Cooking It Up: Sweet Potato Salad

In addition to dining out I've been trying to cook more. I certainly have a lot of resources with my pile of cookbooks and recently downloaded "Vegetarian Recipes" Android app.

I'm a fan of the food shows as well and the other day, while checking out what was on the Food Network I came across Rachael Ray's show. That woman has alwaysbugged me a bit with her perkiness and odd acronyms such as "EVOO" for Extra Virgin Olive Oil, but quite honestly I've come to really like her kitchen design. Green and orange are a couple of my favorite colors so I enjoyed just watching her kitchen on TV. Unfortunately I can't find a shot online to post here, which seems strange considering I like to pride myself on my ability to manipulate search engines to find what I'm looking for.  Look for it next time you are browsing the Food Network.

And this day she happened to be making a sweet potato salad, with bacon. All the ingredients looked tasty and basic enough and I've been meaning to find more things to do with the healthy sweet potato so I tried my hand at it, minus the bacon, which didn't seem to be a main part of the dish.

I'm a fan of mustard and in fact have been looking for more things to do with it. I've found mustard combined with vinegar into a vinaigrette of sorts is just oh so tasty. This recipe had that nice combo that with the other ingredients made for a great taste. And it and seemed fresh for quite a few days. Recipe below and on the Web site at: http://www.rachaelray.com/recipe.php?recipe_id=2144

Sweet Potato Salad with Warm Bacon Vinaigrette
Serves 6-8

Ingredients

• 4 medium sweet potatoes, peeled, cut in half lengthwise and sliced into half moons
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
• 4 slices bacon
• 1 medium red onion, finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped or grated
• Salt and ground black pepper
• 1 1/2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
•  2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 4 cups baby spinach, loosely packed

Preparation

Place a medium pot over medium-high heat with the sweet potatoes and enough cold water to cover them. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to medium and simmer until tender, about 10 minutes. Drain the cooked potatoes and reserve in a medium size mixing bowl.

While the potatoes are cooking, place a large skillet over medium-high heat with two turns of the pan of EVOO, about 2 tablespoons. Add the bacon and cook until crisp, 3-4 minutes per side.

Remove the bacon from the pan and add the onion, garlic, some salt and lots of black pepper to the bacon drippings. Cook until the onion is tender, about 5 minutes.

Remove the pan from the heat and add the mustard and vinegar, whisking vigorously to incorporate the dressing. Pour the dressing over the potatoes and add the spinach, tossing to coat the potatoes and lightly wilt the spinach. Crumble the bacon over everything. Serve warm or at room temperature.