Long time, no blog! I have been cooking, lots, but somehow I never get around to taking pictures of anything. Sometimes – more often than not, in fact – I just forget. The other problem is, I don’t create versions of things especially for photographing. I read a food photography blog once that talked about making a photo-only batch of a stirfry so the colours and textures were better. The blogger sprayed very lightly steamed broccoli and peppers etc with oil so they glistened, but didn’t actually cook them in a wok with a sauce as per the accompanying recipe. They set the picture alongside one of the actual meal, and yes, the styled version did look better, brighter and more colourful, but it also got thrown in the bin after the shoot was done. I can’t do that. I won’t do that. So if I forget or don’t have time to take a picture of something between stove and table, it doesn’t get a mention here (except the gratin a few posts back, which was an exception simply because I was smitten with it… and I apologise for not having put up a pic yet, but I haven’t been about to find those luscious big wild garlic leaves again).

Anyway, it’s on-again-off-again summer here in my corner of the world and on the warm days, we’re eating lots of lovely salads. I’ve been scouring food sites for ideas and came across one that piqued my interest immediately. I changed it around a bit to suit our tastes, but it really is the most delicious thing to eat alongside a veggie burger!

Recipe adapted from pinchofyum.

Ingredients:

2-3 sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into bite-sized chunks
1 large red bell pepper, seeded and cut into bite-sized chunks
1 medium red onion, halved and sliced
large handful of spinach leaves, cut into strips
1-2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tablespoons olive oil + extra for cooking
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

Directions:

Toss the sweet potato chunks in a little bit of olive oil (just enough to coat them lightly), spread on a baking tray and roast them for about 20 minutes at 220°C, turning once or twice. Just cook them until they start to brown and soften. Let them cool to room temperature.

Meanwhile, in a salad bowl, stir together the peppers, onion and spinach. In another small bowl, whisk together the garlic, olive oil and lemon juice.

When the sweet potatoes are cool, stir them gently into the peppers etc, then drizzle over the vinaigrette and toss carefully. Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour to let the flavours develop.

Note: It’s also good if you replace the spinach with some finely chopped flat-leaf parsley.