Sweet Potato Carpaccio

From the almighty Wikipedia:

Carpaccio (pronounced /k?r?p??t?i.o?/ or /k?r?p??t?o?/; Italian pronunciation: [kar?patt?o]) is a dish of raw meat or fish (such as beef, veal, venison, salmon or tuna) generally thinly sliced or pounded thin and served as an appetizer.

Why would I use a VEGETABLE for this dish when I could use beef or bison? Have the VEGANS finally corrupted me?

Far from it. Unlike some banana eating prothlesizers, I can actually have fun playing with my food. Hence, a dish like this – a play on words. A Raw Sweet Potato Dish.

The point of this dish is to give you the sensation of rawness, while still being palatable to eat. If you have ever tried to eat a sweet potato raw, you know it ain’t all that nice.

The trick is to pickle the sweet potatoes, and serve them with a nice, refreshing salad on the top. It is straight-forward to prepare. All you need are a few ingredients, a bit of patience, and you will be the talk of your party.

You would even be able to serve this dish to a vegan, if you felt so inclined. It just happens to follow the 80/10/10 philosphy. How about that?

Let’s get started:

Sweet Potato Carpaccio

8 servings

Ingredients:

Brine

• 3 pods star anise
• 2 cinnamon sticks, broken into pieces
• 3 whole cloves
• 3 bay leaves
• 15 peppercorns
• 1 medium fennel bulb, coarsely chopped
• 4 shallots, roughly chopped
• 3 large oranges, zested, segmented, (juice kept separate)
• 3 cups white wine vinegar
• 2 cups water
• 1/2 cup maple syrup
• 1 lemon, juice only
• 1 bunch tarragon

The Potato

• 1 medium-sized sweet potato, peeled, sliced 1/4 inch wide

The Salad:

• a few leaves of spring mix lettuce
• your favorite vinaigrette
• orange segments from above
• to taste sun-dried cranberries

Method:

1. Put a pot over medium heat. Drop in the star anise, cinnamon sticks, cloves, bay leaves, and peppercorns and toast them, (shaking them lightly,) until you can begin to smell the spices.
2. Add in fennel, shallots, and orange zest. Cook for a couple more minutes so the fennel and shallots start breaking down, and the oils of the orange peels coat the fennel. This will take about 2 minutes.
3. Add the orange juice, white wine vinegar, water, and maple syrup. Bring the works to a boil, then lower the heat to below a simmer. (The lowest setting your burner will go!) You want just a HINT of a bubble to to break the surface. You don’t want to reduce this mixture too much. Let this mixture steep like a tea for 45 minutes.
4. Turn up the heat to a simmer. (You will see a bit of bubbles breaking the surface, that’s it. You want to turn the heat to a little higher than your low setting.) Add the sweet potatoes and cook 4 to 5 minutes until cooked but still firm.
5. While you are waiting for the potatoes to cook, grab a large bowl and fill it with ice water. (The bowl needs to be big enough and deep enough for your pot.) Once the potatoes are cooked, remove the pot from the stove and place it into the ice bath and cool the mixture rapidly. The idea is to stop the cooking process so your sweet potatoes don’t overcook.
6. You can serve the works right away, or place them in a non-reactive container and store in the fridge. They will keep in the brine for up to 1 month, if kept properly cold.
7. When ready to serve, remove the pickled sweet potatoes from the brine and place on the plate in concentric circles. Toss the spring greens in your vinaigrette, and place in the center. Garnish with the orange segments, and sun-dried cranberries.

Tagged as: Carpaccio, potato, Raw, recipe, salad, sweet, vegan