Saratoga Farmers' Market

sweet potatoes

Cornbread Pudding with Bourbon Sauce

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Recipe adapted from Bake from Scratch magazine 

INGREDIENTS:

* Ingredients currently available at the farmers’ market

BREAD PUDDING:

6 cups cubed cornbread (make your own using dried corn*)

2 medium sweet potatoes* (4 cups cooked potatoes)

1/2 cup plus 2 Tablespoons firmly packed light brown sugar, divided

1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger

1/2 cup chopped pecans

1 cup whole milk*

1/2 cup heavy cream*

3 large eggs*, lightly beaten

1 large egg* yolk

1 Tablespoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly grated ground nutmeg

TOPPING:

1/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened

1/4 finely chopped pecans

SAUCE:

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup unsalted butter

1/3 cup heavy cream*

2 Tablespoons bourbon*

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 200 degrees.

  1. For bread pudding: place cornbread cubes on a baking pan. Bake until dry, about 10 minutes. Remove from oven, set aside.
  2. Increase oven temperatures to 400 degrees. Prick sweet potatoes with a fork and wrap tightly in foil. Bake until tender, about 50 minutes. Remove from oven, let stand for 10 minutes.
  3. Cut sweet potatoes in half lengthwise. Scoop out potato pulp into a medium bowl. Add 2 Tablespoons brown sugar and ginger and mash with a fork. Set aside.
  4. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees.
  5. In a large bowl, combine cornbread and pecans. Gently fold in mashed sweet potatoes. In a medium bowl, whisk together milk, cream, eggs, egg yolk, vanilla, cinnamon, salt, nutmeg and remaining 1⁄2 cup brown sugar. Pour milk mixture over cornbread mixture and let stand for 10 minutes.
  6. Lightly grease 12 (6 ounce) custard cups or ramekins. Pour cornbread mixture into prepared cups. Arrange cups on baking sheet.
  7. For topping: In a small bowl, combine brown sugar, butter and pecans. Sprinkle mixture on top of bread pudding. Bake for 15 minutes. Rotate pans between lower and upper racks, and bake until golden brown and a wooden pick inserted in center comes clean, about 10 minutes more. Let stand for 5 minutes.
  8. For sauce: In a medium saucepan, heat sugar, butter, and cream until melted. Do not boil. Add bourbon. Drizzle sauce over pudding or serve on the side. Serve warm.

Growing Sweet Potatoes – From Scratch

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By Himanee Gupta-Carlson

 

Sweet potatoes from Pleasant Valley Farm, photo courtesy of Pattie Garrett

Late last winter, I wanted to try growing sweet potatoes from my own slips. I asked Paul Arnold, of Pleasant Valley Farm, for advice.

Arnold, a year-round produce vendor at the Saratoga Farmers’ Market, donates a bin of these tasty, nutrient dense tubers each week to the Franklin Community Center food pantry. He pulled out a few and handed them to me.

“Cut these in half and put them in water or very wet soil,” he said. “Then transplant the sprouts when it’s warm enough for them to survive.”

I followed Arnold’s advice but started too late. By the time the sweet potatoes began to sprout slips – small roots trailing in water from the base of the tuber and purple-green leaves at the top – it was late July. Our gardens were full and so was my schedule. The slips never made it into the ground.

This year, I have a plan: I will start my slips next week, and transplant them in mid-June.

Sweet potatoes, unlike “regular” potatoes, are the root of a vine. The vine roots itself into the soil and produces a root, each time it touches the soil. Slips are the start of that process.

Although sweet potatoes require time, sunshine, and warmth to prosper, they are becoming an increasingly popular crop.

One sweet potato, cut in half lengthwise (producing two halves each with a round base) will sprout slips. These roots, once planted in deep trenches or raised rows of soil, will each yield several sweet potatoes.

To grow slips, do as Arnold suggests: Gather a few sweet potatoes, and cut them in half. Place the halves in damp potting soil or water, with half the tuber submerged. Use toothpicks to keep the sweet potatoes upright in water-filled jars.

Like plant cuttings, the sweet potatoes over six to eight weeks will first produce roots and then leafy stems. When the stems are about six inches tall, twist them gently off the tuber, and place them in fresh water for about a week until a new root forms. After all frost danger has passed, transplant them into the soil.

The Saratoga Farmers’ Market is 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturdays through April at the Lincoln Baths Building in the Spa State Park. Our outdoor season begins Wednesday, May 2 at High Rock Park. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram; and contact friends@saratogafarmersmarket.org for volunteer opportunities.

Saratoga Farmers' Market