Miso-Maple-Jammed and Glazed Sweet Potatoes

Sweet potatoes are showing up in droves in the CSA boxes recently. Hence, I’ve been making sweet potatoes with miso-maple two ways: as a jam and as a glaze. The jam recipe comes from Dorie Greenspan’s Everyday Dorie. You slather the jam on a roasted sweet potato and eat it like a snack. As simple as that.

Alternatively, pour a miso-maple glaze over slices of pan-fried sweet potato and serve them over a bed of black lentils. It turns out to be almost a meal by itself. I’ve already made this sweet crusty crowd pleaser several times since I first saw the recipe on the September issue of Bon Appétit.

The common ingredients for the jam and the glaze are: miso, maple syrup, fat and some kind of spicy chili sauce or spice. Add butter to the miso-maple-chili combo to make the jam. Or add soy sauce and sesame oil to make the glaze. By all measures, they are similar ingredients, comparable flavor profile. Each takes on varying texture and viscosity.

To top off spicy, salty, sweet with umami from the miso paste imparts an unbelievable complex flavor. When you have these ingredients in your pantry, it’s only a swirl away from deliciousness. In short, wonderful flavor packed in a jam or glaze that has the power to transform—and with relative ease.

Besides pancakes and waffles, we’ve shown that maple syrup, together with miso, work remarkable well on sweet potatoes too.

Happy fall from Vermont, the biggest US producer of maple syrup!

Print Recipe

Glazed Sweet Potatoes with Lentils

Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 2 large or 3 medium sweet potatoes (1.5-2 lb total)
• 1 cup lentils, preferably black beluga or French green
• Kosher salt
• 6 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil, divided
• 4 Tbsp unseasoned rice vinegar, divided
• 4 scallions
• Miso-Maple Glaze:
• 2 Tbsp pure maple syrup
• 1 Tbsp soy sauce
• 1 Tbsp white miso
• 1 tsp toasted sesame oil
• 1 tsp red pepper flakes
• Coarsely chopped toasted pistachios (for serving)

Instructions

1

Preheat oven to 425°F. Roast whole sweet potatoes on a rimmed baking sheet until tender, 45-55 minutes. Let cool 10 minutes.

2

Cook lentils in a medium pot of boiling salted water until tender but not falling apart, 20-30 minutes. Drain and rinse; let cool 10 minutes.

3

Toss lentils in a small bowl with 4 Tbsp olive oil and 2 Tbsp vinegar. Season with salt.

4

Trim scallions and cut crosswise into 3" lengths. Slice each piece into very thin matchsticks. Place in a small bowl and pour in cold water to cover. Set aside.

5

Whisk maple syrup, soy sauce, miso, sesame oil, 1 tsp red pepper flakes, remaining 2 Tbsp vinegar, and 1/4 cup cup water in a small bowl. Set aside

6

Heat remaining 2 Tbsp olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high. Slice or tear sweet potatoes into 2" pieces; cook, turning, until deeply browned on several sides, 5-7 minutes. Remove from heat and add reserved glaze (it may splatter a bit). Set over medium heat; cook, spooning glaze over, until thick enough to coat a spoon, about 1 minute.

7

Scrape sweet potatoes and glaze onto a platter. Drain scallions; pat dry. Toss two thirds into lentils; spoon around potatoes. Top with nuts, remaining scallions, and more red pepper flakes.