Ah, sweet potatoes, the state vegetable of North Carolina and a great Thanksgiving side dish. But wait, there’s more. The beauty of sweet potatoes is their richness in complex carbohydrates, so the good kind of carb that gives our body something to work with. Its high nutritional value is complemented by lots of fiber and beta-carotene. Since a sweet potato all by itself would be a biiiit boring, this recipe loads them with broccoli and feta. While this dish might sound complex, it is actually a quick and easy way to have a tasty lunch or dinner. Preparation time is 15 minutes, plus 50 minutes baking time in the oven. This recipe makes two servings as a main course and four servings as a side dish (for steak, for instance).
Ingredients
- 2 medium-sized sweet potatoes
- 2 handfuls of broccoli (or 8-10 florets)
- 4 tablespoons of olive oil
- 5 ounces (100 grams) of feta
- 1 teaspoon of a freshly squeezed lemon
- 1 teaspoon of ground pepper
- 1 teaspoon of salt
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit / 200 degrees Celsius and start by washing your sweet potatoes (but don’t peel them). Drizzle the olive oil in a glass or ceramic (no metal) casserole dish and place the sweet potatoes in it with the cut side facing down. Let them bake for 40 minutes.
Turn the sweet potatoes around and use a spoon to scoop out the flesh. Make sure you allow for a generous remaining layer of potato to let the skin keep its form, since we need to be able to fill it. Place the sweet potato flesh in a bowl. On a board, cut the raw (non-frozen) broccoli into tiny bits and mix them into the bowl. Add the lemon, salt and pepper. Take the feta and crumble it into the bowl as well. Toss everything until it is well mixed. Then use a teaspoon to generously fill the sweet potato skins and place the casserole back in the oven for another 10 minutes.
This dish is suitable for meal preparation. In this case, simply leave out the last step of the additional 10 minutes in the oven.
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