Monday, November 23, 2020

Orange-Maple Dressing on Sweet Potato Salad


This was definitely inspired by the Washington Post's version, here. The critical part is the dressing. The salad itself could have any number of things with the sweet potatoes. Feel free to improvise off my suggestions below
...

Dressing Ingredients
2 T orange juice
2 T olive oil
1 T balsamic glaze
1 T fresh ginger, minced to a paste
pinch (generous) nutmeg
pinch salt - to taste

Dressing Directions
Whisk together all ingredients vigorously, to emulsify.


Salad Ingredients
2-3 medium sweet potatoes
2 scallions
½ C dried cranberries
½ C honey roasted peanuts*
1 T chopped fresh parsley

* Pecans would be more traditional with these flavors, but with my tree nut allergies, I always substitue. Pine nuts would be another option; anything...to add a crunch factor.

Salad Directions
Peel and dice the sweet potatoes. Cook until tender. The Washington Post's recipe indicated boiling; a similar version from Food Network said to steam them. I sautéed mine because I like the bit of caramelization they get that way, though it does add a little more fat. I reduced the olive oil from the original recipe's dresssing; so it works out to be the same overall. Do as you please! Cook them; cool them.

I reconstitued my dried cranberries in some extra orange juice for 20 minutes or so, then drained them; it's not necessary, but I like the extra flavor and juiciness it adds.

Chop the parsley and scallions -- and the nuts, if desired, though they'd be fine whole too if they're peanuts or pine nuts and already quite small.

Toss the scallions, cranberries, nuts and parsley with the dressing. Pour over cooled sweet potatoes and gently stir to coat. Serve chilled.


No comments: