Could-Be-Local! Recipe--Sweet Potato Oat Cakes

I love to cook. I experiment quite a lot and I use recipes more as guides than as formulas, if I use them at all. This evening I made a particularly enjoyable meal with almost all local ingredients, and the one non-local ingredient, oat groats, could be gotten locally if I had joined the grain CSA. So, although this is not my meal-of-the-week, and although I forgot to take a tasty picture until I was almost finished eating, I wanted to share the "recipe" (a loose term with me) here.

I hope some of my ideas will inspire other home-chefs trying to come up with one more way to cook yet another turnip, so I will continue to share recipes and pictures which Could-Be-Local but aren't in my kitchen at this time due to a variety of reasons.

Without further adieu, tonight's menu:

Sweet Potato Oat Cakes on a Bed of Purple Kale

I soaked several handfuls of coarsely chopped oat groats in filtered water for almost 48 hours. Normally I change the water. This time I didn't, so they were potent.

I mixed the oat groats with one egg, one very large baked sweet potato, one sauteed onion, and a mix of warming spices that included cayenne pepper, cumin, tarragon, salt, and pepper.

I dropped the mixture into hot olive oil in a cast iron pan on high heat as you would a pancake and cooked them as you would a pancake.

Meanwhile, I sauteed chopped purple kale in olive oil and cider vinegar.

I placed the kale on a plate, topped it with the sweet potato cakes, and ate until I felt sleepy with satiation!