Summer Sweet Potatoes
These caprese style sweet potatoes are perfect for your late summer cherry tomatoes! Roasted and mixed with mozzarella, they make a delicious topping for melt in the mouth baked sweet potatoes alongside some fresh pesto for drizzling. It's a versatile, light but filling vegetarian meal or side dish that is easy to love.
Ingredients
- 2-4 sweet potatoes, make 2 if they are very large, 4 if they are small
- 2 cups (300 g) cherry tomatoes, whole
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp honey
- 1 tsp balsamic vinegar
- 4.5 oz (125 g) fresh mozzarella, drained weight
Pesto (this recipe makes more than you will need!)
- 3 tbsp pistachios, or pine nuts
- ½ cup (50 g) parmesan or Italian hard cheese
- 1 lime, or 1/2 lemon
- ⅓ cup (80 ml) olive oil
- 1 bunch cilantro (fresh coriander)
- 1 bunch basil
- 1 large clove garlic
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 200C / 400F.
- Halve the sweet potatoes lengthwise and place them face down on on oiled baking sheet. Poke a few holes through each and brush with olive oil. Place on the upper shelf of the oven for 40 minutes if your sweet potatoes are an average size. Small sweet potatoes may be done in 30 minutes and very large ones (like those pictured) will need closer to 60 minutes.
- Prepare your cherry tomatoes. In a bowl, whisk together the olive oil, honey and balsamic vinegar, then toss the cherry tomatoes in and mix thoroughly to coat them in the glaze. Add salt and pepper to taste.
- Scatter the tomatoes in a baking dish, pour any remaining glaze from the bowl over the top, and place in the lower shelf of the oven for about 20 minutes. During this time, take them out once to stir them and ensure they don't stick. Use a fairly small baking dish here - one that allows some space around the tomatoes but doesn't spread them too thin - otherwise the oils and juices will end up evaporating and burning. The dish you see in this photo is as large as you would want to go. It's OK to go for something smaller, it may take longer for the tomatoes to cook down but that won't be a problem.
- If you're making the fresh pesto, do it now while the tomatoes are cooking. In the small bowl of a food processor or a mini food chopper, pulse the nuts, cheese, garlic and herbs a few times and then drizzle in the olive oil slowly while blending, until it's mostly smooth but a little textured.
- The tomatoes are ready once they are reduced, a little jammy and a little charred. There should be a nice layer of juicy oils in the pan too. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool down a little.
- Once the 40 minutes are up, see if the sweet potatoes are ready by poking them with a knife - it should slide through with no resistance and they will feel very soft to touch. Place them back in for a little longer if necessary.
- Once the sweet potatoes are ready, toss the mozzarella pieces with the tomatoes directly in the roasting pan. They should have cooled down enough for the pieces not to melt too much (but a little melting is fine!)
- Flip the sweet potatoes over and plate them up. Lightly mash in some butter if you wish.
- Scoop the tomato-mozzarella over the top, drizzle with the pesto, and add lime wedges for squeezing if you wish. For a finishing touch you can also add a little extra cheese and some chopped pistachios or pine nuts. Serve immediately - enjoy!
Notes
Nutritional information assumes that you use about half of the batch of pesto - this would be quite a generous amount.
Calories: 446kcal, Carbohydrates: 31g, Protein: 13g, Fat: 31g, Saturated Fat: 8g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g, Monounsaturated Fat: 19g, Cholesterol: 29mg, Sodium: 373mg, Potassium: 641mg, Fiber: 5g, Sugar: 9g, Vitamin A: 16921IU, Vitamin C: 26mg, Calcium: 293mg, Iron: 2mg