Monday, May 9, 2022

Lime salsa with Sweet Potato Mash


Sweet as sweet potatoes are exactly what their name suggests, lending themselves perfectly to both sweet and savoury cooking. They are in abundance right now, and along with tangy juicy limes also in season, I hope this simple recipe will tempt you to eat and celebrate the beautiful produce in season. Herby lime salsa is the perfect  counterpart to the versatile sweet potato, which is only a distant relative of the normal potato by the way. Sweet potatoes are high in fibre, and their bright orange colour tells us they are also high in the antioxidant beta-carotene and Vitamin A., all supporting our immune function.

When I first tasted this dish at our foodie friends P&J's home, I just loved it, the lime salsa combined with the sweet potato was such an exciting surprise to my palate. It really tickled my taste buds. This dish shines alongside all sorts of foods, Middle Eastern cuisine, humble grilled sausages or a vegetarian or vegan spread. I baked the sweet potatoes ahead of time and kept the mash refrigerated to be reheated later, made the salsa the same morning, which meant the dish was easy to assemble just prior to eating.

Yotam Ottolenghi also suggests that after cooking, we keep the skins, brush them lightly with olive oil and roast them again for about 8 minutes, at 200 deg. C fan forced, and eat them as a crisp-like snack. Waste not, want not. Yes, it's one of Yotam's clever recipes.

Let's cook:-

Preheat the oven to 200 deg. C fan.

Serves four to six as a side

Ingredients:

1 kg orange sweet potatoes washed, skin left on and cut in half lengthways, from top to bottom

60 ml olive oil

5 g basil leaves, chopped

5 g coriander, finely chopped

1/2 garlic clove, crushed

2 large limes, finely grate the zest to get 2 teaspoons, then juice to get 1 tablespoon

salt and black pepper

Method:

Massage the cut sweet potatoes with 1 tablespoon of oil and season with 1/4 teaspoon of salt. Line them up on a high sided baking tray lined with baking parchment, flesh side down, and roast for 30-35 minutes, until very soft. Be careful removing from the oven as some juice will have  come out of the potatoes.

While the sweet potatoes are roasting away, make the salsa.

Put the remaining 3 tablespoons of olive oil into a small bowl. Add the remaining ingredients with a good pinch of salt, and gently stir to combine.

Remove the sweet potatoes from the oven and allow to cool. Remove the skins, they should just slide off easily, or scoop out the flesh. Baking them this way results in a softer vegetable and better flavour. Set aside the skins to use later if you wish. Mash the flesh in a bowl with 1/8 teaspoon of salt and plenty of black pepper until quite smooth.

Transfer to a platter, make dips in the surface of the sweet potato, and spoon in the salsa. Decorate with extra herbs or some sprigs of tarragon.

Serve hot.

The 2nd edition below of Sweet Potato Mash with Lime Salsa.

Warm wishes

Pauline







12 comments:

  1. Such a lovely combination of flavours! I really love that lime salsa.

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  2. I have sent the recipe to my stepson as he loves sweet potatoes, and he has an abundance of limes from his tree :)

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    1. Thanks Tandy, I really hope your son enjoys this recipe.

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  3. Thanks for that recipe, Pauline. We have a big box of limes from a friend who has a green thumb. I love sweet potatoes so will definitely make this recipe.

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    1. Oh so many things you can do with all those limes, I hope you love this recipe

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  4. Hi Pauline! I love sweet potatoes and luckily they have finally found there way into our markets. I must admit that when I read the name of your dish I was "wowed". Why haven't I ever tasted this? I will remedy this soon.
    Do you guys grow sweet potatoes down your way. We don't here so they come from Africa most often. Take care...

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    1. Ron we can grow sweet potatoes very well here and they are very much in season at present. However they do take up a fair bit of space in the garden so we don't tend to grow them in ours every year. So pleased you like this recipe, thanks.

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  5. Love sweet potatoes! And this is such a neat way to serve them -- really imaginative recipe. Thanks!

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    1. Thanks KR, the taste of this dish exceeded my expectations as well.

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  6. What a great way to use sweet potatoes! Thanks, Pauline!

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