Wednesday with Wine: Leek and Chard-Filled Sweet Potatoes with Mushroom-Pinot Noir Sauce

As Kathy Griffin would say, “Ok. Let me walk you through it.” 

Tonight could have been one of those nights – a no-cook, reheat, order-in or take-out kind of night.  It’s just me; it’s cold; it’s Wednesday.  It had become a busy day, and the hub was gone for the evening (after passing his last licensing exam –YAY HUB!).  There’s got to be something in the pantry, in the freezer, or via speed dial, so a dinner recon mission ensues.  Pantry first….and then, I saw it.  Hiding in the corner where I had stashed it the previous weekend, after selecting the white for our progressive dinner.  The pinot noir. The PINOT NOIR!

And Wednesday with Wine…was born.

You may have noticed that I like alliteration.  I also like wine, so really – a wine-inspired day each week is not all that strange.  Frankly (prepare to gasp), I have rarely used wine to cook. (Ok…gasp now.)  There is really no good reason for this, except that I am just beginning to experiment and explore.  What better way than to be motivated by blog posting! The other inspirations for this evening came from the following:

1)    Ricki’s Diet, Dessert, and Dogs blog (Right?  You had me at dessert and dogs!), more specifically her monthly “Sweet or Savory Kitchen Challenge” series.  Check out this month’s challenge at http://www.dietdessertndogs.com/2010/11/02/sos-kitchen-challenge-for-november/ .

2)    The “Mushroom-Pinot Noir Sauce” recipe from Vegetarian Times Nov. issue (I think – all info missing from clipping, but I know it was from recent VT).

3)    One of my first raw dishes and a perpetual fave -- Raw Beet Ravioli.  I use a recipe that combines a VegNews adaptation of Pure Food and Wine Restaurant’s Raw Zucchini Lasagna with various web recipes and whatever I have on hand.  However, I first had this dish at Garden Grille in RI; now,  my version of  this dish is much beloved and prepared by me and much requested of me by others.  I wanted to see what other adaptations were possible.

4)    Giving the ingredients their individual characters.

Ready with your pinot? 

(Check out vegan wines at www.barnivore.com or get the vegan wine app.  No, I’m not kidding; yes, this app. exists…and rocks! )

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Leek and Chard-Filled Sweet Potatoes 

      with Mushroom-Pinot Noir Sauce

Time: 30 min. – an hour 

 (depending on servings which can be increased and clean pans)

Servings: 1

Ingredients:

1:  1 medium sweet potato

     1 t oil, salt and pepper

2:  2 c. Swiss Chard (washed, de-ribbed, roughly torn)

     1 leek (white and light green only), cleaned and diced

      salt and pepper

3: VT Mushroom-Pinot Noir Sauce (veganized and revised)

     6 baby bellos (washed and diced)

     ¼ c. pinot noir

     1 c. water

     1 t. corn starch

     1 t. Bragg’s Liquid Aminos (or soy sauce, tamari, Coconut Secret…

             or omit and add a bit of extra salt)

      salt and pepper

Step 1:

If you have a workable mandoline, have at it.  Otherwise, thinly slice sweet potato to have 8 circular pieces of equal width.  Put in bowl, rub oil on each side of each piece, salt and pepper so that each piece has some s and p. Set aside.

Step 2:

Spray pan or use oil that is now on your fingers from sweet potato rubbing to prep pan.  Add leeks and sauté until mostly limp; add water by the T if the pan seems to be getting dry.  Then, add chard.  Ultimately, mix should be mostly balanced between chard and leeks.   When leeks and chard are softened, transfer to bowl and cover to keep warm.  Reserve pan for later sautéing.

Step 3: ( 15-20 min.)

In a small pot, boil water and wine.  Mix cornstarch in about ½ c. of water while waiting for boiling.  After 5 minutes of boiling,  add mushrooms at some point during the boiling and then add the cornstarch water mix.  Boil and then simmer until thick * start 3.5 now! Add Bragg’s and s/p toward end of cooking time, after 3.5 is completed. 

Step 3.5:

 (start while sauce is reducing; remember to stir sauce periodically during this step)

Re-spray or oil pan (from Step 2).  Depending on size of pan, put half or all sweet potato slices down.  Make sure that they do not overlap.  Let them sizzle, and enjoy the sound for about 2-4 min. depending on stove strength and pan (I had my burner med-high/6 with calphalon pan).  When you can easily pierce with a fork and bottoms are nicely browned, flip and let brown (approx. 2-4 min.).  At some point during this process, take a stick/immersion blender and puree chard/leek mix into happy green filling – rough blend is fine!

Step 4:

Put four slices of sweet potato on a plate; add approx. a tablespoon of leek-chard filling and top with additional sweet potato slice.  Take sauce – put one mushroom piece on top of each potato top and drizzle sauce around.  Ooh…look at you, decorating that plate.  The saying is true…we really do eat with our eyes.  This step is quick, but it makes this dish a bit fance…and we all need a bit of that to uplift us!  Refresh that glass of pinot (if you like the vino), and enjoy!

Random Recipe Note:

Salt and Pepper will always be loose, because of personal taste…and the fact that I have electric (and AWESOME) grinders that my bro and sis-in-law gave us for our wedding.  If we knew people who tried to leave with silver…we don’t have any, so I suspect they’d go for these.  People tend to want our dogs first… then our cool shakers.

P.S. "Hey!  You promised us a classic dish from Gma and the Tofu-Rosemary Crusted Casserole -- why are you holding out?"  Do not worry, my dear readers, the recipes shall be yours!

Note:  Please feel free to share my recipes/blog info; I thank you in advance for appropriate credit where it is due, as I will also do my best to cite and reference accordingly.