Garden cleanup yields Sweet Potato Pie

(A wedge of Sweet Potato Pie with fresh greens makes a great meal)

The rain held off Friday (thank you, weather gods !) for me to accomplish good things in the garden. I love this time of year, putting the garden to bed for the winter often yields surprises ...

... such as this big, beautiful sweet potato that escaped the first harvest.



I was disappointed with my first attempt at growing sweet potatoes this year. I harvested about six small tubers from two of the 12 plants that survived this season of cold, wet weather in the Hudson Valley. I had prepped the bed well, covered it with black plastic and straw, but that was all I got.
Until the garden cleanup this week, that is. There, tucked away under the black plastic I was removing was this prize: a 10-incher, that weighed more than a pound. Sweet potatoes like their soil warm, so it makes sense the biggest one had sprouted well away from the whip, nested under the black plastic for added warmth. Hey, I'm thankful for the few I got, so I guess it wasn't that bad after all and worth the effort and experience.

Sweet potatoes are so good for you — baked in their skins, they are low in sodium, saturated fat and cholesterol. They are high in dietary fiber, vitamins B6, A and C, along with potassium and manganese, according to nutritiondata.com. Plus, orange vegetables are supremely awesome anyway.
I love to simply roast sweet potatoes in wedges with a little olive oil, salt and pepper and enjoy them that way. They are also great baked whole in the oven. I had leftovers from a recent batch I baked and decided to turn them into a savory sweet potato pie. A slice of this pie with a small salad made great lunches for most of the week at work.

Here's the recipe, which I cobbled together, and some more photos from the latest garden cleanup effort:

Savory Sweet Potato Pie

• Make your favorite single-crust pastry: 1/2 cup white flour; 1/2 cup whole wheat flour; 1/3 cup butter. Mix together with a pinch of salt, then add about 3 tablespoons cold water under the mixture comes together into a ball.
• Let chill for about 1/2 hour while you assemble the filling:

1. 2 cups cooked sweet potato, peeled and mashed.
   
2. 2 tablespoons olive oil
3. 1 cup leeks, sliced
4. 2 shallots, diced
5. Fresh parsley, oregano and thyme
6. 2 eggs
7. 1/2 cup heavy cream
8. Salt and pepper, to taste.
   
9. Dash of cayenne and paprika.
   

• Saute the leeks and shallots in the olive oil until lightly browned.
• Add to the sweet potato in a big bowl, making sure to scrape in the oil; give it a stir.
• Add the fresh herbs, salt, pepper, cayenne and paprika.
• Beat in the eggs and heavy cream.
• Pour into the unbaked pie shell.
• Bake in a preheated 450-degree oven for 10 minutes. Lower the heat to 350 and bake for another 35 minutes or so until the filling is lightly browned and starts to crack.
• (Cover the edges of the pie crust with foil covers at the start of baking to prevent it from browning too quickly; remove during the last 15 minutes of baking.)

A glimpse of the November garden cleanup effort:

First off, it's nice to have a furry companion helping out, even if the majority of what he does is snooze. Carlos thought I left my jacket on the picnic table just for him.

Dahlia tubers and a gladiola bulb are ready for drying and storing for winter.

The birds have been feasting on the dried sunflower seed heads.

A couple more red potatoes that were missed during the harvest.

Calendulas are so hardy; this beauty was like a light bulb in the parsley patch.

In between the aisles, the purple podded pea mulch springs to life with its pretty two-toned purple blossoms.

Arugula is still growing strong. I love its nutty taste in salads.

Chinese greens are overgrown, with many going to seed. This is the stuff that fuels the surprise of seeing young volunteer seedlings spring up before your eyes.

I will always grow robust organic Siberian kale, which produces from early spring into winter. This one's from Seeds of Change.

Giant mustard leaves are spicy and crisp. This volunteer sneaked up in the tomato patch.

Silver Dollar Plants are popping up everywhere, even in the garden, along with the ubiquitous columbine. That's fine with me. I like to plant around flowers in the garden or divide them to give away to fellow gardeners.

All the leaves are down from the trees and the garden looks empty, until you get closer, that is.