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

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Butterflied Stuffed Sardines #FishFridayFoodies

Butterflied Stuffed Sardines make the most of these flavorful fish, by removing the bones and adding even more flavor with a well-seasoned bread crumb stuffing.

Growing up, I never knew that there was such a thing as fresh sardines. In the Gulf of Mexico, seafood was plentiful but we never seemed to eat smaller fish. All the fishermen I knew threw the little guys back in.

That all changed for me after a holiday to Portugal. Fresh sardines were everywhere! In grocery stores, roadside dives, beach huts and even fancy restaurants. After that, I cooked them whenever the opportunity came up.

One summer, about 16 or 17 years ago, I was fangirling over Jamie Oliver’s second book, called either The Return of the Naked Chef or The Naked Chef Takes Off, depending on whether you have the US or UK release. I didn’t realize they were the same book so, of course, I have one of each.

We happened to be in the Channel Islands where sardines are readily available and super cheap. Not everyone in our group was keen on all the bones so Jamie’s grilled butterflied sardines sounded like a recipe everyone would like. It is fiddly to remove the backbones but it sure makes eating these beauties a breeze.

Here’s the funny thing. I was discussing this month’s “seafood with stuffing” Fish Friday Foodies challenge with both my husband and younger daughter and I asked them if they remembered these butterflied stuffed sardines from so long ago. They both did! And then they wanted to know why I hadn’t made them but maybe once since. I have no excuse but to say, I won’t leave it that long before the next time.

Butterflied Stuffed Sardines

This is the perfect dish for folks who love fresh sardines but hate dealing with the bones!

Ingredients
1/4 cup or 25g fresh bread crumbs
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
2 fine green onions, minced
1 small handful flat leaf parsley, minced
Zest 1 lemon – use a microplane for best results
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon olive oil, plus a little extra for pan-frying
6 large fresh sardines, scaled and gutted

To serve: lemon wedges and parsley

Method
Rinse your sardines with plenty of cool water and set them on some paper towels to dry.

Mix the rest of the ingredients together well in a bowl and set aside.

Cut the heads off of the sardines and discard. With one hand press each sardine open and use the other hand to work the spine free of the body. This is tricky to get started but once it’s free up near the top (where the head used to be) it comes out rather easily the rest of the way down.

You can remove the tails, if you'd like to, but I thought they were prettier with their tails so I snipped the backbones with scissors and left them the tails intact.

Give the sardines another rinse and pat dry with paper towels. Divide the stuffing between the sardines and use damp hands to pat it down.

Heat a non-stick pan with a small drizzle of olive oil over a medium flame. Cook the sardines for a few minutes on each side, until they are cooked through and the stuffing is golden. I put them skin side down first then carefully flipped them over. I also cooked them in two batches so as not to crowd the pan, which makes flipping carefully a challenge.

Plate them up with a few springs of parsley and some lemon wedges so everyone can add a squeeze, if desired.

Enjoy!

If you love fresh sardines, you might also enjoy my whole pan-fried sardines, another Fish Friday Foodie recipe.

As previously mentioned, this month’s theme is seafood with stuffing or, even, seafood stuffing. After all, stuffing is not just for turkeys! Many thanks to our host is Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm. Check out all the great recipes we are sharing today.

An InLinkz Link-up

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Chili Cheese Corn Dog Bundt #BundtBakers

Hot dogs and spicy beef chili are baked up in a cheesy cornbread batter to create a savory chili cheese corn dog Bundt you can slice up and serve at your next party.

One special treat I loved as a child were the fried corn dogs only sold at ball games in the concession stand. They vied for favorite status with Frito Pie, that is, Fritos served covered in chili, and nachos, crispy tortillas smothered with melted cheese food product. I have no idea if any actual cheese is involved in the making of that sauce but it is fabulous. I would go to a football or baseball game just for the food.

When our host of this month’s Bundt Bakers event decided on tailgating Bundts as our theme, I knew I wanted to create a Bundt that had elements of my favorite ballpark snacks. I started with my mom’s homemade cornbread recipe – it’s the best and I really should share that sometime soon – then I added the rest. Talk about good!

Chili Cheese Corn Dog Bundt

This would be great to take along to any tailgating party or neighborhood potluck.

Ingredients for a 6-cup Bundt pan
1 cup or 180g yellow cornmeal , plus extra for the Bundt pan
1 cup or 125g all-purpose flour, plus extra for the Bundt pan
2 tablespoons sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup or 180ml milk
3/4 cup or 200g chili - homemade or otherwise. Mine was from this recipe.
3 1/2 oz or 100g extra sharp mature cheddar
3 hot dogs (I used Oscar Meyer because that’s what I can buy here. Use your favorite brand.)
1 large egg
1/4 cup or 60ml canola oil, plus extra for greasing the pan

Method
Preheat oven to 350°F or 180°C and liberally grease and flour your 6-cup Bundt pan. I used a combination of flour and cornmeal for mine.

Slice the hot dogs into thick circles and fry them gently for a few minutes in a nonstick skillet. This removes some of their moisture. Set aside to cool.

In a large bowl, combine cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Add in the cheddar cheese and sliced hot dogs, stirring well. I set aside 8 slices to put on the bottom of the Bundt pan before adding the batter. They came out pretty cute so you might want to do the same.

In another bowl, beat together the milk, egg and oil. Beat until fairly smooth, about one minute.

Fold the dry ingredients into the wet and stir until they are well combine.

If desired, put slices of hot dog around the bottom of your greased and floured Bundt pan. Spoon one third of the batter into the Bundt pan. Spoon half of the chili on top.

Top with the second third of the batter. Add the rest of the chili. Top with the last of the batter. In other words, it goes 1. batter 2. chili 3. batter 4. chili 5. batter.

Bake in the preheated oven for 30-35 minutes or until it's lightly browned on top and pulling away from the sides slightly.

Remove from the oven and let to cool for a few minutes. Turn the Bundt out onto a rack to cool for another 15 minutes before slicing to serve.

Enjoy!

Every month my Bundt Bakers group gets together to bring you creative treats baked in Bundt pans. Sometimes they are savory, most times they are sweet, but they are always delicious. Check out this month’s list below. Many thanks to our host Sue of Palatable Pastime for coming up with this fun theme and all her behind the scene work.

• Boston Cream Mini Bundts from Patty's Cake
• Brown-Sugar Ripple Buttermilk Bundt Cake from All That's Left Are The Crumbs
• Bundt cake de platano from La mejor manera
• Chili Cheese Corn Dog Bundt from Food Lust People Love
• Chocolate Coffee Bundt Cake with Espresso Glaze from Cookaholic Wife
• Chocolate Guinness Bundt Cake with Cheesecake Filling from Nunca es demasiado dulce
• Chocolate, Walnut and Prune Bundt Cake from Katin špajz
• Cranberry & Beer Breakfast Bundt Cake from Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice
• Cranberry Pound Cake from Palatable Pastime
• Giant Party Sub Bundt from Making Miracles
• Lemon and Praline Cold Bundt Cake from Bizcocheando
• Maple Bundt with Cinnamon Glaze from Sweet Sensations
• Orange Cranberry Bundt from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Yellow Vanilla Bundt Cake with Hot Fudge Sauce from Tartacadabra
• Yogurt Bundt Cake from Sneha's Recipe

 

#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 the BundtBakers home page.

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