BAKED SWEET POTATO WITH BRAISED LENTILS & CRUMBLED FETA
- The Honest Project
- Mar 20, 2017
- 2 min read
It's been a busy past few weeks and last week, I decided to take a break from posting new content to The Honest Project; just to give myself some space to get on top of other projects and to take time off over the long weekend. When you work for yourself, the temptation is to spread your work over seven days, dipping in and out of it. This is great from one perspective as it gives me flexibility to do things mid-week and to fit work around my schedule to some extent. The other side of the coin is that sometimes the working week lacks structure and unless I'm super disciplined and on top of my 'to do' list, I often find myself working over the weekends.
The week off from the blog was just what I needed to re-balance my approach to my working week and have some down time; but things are back to normal today with a new Honest Project recipe for baked sweet potato with braised lentils and crumbled feta. This is a delicious and well balanced dish that has the added bonus of being super easy to make; Monday is looking up :)!! It's a no fuss type of meal, containing only a small number of ingredients that come together with ease to create a really tasty dish. This is the type of food I love to eat. Keep this recipe in your apron pocket and it's one that you'll return to again and again.
Serves 4
Ingredients
4 medium to large sweet potatoes
1 tbsp olive oil
1 red onion, finely chopped
1 red chilli, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup green lentils, rinsed well
500 ml vegetable stock
100g feta cheese, crumbled
Small handful of either coriander or spinach, finely chopped
Balsamic vinegar
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method
Preheat an oven at 190 C / Gas 5. Wash the sweet potatoes and pierce the with a knife in four our five places. Place the sweet potatoes on a baking tray and in the oven for approximately 45 minutes or until they are soft and tender.
While the sweet potatoes are in the oven, prepare the braised lentils. Heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a large saucepan. Add the onion and cook for five minutes before adding the chilli and garlic and cook for a further two minutes. Add the lentils and stir and cook for one minute before adding the vegetable stock. Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer, cover and cook for approximately 20-25 minutes until the lentils are tender and the stock is fully absorbed. Keep an eye on the lentils to ensure the stock doesn't boil off and if necessary add a little water. Once cooked, remove from the heat and squeeze the juice of a half a lemon over the lentils and season with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.
Once the potatoes are baked, remove them from the oven and slit them down the middle length ways. Spoon the lentils over the sweet potatoes and top with crumbled feta cheese, a sprinkling of fresh herbs and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar.
