sweet potatoes with pecans and goat cheese
This is the kind of thing you come up with when you have a one year-old who, like many one year-olds, wishes to eat sweet potatoes with every meal. Sure, the goal is for the kid to eat exactly what the rest of the family is eating for dinner, but there are only so many days in a row we can feign excitement over a side of sweet potatoes and I have only so much heart to deny the kid something he delights in. And so I spent a good part of September and October roasting sweet potatoes, repeating the task enough times that I made two great discoveries.
Estimated Nutrition (whole recipe, rough)
What these numbers assume — 13 portions →
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Potato | 1 medium (173g) baked | 161 |
| Olive Oil | 1 tbsp (14g) | 119 |
| Goat Cheese | 1 oz (28g) | 103 |
| Cherry | 1 cup (138g) | 87 |
| Grape | 1/2 cup (76g) | 62 |
| Pecan | 1 half (4g) | 20 |
| Shallot | 1 tbsp minced (10g) | 7 |
| Celery | 1 stalk (40g) | 6 |
| Black Pepper | 1 tsp ground (2.3g) | 6 |
| Vinegar | 1 tbsp (15ml) distilled | 3 |
| Mustard | 1 tsp (5g) yellow | 3 |
| Parsley | 1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g) | 1 |
| Salt | 1 tsp (6g) | 0 |
Totals for the whole recipe, adding one typical portion per ingredient — listed above. Quantities in the recipe are not counted, so this is a rough guide only — not suitable for medical or dietary planning.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 pounds sweet potato, scrubbed, unpeeled, in 3/4- to 1-inch coins
- 4 tablespoons olive oil, divided
- 1/4 cup toasted and cooled pecan halves
- 2 tiny or 1 small shallot
- 2 stalks celery
- 2 tablespoons flat-leaf parsley
- 1 tablespoon dried cranberries or cherries (optional)
- 2 ounces firmish goat cheese
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
- 1/2 teaspoon smooth Dijon mustard