Sukuma Wiki: Kenyan Braised Sweet Potatoes and Collard Greens

The husband has been cooking up a storm while he's on his own in the wild midwest. Recently, he adapted a recipe from our Kansas produce box for Sukuma Wiki, a common Kenyan dish of braised collard greens. In Swahili, sukuma wiki literally means "stretch the week," and this dish is surprisingly filling (in addition to being deeply delicious).

And, when we each cook it in our respective kitchens for a Skype dinner date, it can stretch the week from here to Kansas City.

Ingredients
Olive oil
1 medium to large red onion, chopped
1 jalapeno, minced
1 large Japanese sweet potato (about 12 oz.), peeled and diced
1 bunch collard greens, lower half of the stems removed, coarsely chopped
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 to 1 1/2 cups diced Roma tomatoes
Dash or six ground cumin
Scant 1/4 tsp turmeric
1 cup veggie broth
Freshly ground white pepper to taste

Heat a deep saute pan (one that has a lid) over medium heat. When hot, add a generous glug of olive oil. Add the onion and saute, stirring, until it turns translucent, then add the jalapeno and saute a couple minutes more.

Stir in the sweet potato and continue to saute, stirring occasionally, until golden brown in places. Next, add collard greens by the handful, stirring to coat. Sprinkle in the salt, and continue to cook for another 5-7 minutes, stirring from time to time.

Add the garlic, tomatoes, cumin, turmeric, and broth. Stir, cover, and reduce the heat to low or medium-low (you want to end up with a strong simmer). Cook for 40 minutes, stirring every 10-15, until the collard greens are very tender and the kitchen smells amazing.

Adjust seasonings to taste, top with freshly ground white pepper, and serve warm.

Serves 2-4.

Roasted Butternut Squash Risotto with Smoked Bacon and Arugula

This looks long and complicated, but it's not particularly difficult -- just roast the squash and sweet potatoes at some point during the day when it's easy to check on the oven a couple of times, and set aside until you're ready to cook the risotto. And yes, we've put cumin and bacon in the same dish. You can blame Andalusia (and then, once you've tried it, you can thank the Christians and Moors for generously blending their cuisines as they fought over Cordoba, thereby freeing us of the limiting notion that Moroccan spices don't belong in close company with European herbs and meats).

Ingredients
1 small butternut squash (about 1.5 lbs), halved lengthwise and cut into 1-inch slices
1 thin Japanese sweet potato, lightly scrubbed clean
28 oz veggie broth (Imagine's low sodium is currently our favorite brand)
1 1/2 strips Niman Ranch applewood smoked bacon, sliced crosswise
Olive oil
1 large yellow onion, chopped
1 large clove garlic, pressed
1 generously rounded cup Arborio rice
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 cup dry white wine

Scant 1/2 tsp dried sage

Salt, to taste (unless you're using a heavily salted broth in the first place)
Freshly ground white pepper
4 oz baby arugula
1/2 cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Line a baking sheet with foil and sprinkle with a little olive oil. Place squash slices cut side down, still pushed together (so that you have two rows of squash slices that look like the two halves of the squash, face down). Put the Japanese sweet potato on the side of the pan, then roast for 35-45 minutes until squash is golden brown and tender and sweet potato is soft, turning the squash slices on their side about halfway through (to brown on two sides rather than just one). If the Japanese sweet potato is thick, it will take longer to cook than the squash.

Set squash and half the sweet potato aside to cool, then cut away from skin and slice into flattish squares (about 3/4" square and less than 1/4" thick -- you'll want to use all of the squash and enough sweet potato to make about 1/4 to 1/3 cup after it's sliced).

Put the broth in a pot and bring to a boil, then turn heat down to low, uncover, and let simmer gently as you cook the risotto (this evaporates some of the liquid and makes the taste even richer).

Meanwhile, heat a large pot or dutch oven over medium heat. Add the bacon and cook, stirring, until lightly browned. Drain most but not all of the excess fat from the pot, then add the onion and a glug of olive oil and cook for five minutes or so until soft. Next, add the garlic, and continue to saute for a couple more minutes.

Add the rice and cumin to the pot and toast, stirring, for 2-3 more minutes. Next, add the white wine and cook, stirring, until it's absorbed. Begin adding the broth, one ladleful at a time, cooking and stirring until each addition is absorbed before adding the next.

When most of the broth has been added and the rice tastes almost done (mostly soft with just a little hint of crunch in the middle of the grain), add the squash and the sweet potato and stir gently to combine with the rice. Add another ladleful of broth, stir gently, and cook until it's absorbed.

Add the sage, salt, and a liberal dousing of white pepper, and stir to combine. Next, add the arugula and spoon one last ladleful of broth over the top to help it start to wilt. Fold gently into the rice and continue cooking until liquid is mostly absorbed.

Turn off the heat, stir in the Parmesan, and serve. Let cool for a minute or two, then bring to the table.

Serves 3.

Plants for Breakfast: Japanese Sweet Potato

As a longtime cereal-and-toast person, the first meal of the day continues to be the one I'm most likely to cheat on when it comes to the eating whole foods. It's certainly possible to buy whole grain, not-too-many ingredient cereal or bread, but at the end of the day...or at the beginning, rather...most of the ones that taste good have at least one ingredient in their still rather long list that seems questionable from a Pollanesque perspective.
And while I love making more leisurely whole food breakfasts on the occasional lazy weekend morning, I'm usually too rushed to cook something (and probably too sleep-deprived to be trusted anywhere near an open flame).

Enter the Japanese sweet potato. Because here is all you have to do, it turns out, for a warmly delectable whole food breakfast: scrub a few Japanese sweet potatoes clean, dry them, wrap them in foil, and stick them in the oven along with something else you happen to be baking at a reasonable temperature (anywhere from 350-425 should be fine). Cook until soft (when you poke it with your finger, it should give easily), then remove from oven and let cool. Drain if necessary (sometimes a little liquid collects in the foil), and stick in the fridge.

For breakfast, take a half or a whole potato, slice lengthwise, and warm in the microwave for a minute or two until hot. Sprinkle with cinnamon and serve.