Sweet Potato French Bean Lentil Salad

When you want to lighten up your menu for the holidays, this salade composée of “roasted” sweet potatoes, lentils and French beans, dressed with a shallot vinaigrette, Mandarin oranges and cilantro is perfect. Festively colored and full of flavor, it's substantial enough to be a main course, or serve smaller portions as a starter or side dish.  

During the roasting hot days of summer in Dubai we eat a lot of salads, what the French would call salades composées, created as they are of many colorful ingredients and substantially suitable for a main course. Our days are slightly less hot right now but we still want mostly cool food in the evenings and, with the supermarkets full of fall produce, our salads take a decidedly autumnal turn with the addition of sweet potatoes or pumpkin or butternut squash.

Since I try not to turn the oven on unless absolutely necessary, I “roast” the sweet potatoes in a dry non-stick skillet, only adding a small drizzle of olive oil when the potatoes cubes are well-browned, even a little charred in places. I’ve given the quantities for my salad but feel free to add more tomatoes if you love them or choose a different cheese or substitute grapefruit for the oranges and chickpeas for lentils or whatever! This salad is easily adaptable to your taste.

This week Sunday Supper is sharing holiday salads. Make sure to scroll down to the bottom of my recipe to see what other wonderful dishes we have for you to try.

Sweet Potato French Bean Lentil Salad

This served two of us for a good supper with some leftovers for lunch the next day but it's sure to be a favorite on your holiday table as well.

Ingredients
2 small sweet potatoes
5 1/3 oz or 150g French beans
1/2 cup or 105g dried caviar lentils
1 shallot
3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 large Mandarin orange
13-15 sweet grape or cherry tomatoes
Good bunch cilantro
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, plus a drizzle for the sweet potato pan
3/4 teaspoon whole grain mustard
1/2 teaspoon flakey sea salt
Black pepper
4 3/4 oz or 135g soft aged goat cheese (Mine is a goat milk Brie.)

Method
Peel and cut your sweet potatoes in bite-sized chunks. Toss them into a dry non-stick skillet and cook over a medium high to high fire, turning and stirring them frequently until they are browned all over.

Drizzle in a little olive oil and stir the cubes to coat. Add in a generous splash of water, reduce the heat and cover the pan tightly. Cook the sweet potatoes for about 10 minutes or until fork tender. Remove from the stove and leave to cool.

Cut the stem ends off of the fine French beans and blanch them in slightly salty boiling water for 3-5 minutes. Meanwhile, fill a bowl with ice and water.

Use tongs or a slotted spoon to remove the beans from the boiling water and immediately plunge them into the bowl of ice water. When the green beans are cold, remove them from the ice water and drain well on a clean tea towel.

Add your lentils to the boiling green bean water and cook for about 20 minutes or until they are just tender.

Drain your lentils, rinse them and leave them to drain again.

Slice your shallot as thinly as you can and put it in a large bowl. Pour the vinegar over the sliced shallot and set aside. This reduces the sharpness of the raw shallots while flavoring the vinegar.

Peel your Mandarin orange and pull the pegs apart. Use a sharp knife to slice off the hard center and remove any seeds. Cut the orange pieces in half.

Halve your little tomatoes and chop the leaves and tender top stems of the bunch of cilantro roughly.

Mix the whole grained mustard and olive oil into the vinegar and shallots, along with the sea salt and a few good grinds of fresh black pepper.

Add in the cut oranges and stir well.

Add the “roasted” sweet potato and blanched green beans to the dressing bowl.

Top those with the cilantro and tomatoes. Toss the salad thoroughly, making sure to reach deep and dress everything with the dressing and shallots at the bottom of the bowl.

Finally, add the drained lentils and toss again.

Scoop the salad into a pretty serving dish, if desired, and top with small wedges of soft rind goat cheese.

Enjoy!

Check out all the holiday salads we have for you today!

Festive Holiday Salad Recipes

• Best Ambrosia Salad by That Skinny Chick Can Bake
• Cranberry Fluff Salad by Palatable Pastime
• Cranberry Walnut Potato Salad by Cindy’s Recipes and Writings
• Easy Green Bean Salad by Cricket’s Confections
• Layered Christmas Gelatin Salad by Positively Stacey
• Orange Fennel Salad by Pies and Plots
• Pecan Crusted Chicken Salad by Bottom Left of the Mitten

Bountiful Holiday Salad Recipes

• Roasted Artichoke Salad by Sunday Supper Movement
• Roasted Vegetable & Goat Cheese Salad by My Life Cookbook
• Shaved Brussels Sprouts Salad with Creamy Balsamic Dressing by Bites of Wellness
• Shaved Brussels Sprouts with Drunken Cranberries by Our Good Life
• Shredded Brussels Sprouts with Bacon Dressing by Life Tastes Good
• Sweet Potato French Bean Lentil Salad by Food Lust People Love
• Winter Beet Salad with Goat’s Cheese Dressing by Caroline’s Cooking
• Winter Fruit Salad by Turnips 2 Tangerines
• Winter Slaw with Pecans and Maple Dressing by Sprinkles and Sprouts

Pin this Sweet Potato French Bean Lentil Salad!

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Orange and Plum Muffins #MuffinMonday

Shiny deep purple plums and bright oranges vie for my attention in my local grocery store these days. How could I resist baking them both into orange and plum muffins?

I briefly considered making sugar plums with orange zest and putting those into muffins. But, you know what, I am just too lazy for that. After all, once they are all cut up and mixed with muffin batter, who would know they had ever started life as sugar plums?

I brought these muffins round as a welcome for a new neighbor who moved in across the street while I was away last month. Shortly after, I got an iMessage: “Thank you so much for the muffins. My daughter doesn’t usually like muffins but she’s on her second one now!”  As you can imagine, that made my day! May they get as good a reception in your house.

Ingredients
2 cups or 250g flour
3/4 cup or 150g sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
zest 1 orange plus juice
4 small ripe, yet firm, plums (Mine weighed about 8 3/4 oz or 250g total, whole)
1 egg
Enough milk to orange juice to make 3/4 cup or 175ml
1/3 cup or 75g butter, melted then cooled

Optional: Pearl sugar for decoration

Method
Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C. Put liners in a 12-cup muffin pan or grease it well with butter or non-stick spray.

Cut the pits out and chop the plums in small pieces.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

Zest your orange into the dry ingredients and stir gently with a fork to combine and separate the zest strands from each other.

Add in your chopped plums and stir till they are well coated with the flour mixture.

In another smaller bowl, whisk together the egg, melted butter, and the 3/4 cup or 175ml orange juice/milk mixture.

Fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until just mixed.

Divide batter among the 12 muffin cups. Sprinkle on some pearl sugar, if desired.

Bake until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes.

Enjoy!


We are so glad that you’ve stopped by for Muffin Monday! We've got some beauties for you this month.

• Apple Crisp Muffins from Making Miracles
• Candied Ginger and Oatmeal Muffins from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Carrot Muffins from Passion Kneaded
• Double Corn Muffins from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Golden Beet Muffins with Caramel and Chocolate from Farm Fresh Feasts
• Orange and Plum Muffins from Food Lust People Love

#MuffinMonday is a group of muffin loving bakers who get together once a month to bake muffins. You can see all our of lovely muffins by following our Pinterest board.

Updated links for all of our past events and more information about Muffin Monday, can be found on our home page.

Pin it! 

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Orange Pisco White Chocolate Bundt #BundtBakers

Pisco, the national drink of Peru, dates back more than 250 years and was created distilling the grapes grown in the area, reducing the need for imported alcohol from Spain. While purists says good Pisco is best savored neat, it is also the main ingredient of the national cocktail of Peru, the Pisco Sour, as well as other mixed drinks, like this hot chocolate recipe from Serious Eats, the inspiration for today’s Bundt.

If you’ve been reading along here for a while you know that I spent some time as a child in Peru. I shared some of my fondest memories in my ceviche post, speaking of closing my eyes while eating ceviche and being transported back to the beaches and the desert were I roamed pretty free.

But almost more effective for bring back evocative memories than taste is smell. When I close my eyes and sniff an open bottle of Pisco, I remember the parties where we children ran around under foot, dancing on our own or in groups, sneaking sips of their drinks when the parents weren’t looking, way too young to be drinking at all. Pisco makes powerful cocktails, with the potential to bring back whole sandy summers of music filled memories for me. Without even a sip.

After finding that hot chocolate recipe online, I couldn’t resist using Pisco in my hot chocolate inspired Bundt cake although I changed it up to use white chocolate. I am not a huge fan of white chocolate but I am pleased to report that persistence has paid off. I have finally created a recipe with white chocolate that I love! Perhaps it’s the Pisco and Cointreau that make the difference.

Ingredients
For the cake batter:
2 1/2 cups or 315g flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups or 250g sugar
1 orange
6 oz or 170g good quality white chocolate chips. (I use Ghirardelli. See note below.)
2 tablespoons Cointreau
2 tablespoons Pisco
1 cup or 227g butter, softened
3 eggs
1 cup or 240ml buttermilk

For the glaze:
3 oz or 85g good quality white chocolate chips (A generous 1/2 cup - See note below.)
2 tablespoons Cointreau
2 tablespoons Pisco
Pinch salt

For decoration: candied orange peel from this recipe or use store-bought

See what I mean?

Note: Six oz or 170g is just shy of 1 1/4 cup of chips but keep in mind that the Ghirardelli white chocolate chips are almost flat so more fit in a cup than would the typical triangular chips. As with most baking ingredients, using a scale is most accurate.)

Method
Preheat oven to 350°F or 180°C and prepare your 10-cup Bundt pan by greasing and flouring it or spraying it with non-stick baking spray.

Sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl, grate the zest of your orange into the sugar. Mix well. Juice the orange.

In small saucepan, melt 6 ounces white chocolate with 1/4 cup or 60ml orange juice, Cointreau and Pisco over low heat. Stir until smooth, and allow to cool to room temperature while you get on with making the batter.

Slowly, slowly! 

Add in the butter to the sugar. Cream until light and fluffy.

Add the eggs one at a time, beating well with each addition.

Beat in the half the flour mixture, then half the buttermilk. And repeat.

Pour in the cooled, melted white chocolate mixture and beat until just combined.

Spoon the batter into your prepared Bundt pan, making sure to get batter into all the little nooks and crannies. Smooth out the top.

Bake for 50-55 minutes in the preheated oven, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Or if you are an instant thermometer using type, until the internal temperature reaches 210°F or 99°C. If the top is darkening too fast, before the cake is cooked through, cover it with foil.

Leave the Bundt in the pan for abut 10 minutes before removing it to a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the glaze
When your cake is completely cooled, put all the glaze ingredients into a small pan and heat over a very low flame until the chocolate is melted. Use a small whisk to get the lumps out, if you have one.

Remove from the heat and drizzle over the cooled Bundt. If the glaze gets too thick to drizzle as it cools, add a few drops of water and warm again, very gently, stirring constantly.

Chop your candied orange peel up into small pieces and dot them around the cake for decoration.

Enjoy!

Many thanks to Tara from Noshing with the Nolands for hosting this very creative Hot Chocolate inspired Bundt Baker theme! What a great bunch of Bundts we have for you this month!

• Autumn Spiced Pumpkin Hot Chocolate Bundt Cake by Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck
• Aztec Hot Chocolate Bundt Cake by I Sugar Coat It!
• Baileys Hot Chocolate Bundt Cake by Liv for Cake
• Bourbon Hot Chocolate Bundt Cake by Vintage Kitchen Notes
• Bourbon Hot Chocolate Bundt Cake by I Bake He Shoots
• Carob and Hot Chocolate Cake by A Kingdom for A Cake
• Chocolate and Tiffany's Bundtcake by La Mejor Manera
• Chocolate Chips Orange Bundt Cake by Basic N Delicious
• Hot Chocolate & Caramel Bundt Cake by I love Bundt Cakes
• Hot Chocolate Bundt with Godiva Glaze by Our Good Life
• Hot Chocolate Buttered Rum Bundt by The Crumby Cupcake
• Hot Chocolate Habanero Bundt Cake by Brunch with Joy
• Hot Chocolate Lavender Bundt Cake by Adventures in All Things Food
• Hot Cocoa Almond Bundt Cake by SimplyVeggies
• Irish Hot Chocolate Bundt Cake by From Gate to Plate
• Kahlua Drenched Dark Hot Chocolate Bundt Cake by Baking in Pyjamas
• Marshmallow Hot Chocolate Bundt Cake by Palatable Pastime
• Mocha Bundt Cake by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Nutella & Toffee Bundt Cake by Los Chatos Chefs
• Orange Pisco White Chocolate Bundt by Food Lust People Love
• Peppermint Hot Chocolate Bundt Cake by Making Miracles
• Peppermint Hot Chocolate Cake by The Spiced Life
• Pumpkin Spice Hot Chocolate Bundt by Tartacadabra
• Toffee Chip Hot Chocolate Pound Cake by Magnolia Days
• White Hot Chocolate Peppermint Bundt by Noshing With The Nolands
• White Hot Chocolate Pound Cake by My Catholic Kitchen

#BundtBakers is a group of Bundt loving bakers who get together once a month to bake Bundts with a common ingredient or theme. Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on this home page.

We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

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Candied Orange Peel

Candied peel is beautiful as a garnish on a traditional pound cake, Madeira cake or even chopped and sprinkled on cookies. Dip the peel in some dark chocolate and serve it as an after dinner sweet. 

Ingredients
2 oranges
1 cup or 200g granulated sugar
1 1/3 cups or 310ml water
1/4 cup or 50g caster sugar, for sprinkling on before baking

Note: This recipe is from The Great British Bake Off’s first master class from season 6, as demonstrated by the great Mary Berry. The only change I have made is to switch out the lemon for two oranges. Mary made it to decorate her traditional Madeira cake

Method
Cut the oranges into eight or 16 slices each. Use a very sharp knife to carefully remove the flesh of the oranges and most of the white pith from the peel.

If you’ve cut them into eight, you might want to cut the peel again lengthwise to make narrower strips. (Mary didn’t actually say this but I could tell her strips were smaller than mine.)

Warm the water in a small pot over low heat and then add the sugar. Stir gently until all the sugar has dissolved.

Add the sliced peels and simmer over a low fire until lovely and shiny, about 30 minutes.

Preheat your oven to 100°F or 38°C.

Drain the peel well in a metal sieve or strainer.

The simmering syrup can be cooled and kept refrigerated in a clean jar to be used for glazing cakes or making cocktails.

Spread the peel out on baking sheet lined with baking parchment and sprinkle the pieces with the additional sugar.

Put the baking sheet in your preheated oven for one hour, or until the peels have dried out.

Candied peel should be hard and dry when done, making a satisfying "tink" when dropped on a plate.

And so says Mary Berry.

Enjoy!

Orange Poppy Seed Muffins #MuffinMonday

Fresh orange juice and poppy seeds make beautiful sunshiny muffins that everyone will want to wake up to eat! They also make great snacks. 

As I mentioned yesterday while serving up Irish lamb stew in this space, I am in chilly Rhode Island for the week - my last Spring Break! My baby girl will graduate from Rhode Island School of Design this May. She has been sweet enough to invite me to come each year since she started at RISD, so this is the last scheduled spring break that affects my life and holiday planning. Which makes me both sad and proud. 

This year, all of her close friends are also staying in town, working hard on their degree projects, so I have put myself in charge of sustenance starting with homemade tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches the other night and orange poppy seed muffins today, delivered to their studios as they worked. 

I am later than usual posting the muffins because tonight we ate eggplant Parmigiana and garlicky green beans so I was busy cooking that and scooping them up from studio to eat. It's 9 p.m. as I write this and they've gone back to work! Future meals on the menu include vegetarian crispy tacos and lentil burgers.

If you know me at all, you know I am in hog heaven cooking for girls again! These orange poppy seeds muffins were a special request, one I was only too happy to oblige.

Ingredients
2 cups or 250g flour
2/3 cup or 130g sugar
Zest of one orange plus extra for decorating, if desired
2 tablespoons poppy seeds plus extra for decorating, if desired
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
3/4 cup or 180ml orange juice
1/3 cup or 80ml extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup or 60ml milk

Optional glaze:
2-3 teaspoons fresh orange juice
7-8 tablespoons powdered sugar or as much as needed to reach your desired thickness.

Method
Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and prepare your 12-cup muffin tin by spraying with non-stick spray or lining with muffin papers.

Combine your flour, sugar, baking powder, poppy seeds and salt in a large mixing bowl. Grate in your orange zest.

In another smaller bowl, whisk together your eggs, orange juice, oil and milk.

Fold the wet ingredients into the dry ones and stir until just mixed.

Divide your batter between the 12 muffin cups.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

Allow to cool for a few minutes in the pans and then remove to continue cooling on a wire rack.

To make the glaze, put your orange juice in a small bowl and then add the powdered sugar a tablespoon or two at at time, stirring well in between, until you reach your desired consistency.

Spoon a little on top of each cool muffin.

Then sprinkle with  extra orange zest and poppy seeds, if desired.

Enjoy!