This recipe from the Ottolenghi cookbook, is delicious as a side dish, particularly with poultry, or at room temperature as a picnic salad. It is now sweet potato season, so enjoy them. In the original recipe, they use maple syrup, but as the original is fairly expensive in South Africa, at Wickedfood Cooking School, we use honey instead (if you’re going to use maple syrup, then don’t get the flavoured substitute).

2 sweet potatoes (about 900g in total)
3T olive oil
35g pecans
4 spring onions, roughly chopped
1/4 cup roughly chopped parsley
2T roughly chopped coriander
¼t flaked chilli
35g sultanas
Salt and pepper

Dressing

1/4 cup olive oil
2T honey or maple syrup
1T sherry vinegar
1T lemon juice
2T orange juice
2t grated fresh ginger
½t ground cinnamon

• Preheat the oven to 190ºC. Start with the sweet potatoes. Don’t peel them! Cut into 2cm cubes, spread out on a baking tray and drizzle with the olive oil. Sprinkle with some salt and pepper, mix well with your hands and roast in the oven until the potatoes are just tender, about 30 minutes. Turn them over gently half way through the cooking.
• In a separate tray, toast the pecans in the oven for 5 minutes. Remove and chop roughly.

Dressing

• While the potatoes are roasting make the dressing. Whisk together all the ingredients in a small bowl. Taste and add salt and pepper if needed.
• When the potatoes are ready, transfer them to a large bowl while still hot. Add the spring onion, parsley, coriander, chilli, pecans and sultanas.
• Pour the dressing over and toss gently to blend, then season to taste. Serve at once or at room temperature.

Serves 4

Click here for more recipes from the Ottolenghi Cookbook.

Wickedfood Cooking School runs cooking classes throughout the year at its purpose-built Johannesburg cooking studio. Cookery classes are run in the mornings and evenings 7 days a week (subject to a minimum of 12 people). This team building venue is also popular for corporate events and private functions – teambuilding cooking classes, birthdays, kitchen teas, and dinner parties with a difference.

Our cooking lessons are hands-on, where every person gets to participate in the preparation of the dishes. They are also a lot of fun where you not only learn new skills, but get to meet people with similar interests. For corporate groups and team building cooking classes these events are a novel way of creating staff interaction or entertaining clients.