Spiced Sweet Potato Salad with Hazelnuts and Coppa
This is one of 3 of the recipes I made as a part of my collaboration with chef and co-founder Stuart Kirton from VDG Salumi and boy is it gooooooooood. This is a versatile salad, as you can see from the photos. We added in pomegranate seeds and sunflower shoots to some of the versions, and we also played around and made it with squash instead of sweet potato and Finocchiona instead of Coppa. Po-TAY-to Po-TAH-to, you know?
Pictured here with pomegranate seeds and sunflower shoots
Spiced Sweet Potato Salad with Hazelnuts and Coppa
Prep time: 20 minutes
Cook time: 55 minutes
Total time: 1 hour, 15 minutes
Yield: serves 6
INGREDIENTS
4 cup sweet potatoes, skin on, small diced
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 tsp. kosher salt
½ tsp. nutmeg
1 ts. cinnamon
½ tsp. cayenne pepper
½ tsp. garlic powder
½ cup crushed hazelnuts, roasted and peeled
50-75g thin sliced coppa
4 tbsp. roasted Pear dressing (recipe below)
For the Dressing
3 red pears peeled, halved, and cored
1 tbsp. rice vinegar (if using mayo)
1 tbsp. honey
1 tsp. kosher salt
1 cup mayonnaise or yogurt
DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 325.
Start by making the dressing. Lay pears cut side down on a roasting pan, and roast until very tender (about 25-30 minutes). Do not caramelize. Puree the pears very fine in a blender or food processor and then pass through a fine mesh strainer. Cool.
Stir cooled pear, and remaining ingredients for the dressing into the mayo or yogurt, and adjust seasonings.
Now time to move onto the main event. Preheat the oven to 375.
Combine everything except the coppa, hazelnuts and the pear yogurt, and lay flat on a roasting pan, and roast until tender, and golden brown (around 25 minutes). Taste, and adjust seasonings if desired. Cool for 10 minutes on the counter before serving.
To serve, lay a thin layer of roasted pear mayonnaise or yogurt on a large serving plate. Lay the sweet potatoes on top, and garnish with curled coppa slices and crushed hazelnuts.
Pictured here, made with roasted squash and finocchiona
Pictured here with pomegranate seeds