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Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Harvest Sweet Potato Salsa

Harvest Sweet Potato Salsa

Roasted sweet potatoes and corn tossed with beans and avocado in an red and green salsa dressing. One of the ways I put up food to eat local all year long.

Harvest Sweet Potato Salsa | Farm Fresh Feasts

When the garden is barren and there's snow falling down is a strange time to talk about harvest and abundant vegetables, no?



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Harvest Sweet Potato Salsa | Farm Fresh Feasts

I think it's exactly the right time.  You see, the vegetables I used in this salsa--the corn, sweet potatoes, tomatoes and tomatillos that is*--came from my Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm share.  George, Mark, Josh and Erik of Patchwork Gardens grew and harvested them, and we got a weekly box of locally-grown vegetables during the growing season.  Once in my kitchen, I performed Vegetable Triage--eating what won't keep, freezing or canning what can be put up, and using a cold corner of my breakfast nook as my Strategic Winter Squash Reserve (link to a photo on my FB page) for the long storage crops.  Even though the fields are brown, we're still eating the fruits of our farmers' labors.


Harvest Sweet Potato Salsa | Farm Fresh Feasts


If you'd like to know more about where your food is grown, now is the time to research local eating in your area.  Up on the left sidebar is a Local Harvest gadget.  If you're in the US, type in your zip code and see what's available near you.  Signing up with a CSA farm share before the season starts means your farmers will have the funds to purchase or repair equipment like the potato harvester shown here, which harvested the sweet potatoes I used in this salsa.

Roasted sweet potatoes and corn tossed with beans and avocado in an red and green salsa dressing. One of the ways I put up food to eat local all year long.
Photo credit Marguerite Mertz/Patchwork Gardens
*See the avocados in the second photo? Yeah, they sure are not local to Ohio and one of the reasons (along with bananas and salmon, vanilla and chocolate, tea and olive oil) that I will never be a completely local eater.  To me, local food just tastes better (think garden tomato vs store-bought) so I put my efforts into eating local food where I can.  I am fortunate to have a choice where I spend my dollars on food, and I choose to keep my money in my local community when possible.  It's why I started this blog and organized my Visual Recipe Index by produce type--to help other folks eat locally as well.

Harvest Sweet Potato Salsa | Farm Fresh Feasts

Visit all the other Appetizer Week Peeps for more Munchie Causing Goodness:

Harvest Sweet Potato Salsa | Farm Fresh Feasts
Harvest Sweet Potato Salsa | Farm Fresh Feasts

NOTE:  I created this recipe to be gluten free through my choice of ingredients. Check labels to confirm that your products are also gluten free. Good sources for determining that your products are gluten free can be found here:

Harvest Sweet Potato Salsa

Ingredients


  • 2 cups cubed peeled sweet potatoes (cubes small enough to fit on a chip)
  • 1-2 teaspoons cooking oil
  • a generous pinch of salt (½ teaspoon) plus more to taste
  • several grinds of pepper (¼ teaspoon) plus more to taste
  • 1 ½ cups corn kernels, cut right off the cob works great
  • 1 ⅔ cups (15 ounce can, drained and rinsed) cooked beans (mine was black, kidney, and pinto beans)
  • 3 to 4 Tablespoons salsa (your choice, I used home canned)
  • 2 to 3 Tablespoons salsa verde (I make mine with roasted Hatch chiles and farm share tomatillos)
  • ½ cup chopped cilantro leaves
  • 2 avocados, cubed

Instructions


  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.  
  2. In a large bowl toss sweet potato cubes with oil, a generous pinch of salt and a few grinds of pepper.  
  3. Spread on a rimmed baking sheet (I use a piece of parchment for easy clean up) and roast for 10 minutes.  
  4. While the sweet potatoes are roasting, toss the corn in the bowl to coat it with any remaining oil and spices. 
  5. Stir the sweet potatoes, then add the corn to the baking sheet and roast for 10 minutes.  Check them at this point--if the sweet potatoes are soft and lightly browned, remove the sheet from the oven and let cool.  If the sweet potatoes are still firm, stir and roast for another 5 to 10 minutes.  [I kept my cube size very small, for scooping up on tortilla chips, and mine roasted in 20 minutes.]
  6. In a large bowl, toss roasted vegetables with beans, salsas, and cilantro.  
  7. Taste and see if you'd prefer more salt or pepper, or a more moist salsa--then add more salsa or salsa verde.  
  8. Just before serving, fold in avocado cubes.  This is also good eaten with a fork straight out of the fridge by a hungry spouse.

26 comments:

  1. My favorite appetizer is 7 layer dip. However, over the years it has become more like three layers of goodness. And with leaving off of the lettuce and meat, it becomes a veggie option (I use veggie beans) and easily storable without worry of wiltly lettuce.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Heather,
      That's a brilliant idea. I hate wilted lettuce.
      Thanks!

      Delete
  2. Beans, sweet potato and avocados... that one healthy and tasty salsa !

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tanusree,
      I hate to call something healthy since it's such a subjective term--but you're so right it's tasty.
      Thanks for stopping by!

      Delete
  3. I'm a big nachos gal and also love a good spinach artichoke dip in the winter

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Casey,
      Yum, spinach artichoke dip. Excellent choice!

      Delete
  4. salsa with sweet potatoes--how fun! i love chips & guac on game day.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sarah,
      I think our game day snacking will start with lunch, as the game isn't until evening.
      Thanks for stopping by!

      Delete
  5. This looks delicious! I love the avocados in there. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Julie,
      I'm a fan of avocados, and have been working hard lately to increase the amount of avocado in my life.
      Thanks!

      Delete
  6. Well, I know first hand how delicious this combination is, because I've built a whole business on it! My company's called Yummy Yammy, and I'm in Vermont, where I concocted these recipes... I make sweet potato salsas in jars, and they are natural and made from really great ingredients, though not as farm-fresh as your scrumptious salsa here! I'm in a coup;e of stores in Ohio, and on Amazon, for when you can't make your own. Nice job on the recipe!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Lisa,
      I appreciate your kind comments.
      Thanks for stopping by!

      Delete
  7. I have my chips ready! This is my kind of food, I love sweet potatoes in just about everything!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Abby,
      I admit I dug in with a fork because it was just that good.
      Thanks!

      Delete
  8. I love the first picture. It's beautiful, and this dip is another winner. I'm totally digging vegetarian appetizer week. Can you do this ever week please. To hell with sanity; it's totally overrated.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Meghan,
      As it turns out, Foodgawker likes a version of that photo too. Thanks!

      I can't do appetizer week every week--it's taken me 2 weeks to get to commenting on this post!

      Delete
  9. My favorite appetizer is guacamole. I could just eat it by the spoonful! I have got to try this because seriously, sweet potatoes and avocado?! Amazing!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ash,
      I'm a big fan of guacamole as well. Thanks for stopping by!

      Delete
  10. I just love how you're facilitating more local food stuff on your blog - like the app at the top you just talked about. You're doing good work, Kirsten. And I want my own sweet potato harvester!!! Not that I have that many sweet potatoes..... but I might consider it if I had one. hahahaha... Recipe looks stunning!

    Thank you so much for sharing your post with us at Fresh Foods Wednesday! I hope you'll be back this week with more fresh food posts :) xo, kristy

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Kristy,
      My back yard is far too small for a potato harvester, but if I could harness the energy of Wee Oliver Picklepants when he's chasing a squirrel, it would get through my raised beds easily.
      Thanks for hosting!

      Delete
  11. I have had a lot of different kinds of salsa but never a sweet potato salsa. I guess I just found my mew recipe to try for today. Thank you for sharing with the Clever Chicks Blog Hop! I hope you’ll join us again next week!

    Cheers,
    Kathy Shea Mormino
    The Chicken Chick
    http://www.The-Chicken-Chick.com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Kathy,
      Foodgawker found a new sweet potato salsa--Woot!
      Thanks for hosting!

      Delete
  12. I just adore this salsa. What a novel idea to use sweet potatoes. I cannot wait to try it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Christie,
      Novel to you, 'please help me get rid of the overwhelming pile before they go bad' to me!
      Thanks!

      Delete
  13. This salsa looks amazing! Love the use of sweet potatoes.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brandy,
      I'm pretty pleased with how these photos turned out--helps me to spread the CSA message if there's a pretty photo attached!
      Thanks!

      Delete