Tuesday, October 04, 2011

Sweet potato wedges with lemongrass creme fraiche

September 29, 2011
Cindy and I sat down on Thursday morning to brainstorm dinner ideas. Despite dinner for the day being entirely my responsibility (I was working from home so could sneak off to the markets after breakfast and do any prep that was needed throughout the afternoon), we somehow ended up eating wedges as our main meal. I'm still not quite sure how Cindy convinced me, although I suspect her use of the magic word (Ottolenghi) had something to do with it. We made a pretence at being healthy by having this salad on the side, but it was really all about the wedges.

At least these were interesting wedges - the sweet potatoes were nicely offset by the creamy and very citrussy creme fraiche sauce. I'd have liked to get a bit of crunch into the wedges somehow, but our sweet potatoes seemed like they were just going to keep browning until they burned without ever really changing texture. Still, this was a success - I'd definitely make them again, although probably as a side or a snack rather than for dinner.


Sweet potato wedges with lemongrass creme fraiche
(recipe from Ottolenghi's Plenty)

2 large sweet potatoes, washed but not peeled
1 tablespoon ground coriander
salt
olive oil
250g creme fraiche (the recipe said 200g, but I just used the container up)
1 stalk lemongrass, chopped as finely as you can
1 thumb-sized piece of ginger, grated
juice and zest of two limes
salt
chilli flakes
a handful of coriander leaves

Preheat the oven to 210°C.

Cut the sweet potatoes in eighths longways - you want long and skinny wedges.

Lay them out in a prepared baking tray and brush with olive oil. Sprinkle with the ground coriander and salt and then bake for 25 minutes or so. You want them to start browning up and, ideally, going a bit crispy on the outside.

In the meantime, make your sauce - just combine the creme fraiche, lemongrass, ginger, limes and salt in a bowl.

When the wedges are cooked, serve them with the sauce and a sprinkling of coriander leaves and chilli flakes on top.

6 comments:

  1. Mmmm I like the sound of that dressing...

    I've never had much luck getting crispiness into sweet potatoes, and I've read a lot of people with the same experience. Apparently it IS possible, particularly with deep-fried sweet potato chips, but that seems unhealthy and quite impractical (and still doesn't always work).

    I wonder if adding some crumbing would work well... there's another recipe in Plenty for pumpkin slices with (i think) parmesan and breadcrumbs. I bet using a panko and parmesan crust would be great here, even if you did it separately and then sprinkled on at the end.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I've found success using duck fat so maybe copha/coconut oil might do it.

    ReplyDelete
  3. That sauce looks SO yum! Stop making me hungry ;) I agree- can't seem to get sweet potato crispy! But nonetheless they're always delicious :) x

    ReplyDelete
  4. Stru, I can picture the photo that accompanies that recipe! Yum. I'm not too upset at the lack of crispness here. These aren't chip-like, to be sure, but they do have a cool sweet-and-sour baked potato vibe.

    Sefie - thanks for those ideas! We'll play around next time we make this recipe. :-)

    Hi tees&cees! Well that sounds pretty good... but I guess adding more fat is always likely to lead to extra deliciousness.

    Hannah - you're right. I think the flavour of the sweet potato is a bigger drawcard than the texture here. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Loving the idea of the lemongrass and ginger... so refreshing!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hi MM - the lemongrass and ginger didn't quite live up to my expectations when I first taste-tested them, but they are incredible once you team the sauce with the sweet potato!

    ReplyDelete