Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Superfoods forever: Baked sweet potatoes with garlicky greens and walnut cream by Eat This Poem

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Today's Superfood: Sweet potatoes
Vitamin A, vitamin B6, vitamin C, manganese, fiber, potassium

Erika says: I've decided a month of Superfoods isn't enough. I'm not abandoning cake forever, but I'm going to continue to post new Superfoods recipes until I get tired of them (never, I hope). Here's a beautiful dish from Nicole Gulotta, who recently ended a four-year relationship with Cooking After Five to launch Eat This Poem, a literary food blog. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and French bulldog.

My other half is a fairly adventurous eater. I never have trouble serving quinoa, brussels sprouts or sardines, and he'll order foie gras in a restaurant without blinking an eye. But we all have our preferences, and for some reason, sweet potatoes are one of the few vegetables he's not enamored with.

It's been my personal mission for the past five years to convince my husband to embrace sweet potatoes, and I've made some progress. When he tasted my sweet potato and cayenne soup, he agreed the spice gave a nice kick and praised the creamy avocado garnish. When I sliced sweet potatoes and crisped them with sage oil, he thought it was festive for the holidays and that they could pass as a side dish. I think my persistence is finally paying off, because after trying my most recent creation, he helped himself to seconds without so much as a single complaint.

While there is certainly a time and place for russet potatoes slathered with sour cream and sprinkled with bacon, sweet potatoes are a much healthier alternative. They can fulfill any baked potato craving, and the bright orange color means their flesh is filled with vitamins A and C. Combined with other super foods like kale and walnuts, this makes for a deceptively healthy, crave-worthy lunch.

Click here for all the Superfoods recipes in this series




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Baked sweet potatoes with garlicky greens and walnut cream
A hearty, healthy vegetarian dinner packed with vitamins.
Ingredients
  • 2 sweet potatoes, scrubbed, skin on
  • 2 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1 bunch kale
  • 1 garlic clove
  • crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
  • 3/4 cup Greek yogurt
  • 1/4 cup walnuts, toasted in the oven or in a dry nonstick skillet until fragrant
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 1/2 lemon
Instructions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Prick sweet potatoes all over with a fork and place on a sheet pan. Bake until tender, about 1 hour; remove from oven. While the potatoes cool slightly, make the kale. Using your hands, remove kale leaves from the stems and tear into small pieces. Heat oil in a 12-inch skillet over medium-low heat. Grate the garlic into the oil and cook until fragrant, about two minutes. Add the kale and season with salt and pepper. (Add a little crushed red pepper flakes if you like some heat.) Cook until wilted, about 5 to 7 minutes. Set aside.Chop the walnuts and add to the Greek yogurt along with salt, pepper and a squeeze of fresh lemon juice. Stir to combine.When cool enough to handle, slice each potato in half. Season with a bit of salt and pepper and fluff slightly with a fork. Top with a dollop of yogurt and a handful of kale leaves. Reserve any leftover kale and yogurt for another use.
Details
Prep time: Cook time: Total time: Yield: 2 servings

1 comment:

Sippity Sup said...

Send hubs my way.I am a Sweet Potato enthusiast and I seem to be infectious! GREG

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