a very loaded tater: roasted sweet potato with spiced chickpeas, steamed broccoli & a lemony tahini sauce

roasted sweet potato with spiced chickpeas & lemony tahini sauce | everybody likes sandwiches

Fall meals sound dreamy. Who doesn’t love that inherently cozy autumnal vibe that only a butternut squash risotto or a chocolate chip pumpkin loaf can give? It makes me want to pull up my tall wooly socks and don my adorable but sort of itchy cardigan right into the nearest apple orchard. But that wasn’t my reality last week when I was looking into the fridge trying to figure out what to make for dinner.

roasted sweet potato with spiced chickpeas & lemony tahini sauce | everybody likes sandwiches

I did find 4 tiny white sweet potatoes in my fridge – they were long and thin and looked like the perfect thing to roast. So I scrubbed them well, poked them with a fork and popped them into a hot oven. I wasn’t sure what would come next, but pulled out some broccoli, a can of chickpeas and some rice. It was a good start. I got the rice going quick because brown basmati rice isn’t the speediest rice on the block. Next, I spiced up the chickpeas with cumin and chili and banged that up in the oven too.

roasted sweet potato with spiced chickpeas & lemony tahini sauce | everybody likes sandwiches

The real genius move was making a simple tahini sauce which I knew would pair well with the chickpeas and the sweet potato (I was inspired by this butternut squash and lentil salad from ages ago). Garlicky, lemony, saucy perfection! The resulting dish was incredible. I’m not kidding – this is the kind of meal that I’ll gladly eat on a weekly basis during the fall and winter months. I’m now thinking all kinds of possibilities, like sprinkling it with zaatar and serving this over red quinoa instead of rice. Or filling up half an acorn squash with a rice/broccoli/chickpea mix and drizzling with that sauce. Plenty of options to carry you through these dark and rainy nights.

roasted sweet potato with spiced chickpeas & lemony tahini sauce | everybody likes sandwiches

7 comments to “a very loaded tater: roasted sweet potato with spiced chickpeas, steamed broccoli & a lemony tahini sauce”

  1. 1
    Joanne M   October 30, 2014 at 4:55 pm

    What a great idea using the sweet potato as a vehicle for other add-ins. I love sweet potatoes but always chop them into fries and bake them. Time to change it up a bit. You know I’ve never tried roasting chickpeas in the oven, yet I’ve “pinned” several recipes showing them prepared like that. Oh and tahini, you can never go wrong with that as a base for a dressing. I found some black tahini at the health food store which I’m eager to bake with….tahini cookies or maybe a tahini cake…yum!

  2. 2
    Gretchen   October 30, 2014 at 7:48 pm

    Ok, pull out your wooly socks because “butternut squash risotto” is actually my blog post for today. But I love these sweet potatoes too!

  3. 3
    Alicen   October 31, 2014 at 4:49 am

    Have you ever tried roasting broccoli? Cut into florets, and peel and cut up the stem into sticks too. Toss with a little olive oil, salt and pepper and toss in the oven at 400 or 425 until tender. SO good!! Parmesan on top is fantastic too!

  4. 4
    kickpleat   October 31, 2014 at 8:03 am

    Joanne, I saw your black tahini on IG, looks like chocolate! It might make a creepy sweet potato topping for Halloween 🙂

    Haha, so funny, Gretchen! Me and my wooly socks will check it out 🙂

    Alicen, yes, I love roasted broccoli, but this time I wanted something a bit more austere 🙂

  5. 5
    Maikki   October 31, 2014 at 8:50 am

    Looks good!

    I have also made stuffed sweet potatoes with chickpeas and tahini dressing. Instead of aleppo pepper I spiced them with some harissa paste

    Here’s the link for my version 🙂 http://maikinmokomin.blogspot.fi/2014/10/bataatit-harissa-maustetuilla.html

  6. 6
    Eileen   October 31, 2014 at 10:48 am

    Fall meals are definitely the best! I haven’t had a stuffed baked potato (sweet or otherwise) in so long This sounds like it would really hit the spot on a grey and rainy day!

  7. 7
    kickpleat   November 5, 2014 at 12:51 pm

    Maikki, Oooh, I like the harissa paste addition! Yum.

    Eileen, it’s perfect for rainy grey days 🙂 Enjoy!

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