Working with our wood-fired hearth at Zou Zou’s, I use the white-hot embers, away from the fire, to cook vegetables—a technique that has been used for centuries. Cooking with fire creates a wonderful, smoky flavor, but if you don’t have embers of your own available, you can use your barbecue or set a wire rack over a gas burner to char and cook the vegetables.

Ember-Roasted Sweet Potato with Miso Butter and Dukkah

Category

Category name

Serves

Makes 1 potato

For the Sweet Potato

Ingredients

  • 1 sweet potato, roasted
  • 2 tablespoons Miso Goat Butter, recipe follows
  • 1 tablespoon Date Molasses with Lime, recipe follows
  • 2 to 3 tablespoons Dukkah, recipe follows

Method

  1. Prepare a wood fire. Let the fire burn off and when the embers are white hot, carefully set the sweet potato in the embers. Cook until the sweet potato is very tender when pierced with a knife, 15 to 20 minutes.
  2. Using tongs, remove the potato from the embers and set on a board. Peel back the charred skin from the top of the sweet potato and gently press and mash the inside of the potato. Using a spoon, gently press the center of the mashed potato to make a well. In that well, place a dollop of miso goat butter, drizzle the date molasses over top and generously sprinkle with the dukkah. Serve immediately.

For the Miso Goat Butter

Ingredients

  • Makes ¾ pint
  • 8 ounces lightly salted goat butter
  • 2 to 3 tablespoons shiro or white miso

Method

  1. In a medium bowl, whisk the butter and miso. Cover and store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

For the Date Molasses with Lime

Ingredients

  • Makes 1 cup
  • 1 cup date molasses
  • 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
  • ½ teaspoon salt

Method

  1. In a small bowl, whisk the molasses, lime juice and salt. Cover or transfer to an airtight container and store in the refrigerator.

For the Dukkah

Ingredients

  • Makes about ⅓ cup
  • 1 ½ ounces hazelnuts, toasted, chopped, dust shaken through perforated pan
  • 1 ¼ teaspoons coriander seeds, toasted
  • 1 ½ teaspoons cumin seeds, toasted
  • ¾ teaspoon fennel seeds, toasted
  • 1 ½ teaspoons sesame seeds, white, toasted
  • 1 ½ teaspoons sesame seeds, black, toasted
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • Extra virgin olive oil

Method

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
  2. Spread the nuts on a small baking sheet and toast in the oven until fragrant, about 10 minutes. While still hot, dump the nuts onto a towel and rub to remove  as much of the skins as possible. Remove the skinned nuts and chop them coarsely.
  3. In a mortar and pestle, crack the coriander, cumin and fennel seeds. Add the white and black sesame seeds and salt and mix well. Store in an airtight container at room temperature. When you are ready to use, drizzle in a drop or two of the olive oil to help the seasoning stick together.