Roasted Sweet Potatoes & Fresh Figs | Jerusalem

I have been waiting for the seasonal fresh figs to arrive so I can make this dish. Roasted sweet potatoes and fresh figs, combined with chile, green onions and creamy goat cheese, is a perfect dish for lunch or a light dinner in the summer.

This recipe comes from Jerusalem by Yotam Ottolenghi. The combination of fresh fruits and roasted vegetables is unusual; there are very few dishes like this on the blog. Not quite a salad; not quite a roasted vegetable dish. Perhaps, the roasted brussels sprouts and pomelo or cauliflower with grape and cheddar salad come closest. Yotam Ottolenghi says that this dish is one of the most popular at his restaurant, Ottolenghi.

Meanwhile, it is a vegetarian and gluten-free dish which has wide appeal for anyone, with any diets. In addition, sweet potato is full of fiber and high in vitamin A, essential for our guts and skin health.

The dish takes less time to prepare than I’ve thought. All you need is to roast the sweet potatoes. You need high oven temperature at 475°F for about 25 minutes. The other are small steps in prepping the supporting cast of chile pepper and green onions.

Beside fresh figs and sweet potatoes, there are flexibility with the rest of the ingredients.

I don’t have red chile, so I use jalapeño. Instead of goat cheese, I use crumbled feta. I didn’t fry the green onions either. Since I have a neat little gadget that slices green onions in narrow strips, giving off some faint sharpness and crunchy mouthfeel. Finally, I don’t keep balsamic vinegar. But I have a good-quality aged balsamic which is thick and sweet enough that doesn’t require any further reduction, in my opinion.

All that’s left to do now is to assemble all the ingredients: roasted sweet potatoes, fried jalapeño (a deft chef touch), fresh ripe figs in quarters, green onion strips, feta and aged balsamic. The nasturtium from the garden is an afterthought. In the end, this is not a production. Rather, it’s a cool summer display of fruit and vegetables presented at their peak conditions.

Print Recipe

Roasted Sweet Potatoes & Fresh Figs

Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 4 small sweet potatoes (2 1/4 pounds total)
• 5 tablespoons olive oil
• Scant 3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar (you can use a commercial rather than a premium aged grade)
• 1 ½ tablespoons superfine sugar
• 12 green onions, halved lengthwise and cut into 1 1/2-inch segments
• 1 red chili, thinly sliced
• 6 ripe figs (8 1/2 ounces total), quartered
• 5 ounces soft goat’s milk cheese (optional)
• Maldon sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Instructions

1

Preheat oven to 475 degrees. Wash the sweet potatoes, halve them lengthwise, and then cut each half into 3 long wedges. Mix with 3 tablespoons of the olive oil, 2 teaspoons salt and some black pepper.

2

Spread the wedges out, skin side down, on a baking sheet and cook for about 25 minutes, until they are soft but not mushy. Remove from the oven and leave to cool.

3

To make the balsamic reduction, place the balsamic vinegar and sugar in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, then decrease the heat and simmer for 2 to 4 minutes, until it thickens. Be sure to remove the pan from the heat when the vinegar is still runnier than honey; it will continue to thicken as it cools. Stir in a drop of water before serving if it does become too thick to drizzle

4

Arrange the sweet potatoes on a serving platter. Heat the remaining oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat and add the green onions and chili. Fry for 4 to 5 minutes, stirring often to make sure not to burn the chili. Spoon the oil, onions and chili over the sweet potatoes. Dot the figs among the wedges, and then drizzle over the balsamic reduction. Serve at room temperature. Crumble the cheese over the top, if using.

Notes

https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/12959-roasted-sweet-potatoes-and-fresh-figs