/ck/ - Food & Cooking

I've been amazed at how far down this board has fallen in the past year. I've been a regular for years. As some of you might know, I won the /ck/ challenge this past year. I don't normally use my trip, but I'm here all the time. I post recipes and OC, and they get entirely overlooked with the exception of a few troll posts. It's so disappointing. Even Hearts has pretty much given up, I think. This has been a GREAT board before, and I think it can be again, if we let it. Right now, the biggest cancers are the vegan threads and fast food threads. Mods, please, helps us make this the great board it once was. Also, unfortunately, I hate to say this, but I think the challenge helped bring this shit. The first 4 rounds were open rounds, so every board on 4chan knew about it and rather flooded /ck/. Surely some of you remember that. That was kind of like opening Pandora's box, unfortunately.
Pic is only because I'm verifying my identity.

>>4839374
Thanks!

I have to go to the gym now, but I'll check this thread when I get back, just in case. Enjoy!

>>4839367
Spicy Sweet Potato Pasta Bake:

2 lbs sweet potatoes
1 1/3 cups milk
2-3 chipotle chilies in adobo sauce (with sauce)
salt and pepper to taste
2 cups shredded cheese (I used a combination of mostly Monterrey Jack with some Parmesan for flavor)
12 ounces dry pasta
1 package (or large link) Mexican chorizo
2 medium onions, chopped
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons minced parsley
Optional: 1/3 cup chopped sun-dried tomatoes in oil; 1/2 cup crumbled queso fresco

Prick sweet potatoes with a fork, and place on a foil lined baking sheet. Bake at 400F for 1 hour. Meanwhile, cook chorizo until browned and crumbly. Drain well. In the same pan, saute onions until soft and golden, add garlic and saute until fragrant. Remove from heat.
In a food processor, blend the milk and chipotle peppers with adobo sauce until smooth. Set aside.
While you are doing this, boil water for pasta.
Once the sweet potatoes are cooked, remove from oven and let cool until you can handle them. Remove skins and place in a bowl. Mash sweet potatoes until smooth. Add milk-chipotle mixture and mash again until smooth, soft and creamy. If mixture seems too stiff, add more milk a little at a time until a smooth, creamy texture is reached.
Cook pasta until al dente. Drain, and mix with the sweet potato mixture. To the pasta mix, add the onions and garlic, chorizo, sun-dried tomatoes (if using), and half of the shredded cheese. Mix well, and then spoon into a greased baking dish. Sprinkle top with remaining cheese.
Bake pasta at 350 for 15-20 minutes or until piping hot. Then, turn on the broiler, and sprinkle the top with crumbed queso fresco, if desired. Broil until top is browned and bubbly. Sprinkle with parsley before serving.

>>4839361
And here it is plated. It was spicy, creamy and had the earthy sweetness of the sweet potatoes and the smoky spice from the chipotles. It was perfect for an early fall night.
I'll post the recipe in case anyone wants it.

>>4839355
And here is the finished dish, hot, broiled, and sprinkled with parsley at the end. Hang on for one more pic.

>>4839348
Spoon the pasta mixture into a lightly greased baking dish and sprinkle with the remaining cheese.
Bake pasta for 15-20 minutes just to get it piping hot all the way through.
Then, turn on the broiler to get the top browned and bubbly.
I sprinkled some queso fresco on top before broiling, but that's optional. It did add a nice creaminess to the top, though.

>>4839344
Now add half of the shredded cheese and mix well.

>>4839341
To the pasta mixture, add the chorizo, onions and garlic, and sun-dried tomatoes.

(man, some of these photos are terrible.)

>>4839335
Drain pasta and add to the sweet potato mixture.

>>4839331
Add your pasta and cook until al dente.
I used macaroni for this, but you can use shells, or raidiatore, or any type of small pasta.

>>4839327
While you're doing that, boil some salted water for your pasta.

>>4839318
Mixture should be smooth and creamy and soft. If it seems stiff, add more milk a little at a time until a smooth, soft consistency is reached.

>>4839314
Mash the sweet potatoes until smooth, then add the milk-chipotle mixture and keep mashing together.

>>4839308
Okay, now your sweet potatoes should be fully cooked and nice and soft. Remove them from the oven, let them cool enough that you can handle them without burning yourself, and then peel. The skins should pretty much just slip right off. Get ready to mash!

>>4839302
Mmmm, spicy pink milk (lol)

>>4839297
Now, take your milk and chipotle chilies with their adobo sauce and put both in a food processor and blend away until smooth.

>>4839291
Okay, here we have a pic of all the ingredients together (except the sweet potatoes, which were still in the oven). I'll list the exact amounts in recipe when I type it at the end. In the pic, there's the onions and garlic, chorizo, cheese, sundried tomatoes, milk, chipotle peppers in adobo, parsley, and pasta.

>>4839289
Cook a package of Mexican chorizo until browned and crumbled, and drain WELL. I don't have a picture of me cooking the chorizo, because I cooked it yesterday. I used beef chorizo for this, but you can use any kind you like.

>>4839287
Now, it's cheese grating time. I used Monterrey Jack and a little Parmesan for flavor. You want about 2 cups of grated cheese. You can use any cheese you like, but these two work well.

>>4839283
Next, chop a few sundried tomatoes in oil. This is optional, I decided to use some because I happened to have some floating around in the fridge, but I will say they added a nice dimension of flavor. However, I would not recommend using fresh tomatoes. They are too watery and sharp for this dish, IMO.

>>4839281
Add the garlic when the onions and shallots are soft and beginning to golden. You just want to cook the garlic till soft and fragrant, not until it's starting to change color.

>>4839276
Mince several cloves of garlic next. I should have included them in the pic with the onions so I could move on, but whatever.

>>4839275
Saute the onions (or onion and shallots in my case) in a little fat of your choice. I used bacon fat, for extra flavor.

>>4839267
Meanwhile, chop some onions. I used one red onion and two shallots, because that's what I had. You can use two medium onions of any kind you like. Ignore the parsley for now, that's for the end.