Sweet potato toast topped with courgette hummus and avocado
Sweet potatoes sliced, toasted and topped. It’s as simple as that. If you’re aiming to add more wholesome foods into your diet simply, this is one way to do it. Using sweet potato is super easy meal to change up your breakfast, lunch or brunch!
Sweet potato toast is also a brilliant choice for anyone who looking for a gluten-free option.
Sweet potatoes are full of nourishment and support the regulation of blood sugar levels. They’re low on the glycemic index which makes them a good option for anyone who is reviewing how they fuel their body effectively. They’re a strong source of vitamin E which supports the health of our skin as well as potassium which regulates our fluids and helps us to prevent water retention in our body.
How to make sweet potato toast
Peel the skin of the potato or scrub it in water. Sweet potato skin can be treated with wax or chemicals so make sure you remove any nasties before eating.
Wash the potato before slicing the potato length-ways, you want the toast to be long and thin. They should look like rectangles with a rounded edge and have a thickness of around 0.5cm – just under 1cm.
Dry the potato, patting it with kitchen towel before popping it in the toaster.
Everyone’s toaster is different so the first time you make sweet potato toast make sure you keep an eye on it. I pop it down on a medium to high heat and repeat a couple of times. It’s ready when it starts to caramelize and brown slightly.
Watch for the edges so they don’t burn.
Top with your favourite flavours.
I love zesty food for breakfast so I’ve topped mine here with avocado smash (mashed avocados with fresh lemon juice) and homemade courgette hummus, with cherry tomatoes and walnut. This tasted like the most delicious bruschetta.
Anything goes, try any nut butter with banana, a favourite pesto with fresh spinach leaves and pepper, fresh hummus with chargrilled artichokes, a salsa topped with tofu. Anything goes!
I choose to eat vibrantly. The more colour on the plate, the happier I am. If there is anything I have learned over the last ten months; it’s that you eat with your eyes first. This dish is beautiful on the eye, with citrus-coloured noodles topped with a golden cream sauce which is set off perfectly with a deep pink plant-powered ‘chorizo’.
I created and cooked this for my friends last night who are all fans of meat chorizo and they loved it. I hope you love it too.
This serves four people.
Ingredients
‘Chorizo’
120g sweet red pepper
120g sun dried tomatoes (rinsed)
100g walnuts
50g oats
0.5 tbsp paprika
0.5 tsp ground cumin
0.5 tsp mild chilli powder
0.5 tsp ground cinnamon
0.5g ground garlic
Cream sauce
600g squash
Drizzle of rapeseed or olive oil
150 cashews (soaked for in cold water for two hours)
half cup of nutritional yeast
300ml plant milk (i.e. almond, oat, soya)
150ml water
Noodles
2 standard courgette
2 standard sweet potato
tsp coconut oil (or rapeseed or olive oil)
Equipment
I use a Nutribullet to blend the sauce, a Magimix 3200 food processor to make the chorizo and a spiralizer to make the noodles. If you don’t have a spiralizer you can use pasta or gnocchi.
Method
Set your oven to 200 degrees.
Peel the squash and cut it into bite-size cubes. Place it in a bowl and drizzle a little rapeseed or olive oil. Top with salt and pepper. Use your hands to move the squash around the bowl to ensure it is well seasoned and covered with a little oil.
Spread the squash out evenly on a baking tray and cook for 50 minutes at 200 degrees. My fan oven is a little old – if you have a healthier, happier oven 180 degrees may be more appropriate.
De-seed the red pepper, rinse the sun dried tomatoes (if kept in a jar with oil) and pop them in the food processor along with the walnuts, oats and spices. Pulse the mixture until comes together. Although it should be relatively smooth it should still have some texture.
Roll the chorizo mix into sausages, place on grease-proof
paper and pop in the fridge for 40 minutes or so to chill.
Once the squash is cooked let it cool on the tray before blending. It should be soft, but hard enough to still hold it’s shape and not mushy.
Blend half of the squash, cashew nuts nutritional yeast and 200ml of the plant milk until smooth. Gradually add more of the squash, milk and water. Add salt and pepper to taste. When all blended together this will be quite thick, if you want it to be thinner, add more plant milk or water when you come to heat it later.
Peel the sweet potatoes and spiralizer. Wash the skin of the courgette and then spiralize, place in a wok with the coconut oil and gently heat. When you serve the noodles they should still be firm and a little warm – the bonus of eating these relatively raw is that they retain so many more nutrients.
Remove the chorizo from the freezer and slice into rounds. It should be firm but still easy to cut.
Warm a frying pan with half a tsp of coconut oil and place the chorizo in. Cook at a medium heat for a couple of minutes on each side. When you turn it you should notice that that it has darkened and looks a little grilled.
In the meantime pour the cream sauce in to a saucepan and heat, continually stirring at a medium heat to ensure it doesn’t stick or burn.
Serve up the noodles and top with the cream and chorizo.
This chorizo is a lot softer than the mean version but the use of paprika and other traditional chorizo spices give it that very familiar smell which wins over everyone who is doubtful that the plant-based version will ever compare. If you like your chorizo hot, add more chilli powder and if you love the smokiness of paprika load it up.
Overall this meal is surprisingly fulfilling and you may be surprised at how comfortably full you feel relatively quickly. If you want to add in even more veggies, try stir-fying the noodles with sliced chestnut mushrooms and peas.
Nourish
The nuts in this meal are well-known for their heart boosting powers, strengthening our bodies against cardiovascular disease as well as cancer. Walnuts are rich in anti-oxidants and omega-3, while cashews are rich in zinc and iron which supports a healthy immune system.
Sweet potatoes are high in nutrients but low on the glycemic index which helps stabilise our blood sugar levels, keeping any cravings and hunger at bay. They also support our bodies to lower bad cholesterol and are also high in anti-oxidants and vitamin E.
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I really hope you enjoy this recipe this Autumn and do let me know what you think.
the star beyond 