Roasted broccoli and sweet potato salad
The next time I’m served another boiled vegetable side dish…I’ll have to email them the link to this recipe. Vegetables no longer need to be the understudy on the table, they can totally steal the show when you get creative with textures and flavours. Dressed with a lemony tahini dressing and topped with herbs and dried cranberries, my roasted broccoli and sweet potato salad is crunchy, sweet, nutty, tart, chewy and all-around delish. Have it for breakfast with an egg on it, as a main dish with some protein, or as a side dish beside a roast. It doesn’t matter when you serve it, just get it onto your table stat.
SERVES
6
Ingredients
For the dressing:
- 1/2 cup tahini (Middle Eastern sesame paste)
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- 1/4 cup lemon juice (freshly squeezed from the above lemon)
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
- 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
- 2 pinches cayenne (optional)
- 1 handful flat-leaf parsley
- 1/4 cup water, plus more as needed
For the salad:
- 1 sweet potato (1 large or 2 small), peeled and diced
- 1 x 340 gram package broccoli florets
- 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper, freshly cracked
- 1/4 cup dried cranberries (sweetened), to garnish
- Dill, fresh, to garnish
Directions
- In a blender or food processor, process all dressing ingredients except the water. Add half of the water, blend, and check consistency before adding more; it should be thick, but still runny enough to drizzle from a spoon. Taste and season with salt as desired. Also, feel free to make this by hand – it’ll just require a bit more elbow grease with the chopping and whisking. Cover and refrigerate dressing until needed, up to four days.
- To roast veggies, preheat oven to 400°F and line a baking sheet or two with parchment. In a large bowl toss together sweet potato, broccoli, oil, salt and pepper until well-coated. Spread in a single layer onto the baking sheet(s) and bake 15-20 minutes until browned and crisp, tossing once halfway. Note: the broccoli should still be crunchy, so remove from oven earlier if needed.
- Allow to cool five minutes before transferring veggies to a platter and drizzling with some of the dressing. Garnish with dried cranberries and dill and serve immediately.
