Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Actual dances with Kumara

I have decided to join the fight against the ham. I have held off this long. The situation is not getting any better and it is time for an uprising to overthrow the massive pig haunch that has taken over the fridge. The time is now people, lets make a stand.

Unlike most of the country, I went to work today. Woe is me. This recipe was the result of post work starvation and a certain amount of day dreaming about kumara on the car trip home. I am afraid I frequently possess the kind of hunger that cannot be satisfied by cold food; I require warm starches to soothe my own particular beast.




Stuffed Kumara with Ham and Feta

2 moderate kumara (sweet potato for our non kiwi friends)
1 tbsp olive oil
1/4 C milk 1/2-1 C diced ham (or bacon/sausage/cat food - this dish is built to use up leftovers)
50g feta crumbled, some reserved for topping
fresh herbs - parsley, thyme, sage - to taste

unsweetened yoghurt and extra parsley to serve

Slice the kumara in half lengthwise and microwave until soft. If you have a "thing" about microwaves or your hunger is not as pressingly urgent as mine, by all means bake the kumara in the oven.

Carefully, without blistering the palms of your hands, spoon the steaming flesh out of the now softened kumara into a large bowl without gouging holes in the skins as you will need them later. Mash the innards until smooth, add the oil and milk to get your preferred consistency, do not lose sleep over lumps, it's not that kind of food.

Add the remaining ingredients and mix through lightly - you still want lumps of cheese so don't go getting too heavy handed. Spoon back into the skins, top with the remaining feta and finish off under the grill until the cheese just starts to catch.

Top with unsweetened yoghurt - feel free to use sour cream but it is currently post xmas and
I fear if I go to the beach someone will try to refloat me.

For an entirely authentic experience you should fluff around trying to take pictures of your snack for a good 15 minutes before you sit down to eat.

ENJOY
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2 comments:

Morven said...

This looks simple and delicious. I think I would prefer the sans cat food version though. Too funny!

January 1, 2010 at 9:41 AM
Debbie said...

Well naturally the cat food is an optional extra!

January 1, 2010 at 4:24 PM

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About Me

I once made the mistake of cooking the entire 1966 Edmonds cookbook in a year. Now I blog from the safety of the couch. I live in New Zealand, a tiny (well relatively small compared to, say, Russia) cluster of Islands in the South Pacific. It's a verdant, smog free (except for Christchurch), sheepish, laidback kind of a place. I've lived at both ends of the country so I feel entitled to make jokes at the expense of both the Aucklanders (the "big city" where most of us Kiwi's live) and the Mainlanders (the folk who live in the south of the country which is rather more dramatic of aspect,devoid of population). A kumara, for those who aren't aware, is the Maori (the native peoples of NZ)word for sweet potato - generally refering to the purple/red skinned variety with yellow flesh. Kiwi's love kumara. If you dance with one you will probably need to lead. I am by training and past experiance a food scientist and by profession a food marketer, two professions blamed for messing with the nations food. I'd like to give a little something back to the food by letting it mess me up a bit. This is a collection of random musings about food and life in general.