Today I bring to you something old and something new.
Remember those flavoured butters? Well this week we probably will be relying on them!
A loaded sweet potato, baked with its skin in lovely olive oil and parsley and lemon butter to perfectly balance off the sweetness of the rich sweet potato – but loaded with some taco sauce, made earlier from my farm produce, kidney beans, cheese, olives, corn and yogurt – a perfect energy booster for lunch or breakfast!
Sweet potatoes are one of the most underrated roots – they are loaded with good anti-oxidants and filled with good carbs. In taste they are on the sweeter side and perfectly balance with a good sea salt, pepper and olive oil.
ABOUT THE RECIPE
Rub olive oil well over the sweet potato with salt and pepper. You can pre-bake the sweet potato and just reheat in the oven before serving for 10-15 minutes. The toppings can be piled onto the sweet potato raw or you can load it up and bake for 5 minutes in the oven for the cheese to melt.
A medium sweet potato takes 40-45 minutes in the oven. If they are smaller, reduce bake time by 10 minutes, if they are bigger add another 10 minutes.
The taco tomato sauce is made at home, but you can use a fresh pico de gallo (chopped tomatoes with some onions, lemon, garlic and spring onions), or a crushed salsa sauce.
The Recipe
Serves Yields: 18-20 meatballs | Serves: 4 | Prep Time: 40 mins | Cook Time: 60 mins
Ingredients
- Meatballs:
- Yields: 18-20
- 2 potatoes, boiled and mashed
- ½ cup paneer, grated
- 2 onions, finely chopped
- 8-10 cloves garlic, minced
- 1½ cup spinach, chopped
- 1 medium carrot, grated
- ½ green pepper, finely chopped
- 2 tbsp dried oregano
- 2 tbsp dried basil
- Salt + Pepper
- ½ cup breadcrumbs
- 3 tbsp milk, room temperature
- 2 tsp olive oil
- Tomato Basil Sauce:
- 10 tomatoes
- 2 onions
- 8-10 cloves garlic
- 100g fresh basil
- 2 packet of Domino’s Chilli Flakes
- 4 tbsp dried basil
- 4 tbsp dried oregano
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- Pinch of sugar
- Salt + Pepper
- Spaghetti (2 ounces per person)
- Parmesan Cheese (to serve)
Instructions
- Meatballs:
- Sauté the onions, garlic, spinach, carrots and capsicum together with oregano and salt and pepper in 1 tsp olive oil.
- Then add in the potatoes and paneer.
- Combine well and remove from heat to let cool.
- Make small balls, dip in milk, and coat with breadcrumbs.
- Heat the paniyari, and coat the pan with olive oil with a silicon brush.
- Place the veggie balls to cook on one side and turn to both sides.
- Tomato and basil sauce:
- Crush the tomatoes and half the quantity of the onions together.
- In a heated pan, fry the garlic and the remaining onions in olive oil with the dried herbs and chilli flakes, until well cooked.
- Add the tomato and onion puree and simmer for a good 20-30 minutes.
- Add the fresh basil, salt and pepper and the pinch of sugar.
- Boil the spaghetti as per the packet instructions with some salt and olive oil.
- Drain and stir into the sauce.
- To Serve:
- Place 3-4 meatballs per serving dish with a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese.
