Baked Sweet Potato Rosti (Photo by Goran Kosanovic for The Washington Post)
Anna Jones, the 7-year-old British food writer and former chef, is the author of two best-selling books (2014’s “A Modern Way To Eat” and last year’s “A Modern Way To Cook,”) and a food column in the Guardian. She is a food stylist, too, making the dishes look as beautiful as they taste without seeming too fussy.
What really sets Jones apart, though, is her approach: Her food is vegetarian without a hint of prissiness, and it has a global bent.
Here is one of her favourite recipes.
The colour and crunch of peas and fresh spinach make a nice complement to this moist potato cake. You can bake it in a 9- or 10-inch pie plate or a 9-by-11-inch baking dish.
Adapted from “A Modern Way to Cook: 150+ Vegetarian Recipes for Quick, Flavor-Packed Meals,” by Anna Jones (Ten Speed Press, 2016).
Ingredients: (4 servings, Healthy)
1 1/3 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled and grated
1 tablespoon Dijon-style mustard
Finely grated zest of 1/2 lemon
2 handfuls fresh spinach (may add a handful to the rosti mixture; optional)
Sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Water (optional)
1/2 to 1 cup frozen/defrosted peas
Warm poached eggs, for garnish (optional, see NOTE)
Method:
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Grease the baking dish with cooking oil spray.
Combine the sweet potatoes, mustard, lemon zest and some spinach, if desired, in a mixing bowl. Season generously with salt and pepper, then mix until well incorporated. Press the mixture into the baking dish, packing it as much as possible. if the mixture seems dry, add a few tablespoons of water.
Roast (middle rack) for 40 minutes or until the potatoes are tender and browned on top. Top with the 2 handfuls of spinach and the peas (to taste) and serve whole at the table, or cut into quarters and then top each portion. Serve warm.
NOTE: To poach eggs, heat 2 or 3 cups of water in a medium saute pan over medium-high heat. Add a pinch of salt; once the water comes to a full boil, add the vinegar. Crack one egg at a time into a small bowl, making sure the yolk stays intact and there are no bits of shell. Gently slide the eggs into the boiling water, one at a time. Cook for about 2 minutes or until the whites are just opaque but the yolks seem liquid within.
Nutrition | Per serving: 150 calories, 4 g protein, 34 g carbohydrates, 0 g fat, 0 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 290 mg sodium, 5 g dietary fiber, 7 g sugar
