The Mija Chronicles

Mexican food and culture, on both sides of the border

sweet potatoes

Sweet potato salad with rajas, onions and oregano dressing

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I’m addicted to this salad. Seriously. I’ve made it maybe four times in the past two months, and each time, I’m scraping the bowl with my spoon and hoping that I have leftovers for the next day.

It’s a cinch to prepare. (Well, “cinch” meaning it takes about an hour with the chopping, but there’s no major cooking involved.) It comes from Rick Bayless’ Mexican Everyday, one of my go-to cookbooks since I’ve moved to Mexico. In the original version, he uses regular potatoes and flaked tuna. I’ve prepared it that way, but also with sweet potatoes, chicken instead of tuna, and no meat at all. They’re all fabulous.

My favorite version is with camote blanco. It’s a purple-skinned sweet potato with white flesh, and it’s not as sweet as the orange sweet potato. It balances perfectly with the tangy herbed vinaigrette. I wanted to take a picture of this salad, but Crayton had the camera, so you’ll have to settle for an iPhone shot.

Here’s the recipe. It pairs really well with a glass of white wine.
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Procrastination, Vol. I: Spicy baked camote fries with creamy cilantro dip

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camote fries

So I’ve been writing this personal essay, and it’s driving me crazy. I don’t know whether I’m being relevatory enough, funny enough, honest enough, or whether the whole thing is just completely narcissistic, and why the hell would anyone care?

By around noon yesterday I wanted to tear my hair out. So I took a break to peel some potatoes.

I’d been eyeing The Tofu Cookbook’s spicy potato wedges or a few days. As a sidenote, I’d forgotten I’d even owned the Tofu Cookbook until last weekend — my mom had given it to as as a semi-joke wedding gift. Crayton hates tofu with the fire of mil demonios.

Even he would like these, though. Potatoes covered in cumin and cayenne pepper, served with a cool, creamy silken-tofu dip. I picked up some Mexican sweet potatoes at the supermarket — they’re white on the inside — and I chopped and marinated them, covered ’em in lime zest, roasted them in the oven. While they were cooking, I zapped the sauce in my food processor and added some cilantro because I thought that would taste good.

About 50 minutes later, I had crispy-on-the-outside, soft-on-the-inside fries that were heavenly good. The sauce didn’t make me jump up and down. But it made a good, cool foil — a foil with protein! — to the spiciness of the potatoes.

Afterward, Lola arrived to clean, and we had a long chat about God’s grace, our weeks, swine flu boredom. (Stuff we usually talk about.) I offered her my extra batch of un-risen cinnamon rolls, which she accepted. By the time she left I felt much better about the essay. And by 7 p.m…. I’d actually come up with a draft I was happy with. Which is HUGE.

Maybe these fries will help you solve your writing problems, too. Or whatever else you need a break from. (They’re awesome with beer, by the way.) The recipe’s after the jump.
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