Sweet Potato Salad

I have a terrible habit of collecting recipes.  I have stacks of ones I've printed off the Internet, piles of cooking magazines, and binders full of them.  That's why my New Year's resolution this year was to cook at least one new recipe a week.  

So, this week I pulled out a recipe I got from the NY Times a couple of years ago.  Since I sometimes have sweet potatoes for lunch (click here for the recipe), I decided to give this recipe a try.  It's roasted sweet potatoes with black beans in a chili dressing, but I find that title to be a little long so I just call it Sweet Potato Salad. 

I was intrigued with all the different ingredients in the recipe, and was very curious how it would taste.  I was surprised to find that it actually was very light, but maybe that's because I didn't use all the dressing.  Either way, I was pleasantly surprised that it was pretty mild because I really thought the chili dressing would be too much.  Overall, I enjoyed this recipe and really didn't make any changes to it.  So now I am sharing it with you - enjoy!

Sweet Potato Salad  (NY Times recipe, serves 2) 

2 sweet potatoes, peeled & cut into 1 inch chunks
1/2 of a red onion, chopped
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tbsp jalapeno, chopped
1/2 tsp garlic, chopped
Juice of 1 lime
1 cup black beans, rinsed & drained
1/2 yellow pepper, diced
1/2 cup cilantro, chopped
salt & pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400, and line baking sheet with aluminum foil.  Put sweet potatoes and onions on baking sheet and add 1 tbsp of the olive oil, tossing to coat, then spreading out in a single layer.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Roast in oven, stirring occasionally, until they begin to brown, or for about 35-45 minutes.  Remove from oven and set aside.

Put jalapeno, garlic, lime juice, remaining olive oil and salt & pepper.  Pulse until well combined.

Place potatoes in a large bowl with the beans, yellow pepper, dressing and cilantro.  Mix well, and serve warm or at room temp.  Will keep in refrigerator for up to a day.