. 
Now that number has been brought up to 1! Expect overuse, sweatshirt, expect it.

The large majority of this weekend (aka Saturday) was spent making bad decisions. It was 2 of my male friends' birthday celebrations so we went out during the day. I spent a few hours drinking shitty red wine and terrible imitations of NorCal margs - a drink that the bartenders FAILED at creating (um...it's so easy, go back to liquor school or whatever) and ended up super starving with a plate of BACON ON A STICK in front of me at some awesome restaurant I stumbled into with Mark that served local, in-house smoked bacon. Holy balls it was good. I've been developing a bacon addiction it seems. I apparently was too drunk off sugar to snap a pic of that deliciousness. Either that or I ate it in 3.2 seconds. That might be a possibile explanation as well. Long story short, bacon = not dinner. At least by itself. The recipe later on IS in fact an awesome dinner. I'm feeling a little contradictory. And confused. Ok anyway. 

SO after that nonsense we (Mark and I) went to a nasty smoke-filled bar to watch our friends' band Mothership play an awesome set. At least what I saw of it. Alcohol + lack of food + smoke filled bar = goodnight Emily. I was so freakin' tired I begged Mark to let me go sleep in the car so I could take a 30 minute "cat-nap". Yeah right, I slept for like 2 hours. Then woke up in a reeeeally pissy/confused mood. Poor Mark. He's the best for putting up with me. 

The devil and the saint. Guess which one I am!
Sunday we went to brunch with my momma, grandma, and cousin who was visiting from New York! And my mom gave me a ridiculously awesome Easter basket filled with dark chocolate covered coconut, dark chocolate covered cherries, dark chocolate covered dark chocolate, AND all the ingredients to make a real NorCal margarita. She's the best mom. I'll fight you on that. She threw in a whole bunch of non-dark chocolate candy too. Which I piled into a bag and gave to Mark to eat. Because he's skinny and doesn't get fat ever. Ever. Seriously, f him. Then we spent the rest of the day working on his car (him) and grillin' (me). I made delicious Almond JalapeƱo burgers thought up by George over at Civilized Caveman and then we lifted Elle up and made her super uncomfortable. And I climbed trees.

Artsy fartsy. Elle snoozin' and Mark workin on his car.

Everyone tell Mark to CrossFit! He'd be so good! Aaaand backsquat that pup.
I don't even know what this is. She's a big girl. And hates me.
Told you I'm going to overuse that sweatshirt.
OK RECIPE TIME! I had originally planned on making this with leftover ham we froze from Christmas. But when I thawed it, it sketched me out. Like grey/brown color. No bueno. So next thought? Bacon! Then I had a bunch of cooked curry eggy junk on the pan. What to do, what to do - I thought. Make a coconut curry reduction. The recipe progressed onward from here. I'll let it speak for itself. It's the bomb dot com. Enjoy!

Bacon Wrapped Curried Sweet Potato Bundles
w/ Coconut Curry Sauce

     - 1 medium Sweet Potato, cut into thick straws
     - Coconut Oil Spray
     - 2 small eggs or 1 medium egg
     - 1/2 teaspoon Curry Powder
     - 1/2 teaspoon Garam Masala
     - 1/4 teaspoon Turmeric
     - 1/4 teaspoon Cumin
     - 1/2 teaspoon Red Pepper Flakes
     - 1/4 teaspoon Sea Salt
     - 4 slices of uncured Bacon
     - 2 cups Coconut Milk from a can
     - Basil and chopped Pecans for garnish

1. Preheat oven to 400. Spray baking sheet with coconut oil, layer sweet potato straws on the pan, coat with more coconut oil spray.
2. In a small bowl whisk the eggs until they're nice and foamy. Add in the spices (curry powder through sea salt) and mix. Pour over the sweet potatoes and use your hands to evenly coat them.
3. Rearrange the sweet potatoes so that they're in a single layer in the pan and place in the oven for 25-30 minutes.
4. When the sweet potatoes are done baking, pull them out of the oven but leave the oven on. There should be a layer of cooked curried egg between the sweet potato slices. Using a knife or your hands separate the sweet potatoes from the egg mixture, leaving some rough edges of egg around the sweet potatoes.
5. Spread a layer of foil down on the counter and wrap a bundle of sweet potato wedges (5 to 8) with the bacon. Place the bundle with the loose bacon edge down. Repeat with the other sweet potatoes (my size sweet potato straws made 4 bundles).
6. Remove the curry egg mixture (I included 2 sweet potato fries in this) from the pan and place on a cutting board. Place the foil with the bundles on the pan and place into the oven for 15 minutes.
7. While the bundles are cooking, pour 2 cups of coconut milk into a sauce pan. Turn the heat on medium-high and chop up the curry/egg/sweet potato mixture. Pour into the coconut milk. Bring the milk/curry mixture to a slow boil and let it summer until it's reduced about half way. This takes about 20-25 minutes.
8. When your timer goes off for the bacon, roll the bundles over to the other side and let them bake for about 5 minutes longer. Remove them from the oven when they're done to sit for about 3 minutes. 
9. Strain the coconut milk/curry mixture into a small bowl to remove the large chunks of cooked egg and sweet potato.
10. Plate the bundles, drizzle with the coconut milk mixture, top with pecans and basil, and demolish :)

Basil + Pecans = Perfection

Mmmmm bacon. 




2 comments:

  1. These look absolutely ridiculously amazing. I need to make these...immediately!!

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    Replies
    1. Oh you will not be disappointed! Would have had them for lunch today if I hadn't already eaten them for breakfast!

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