This simple, mouth-watering recipe is from Sabrina Ghayour’s splendid book ‘Persiana’. You could treat this purée as a luxury side dish, or as a dip for toasted bread (from Forge Bakehouse, if you can!) along with a clean, crisp, peppery-leaf salad as counterfoil.
Roasted garlic and sweet potato purée
Ingredients
- 6 sweet potatoes (skin on)
- 4 fat garlic cloves, unpeeled
- Olive oil for drizzling
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- Sea salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 25g butter
- Pomegranate molasses, to serve (optional)
Method
- Preheat the oven to 180C / Fan 160C / Gas mark 4. Roast the sweet potatoes whole for 1 hour or until cooked through.
- Place the unpeeled garlic cloves on a double layer of kitchen foil. Drizzle with a little olive oil, then seal the foil around them. Roast for 30-35 minutes or until the cloves are soft and squishy.
- Once the sweet potatoes are cooked, allow them to cool slightly - just enough to allow you to handle them - and scoop out the flesh into a saucepan on a low heat.
- Peel the roasted garlic cloves and mash them into the sweet potatoes along with the cinnamon and some salt and pepper to taste. Cook the purée for a further 6-8 minutes, stirring to prevent the mixture from sticking.
- Finish with the butter, stirring well to incorporate it and make the purée smooth. Serve with a little drizzle of pomegranate molasses.