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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Chipotle Cheddar Sweet Potato Muffins #MuffinMonday

Chipotle peppers in adobo sauce add a lovely smoky spiciness to these sharp cheddar muffins made with roasted sweet potatoes.

Chipotle peppers in adobe sauce are a great ingredient for adding flavor and spice to many dishes but though they come packed in small cans, I never seem to use the whole can for any recipe. So I pour the leftovers in a plastic bag and roll it up like a tube and pop it in the freezer. Then it’s easy to slice off however much you need for the next recipe. We loved these muffins so much that I'd open another can just to make them again.

Ingredients
1 whole roasted sweet potato (about 8oz or 225g)
1/4 cup or 60ml canola or other light oil
2 cups or 250g flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
2 tablespoons chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
5 1/3 oz or 150g extra sharp cheddar, grated
1 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
3/4 cup or 180ml milk

Method
Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and prepare your muffin pan by greasing it or lining it paper muffin cups.

Peel your sweet potato and mash it with a fork.

Add in the eggs, milk and oil and whisk to combine.

In a large bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder and salt. Add in all but a generous handful of the cheddar and mix thoroughly.

Pour your wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and fold them together until just mixed.

Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups.  Top with the remaining grated cheddar.

Bake in your preheated oven for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean and the muffins are golden.

Allow to cool for a couple of minutes then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

Enjoy!

Sweet Potato Pecan Spice Cake with Toasted Pecan Glaze #BundtBakers

Baked sweet potato, peeled then mashed, can be used in a variety of sweet or savory dishes. In this beautiful Bundt cake it adds flavor, sweetness and texture. With the pecans inside and then piled on top in a sticky glaze, this is a dessert that will add autumn spice to any holiday table.

Autumn Harvest
This month’s Bundt Baker theme is Autumn Harvest and I was fully prepared to try something new. New to me, that is. I could have sworn it was around this time last year that I saw quince for sale in the Dubai supermarkets but this year, nothing. Come to find out, quince season starts in October so I’ll have to wait a month to get out my runcible spoon. Meanwhile, I chose to use my favorite of all fall produce, the sweet potato. I’ve been known to boil and freeze these babies and haul them, Ziplocked, in my suitcase to various countries, just to make sure we will have candied yams for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner. No kidding.

Sweet Potatoes vs Yams
In the southern United States we use the terms sweet potato and yam interchangeably to mean those root vegetables that are pinky brown on the outside and brilliantly orange on the inside. I’ve discovered in my travels that yam refers to a very different vegetable in other places. There are, in fact, 600 species of yams and the American sweet potato is not even in the same family genetically. Who knew? But I’ll tell you what, I learned to call a sweet potato a sweet potato overseas or risk getting something white or yellow or even purple set on my plate. Real yams are much drier than our sweet potatoes and not nearly as sweet. They are a staple for many in our world, especially in Africa because they can be stored for up to six months without refrigeration or can be dried and milled into flour which can last even longer. Now I’m not saying they wouldn’t make a decent cake and many swear that ice cream made from the purple ones is the best, but, if you can, use the orange sweet potato for this recipe.

Many thanks to our wonderful host, Tux of Brooklyn Homemaker, for proposing the great Autumn Harvest theme and doing all the behind-the-scenes work this month for our Bundt Bakers group post.

Ingredients
For the Bundt cake batter:
1 cup or 100g pecans
3 cups or 375g flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 1/2 cups or 500g sugar
1 cup or 240ml canola or other light oil
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups or 385g cooked, mashed sweet potatoes (nothing else added)
2/3 cup or 160ml buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Glaze:
1 cup or 100g pecans
2/3 cup or 130g sugar
3 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon vanilla
Good pinch salt
1 tablespoon browned butter (or normal butter if that’s all you’ve got), at room temperature

Method
Toast your pecans (2 cups or 200g total – for the batter and for the glaze) in a dry skillet over a medium low flame. This takes just a few minutes so keep stirring and mixing the nuts up to make sure that none scorch. When you can smell the rich aroma of toasted pecans and all of them are little bit darker brown, remove the skillet from the heat and allow to cool.

Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C. Grease and flour a 12-cup Bundt pan and set aside.

Chop the pecans roughly with a sharp knife and divide them in two.

Sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and nutmeg and set aside.

In another large mixing bowl, beat the oil and sugar together until well blended. Add the eggs one at time, beating well between them. The mixture should turn light yellow and a little fluffy.

Add in the flour mixture, the sweet potato, the buttermilk, one pile of the chopped pecans and the vanilla. Mix on a low speed until completely combined and then mix on medium high for two to three minutes.

Pour into your prepared Bundt pan and bake in the preheated oven for one hour and 15 minutes. Start checking it for doneness at one hour though, as ovens vary in consistency and often have temperature fluctuations.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool for at least 10 minutes before turning the Bundt cake out on to a wire rack to cool completely.

When it is completely cooled, prepare your glaze by putting the sugar, water, vanilla and a good pinch of salt into a small pot.

Heat over a medium flame until the sugar is dissolved then add the second pile of chopped toasted pecans.

Cook for a few minutes or until the glaze thickens slightly.  Take the pot off the stove and add in the browned butter. Stir well. You can add in a little more water, if the glaze seems too thick.

Carefully spoon the pecans and glaze over the cooled cake. Yes, it’s a lot of pecans. No, it’s not too many. Just keep spooning. There can never be too many pecans on a sweet potato cake.

Enjoy!

Who else is ready to bake with Autumn produce? Check out the gorgeous bunch of Bundts we have for you this month with apples, cranberries, carrots, zucchini, figs, sweet potatoes, pumpkin and more!

• Applesauce Cranberry Bundt Cake by Lauren at Sew You Think You Can Cook
• Applesauce Spice Bundt Cake by Caro at En la Cocina de Caro
• Applesauce Walnut Raisin Cake by Renee at Magnolia Days
• Carrot Bundt Cake with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting by Cassie at Cassie's Kitchen
• Chocolate Caramel Apple Bundt Cake by Teri at The Freshman Cook
• Chocolate Zucchini Bundt by Tara at Noshing with the Nolands
• Fig and Caramelized Walnut Bundt Cake by Bea and Mara at I Love Bundt Cakes
• Harvest Bundt Cake by Tammy at Living the Gourmet
• Mini Apple Cobbler Bundt Cakes with Cinnamon Glaze from Lauren at From Gate to Plate
• Old Fashioned Kushaw Bundt by Margaret at Tea and Scones
• Pumpkin and Apple Bundt Cake by Kathya at Basic N Delicious
• Pumpkin and Chocolate Bundt Cake by Aisha at La Cocina de Aisha
• Pumpkin Cream Cheese Bundt Cake with Pomegranate Syrup by Patricia at Patty's Cake
• Pumpkin Espresso Bundt by Kelly at Passion Kneaded
• Sherried Pumpkin Bundtlettes by Laura at The Spiced Life
• Spiced Harvest Bundt Cake with Cream Cheese Glaze by Tux at Brooklyn Homemaker
• Spiced Pumpkin Bundt Cake by Kaylin at Keep it Simple, Sweetie
• Sweet Potato Brioche Bread by Jane at Jane's Adventures in Dinner
• Sweet Potato Pecan Spice Cake with Toasted Pecan Glaze by Stacy at Food Lust People Love
• Triple Chocolate Pumpkin Spice Bundt Cake by Terri at Love and Confections

#Bundt Bakers
Interested in learning more about us? BundtBakers is a group of Bundt loving bakers who get together once a month to bake Bundts with a common ingredient or theme. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient. You can see all our of lovely Bundts by following our Pinterest board right here.

Links are also updated after each event on the BundtBaker home page here.

If you are a food blogger and would like to join us, just send an email with your blog URL to foodlustpeoplelove@gmail.com. If you are just a lover of Bundt baking, you can find all of our recipe links by clicking our badge above or on our group Pinterest board.

Sweet Potato Brown Sugar Muffins #MuffinMonday

Mashed, buttered sweet potatoes add flavor, natural sweetness and moisture to these delicious muffins.  The hint of vanilla and cinnamon, along with the brown sugar, make these perfect for breakfast or a midmorning snack.

As this recipe goes live, I will be flying back to Dubai after enjoying more than three weeks of fun and family in Rhode Island.  What a beautiful state, truly.  When our elder daughter first mentioned Rhode Island School of Design, back in spring of 2008, and we visited the school that summer, I had no idea what a precious part of our lives this place would become.  That was further cemented when her little sister was accepted at RISD two years later.  It has been our pleasure to explore New England from our little rented home in Tiverton in the south, to as far east as Plymouth and west to Newport, with a little Providence and Boston thrown in for good measure.

If you haven’t visited New England before, I highly recommend it, especially Rhode Island, even in the wintertime.

Ingredients
1 whole sweet potato (about 5-6 oz or 140-170g)
1/4 cup or 60g room temperature butter
2 cups or 250g flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
2/3 cup or 130g dark brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 large eggs
1 cup or 240ml milk
1 teaspoon vanilla

Method
Scrub your sweet potato and poke it all over with the tip of a sharp knife.  Microwave on high for three minutes, turning it over halfway through.  Give it a gentle squeeze to see if it feels soft.  Microwave for another minute on the first side if necessary.  Remove the peel and mash the inside with a fork.

Add in the butter and stir it around so it melts.  Set aside and allow to cool.

Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and prepare your muffin pan by greasing it or lining it paper muffin cups.

In a large bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, brown sugar, salt and cinnamon.

In another bowl, whisk together the cooled, mashed sweet potato, milk, eggs and vanilla.

Pour your wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and fold them together until just mixed.

Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups.

Bake in the preheated oven about 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Cool on a rack for a few minutes and then remove the muffins to cool completely.

Enjoy!

For those who are interested, I leave you with some random shots from our fabulous three weeks in New England.

Tiverton House - highly recommended  - hosts are wonderful.  Link here.
And, no, I have not been compensated in any way for saying this!

Christmas parade in Newport - complete with Santas riding Harleys

Newport Harbor

Quaint shops in Newport.

Roasting marshmallows at home

Every sunset seemed to outdo the next

Sailboats on the river by our house

The purported Plymouth Rock.  We've been told since that the real rock is underneath this one.

Mayflower II.  This is a reproduction of the Mayflower, built in England and sailed across in 1957.
If you come in the summer, you can climb aboard and imagine the voyage.

Fancy columns commemorating Plymouth Rock

The First Baptist Church in all of the United States, Providence, RI (1638)

Playing in the snow!