Spicy Sweet Potato Shepherd's Pie

We're home with a newborn baby this week at the Cahokia Cuisine homestead, and the wife requested a Friday meal that was hearty but sort of sweet. Enter the sweet potato.

The sweet potato is the root of the perennial flowering vine Ipomoea batatas, a member of the morning glory family, Convolvulaceae.  Although sometimes called a "yam," I. batatas is a quite different from the Old World yam (Dioscorea sp.), botanically speaking.  Nearly all American markets and grocery stores label fresh I. batatas roots as "sweet potatoes" to avoid confusion.

Sweet potatoes were first domesticated in the Americas around 5,000 years ago (3,000 BCE). Although the origin of cultivation is still uncertain, the current thinking seems to point to Central America, with domestication spreading thereafter into South America.  Remarkably, sweet potato cultivation appears to have expanded westward into Polynesia prior to European contact with the Americas, likely through direct transport of cuttings.  Today the vast majority of the world's sweet potatoes are grown not in the tropical Americas, but in China.

Starting Point: Jamaican Yuca Shepherd's Pie with Sweet Potato, Kidney Beans, and Plantains by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero.

I've simplified this recipe a little, both to accommodate this blog's approach to cooking and to keep things no-hassle, given the demands of attending to a recovering wife and newborn.  I started with about three pounds of medium-small red potatoes.  Other varieties of potato work just as well--or better--for mashed potatoes, but little reds are what I had on hand.  After peeling and cutting them into 1- to 1 1/2-inch chunks, I boiled the potatoes (covered) with a little salt for about 30 minutes.  I then drained them, returned them to the same pot, and mashed them with 1 tablespoon of corn oil until they had a semi-chunky consistency. I then set the mashed potatoes aside, covered.

Over medium-high heat, I sauteed the following in 2 tablespoons of corn oil for 5 minutes: one bunch of green onions (about 8 onions, light green and white parts only), diced; one green bell pepper, diced; and four jalapenos, seeded, de-veined, and diced.  (The green onions are subbing for ramps, as usual.) I then added two large sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2- to 3/4-inch chunks.  I also added 1 teaspoon of allspice, 2 teaspoons of kosher salt, and 1/3 cup of water.  I covered this mixture and cooked for about 15 minutes.

I then added the following to the mixture: 2 cups of unsweetened coconut milk (Soy Delicious); one 8-oz can of sweet corn, drained (Del Monte Fresh Cut); one 8-oz can of lima beans, drained (Del Monte Fresh Cut); one 15-oz can of kidney beans, drained (Full Circle); two medium bananas, sliced in 1/2-inch pieces; and 1 teaspoon of cayenne pepper.  (The bananas are subbing for pawpaws, as usual.) Fresh corn and beans are ideal, but high-quality canned versions work good in a pinch when you need a relatively quick meal.  I cooked the whole mixture for another 5 minutes.

I then poured the mixture into a 13-inch by 9-inch baking dish.  I spooned the mashed potatoes into several small mounds on top of the mixture, spreading it out roughly with a tablespoon until the mixture was evenly covered.  I baked the dish for about 10 minutes on a lower rack with the oven on broil, before transferring it to the top rack directly under the broiler for another 2 minutes.

This dish is vegan, obviously. With two kinds of potatoes, two kinds of beans, and a little vegetable, it can serve as an entree or a one-bowl meal.  I served it with a cool summer dessert to complement the spiciness: blackberries, raspberries, plain low-fat yogurt, and honey.