Weekend indulgence

One of the (few) benefits of the last year has been having time to cook more time consuming meals during the week. In the Before Times arriving home between 7-7.30pm five times a week (assuming no rail delays/after work socialising) restricted weekday dinners to quick, simple, and familiar dishes. The additional time, plus my love of roasting tin recipes which can be put on and left has expanded my repertoire this year (consciously trying to eat minimal meat has also helped), but some dishes still have more of a weekend feel to them. Sweet potato nachos with chilli requires a little more attention and is definitely a weekend recipe in my mind. 

This recipe comes from the Food Medic-a recipe and fitness book which only occasionally features on menu. I initially intended to blog this last time I made it in October (and the photos date from the occasion) but never got around to it. Last weekend saw another outing of the recipe, and a Twitter commitment to write this blog!

Begin with peeling and slicing a sweet potato into 1/4 inch slices. Try to make the slices as even as possible-I have a tendency to slice at an angle and end up with crispy/burnt edges as a result. Melt some coconut oil and mix with paprika and coat the sweet potatoes. Then bake the potatoes in 190C oven for 30-40 minutes turning halfway through.

Meanwhile prepare the chilli-the recipe uses lean beef, but I replaced this with tinned lentils to keep it veggie. Begin frying red onion and garlic, then add the lentils and heat through. Add red pepper, chilli, smoked paprika, and cook until soft. Follow with kidney beans, tinned tomatoes and stock. If cooking for one the stock may be too much liquid so I'd judge depending on personal taste/how quickly the chilli dries out.

Arrange the sweet potato 'nachos' on a plate and top with the chilli. I topped with grated cheddar and had avocado and salsa alongside, the recipe also recommends greek yoghurt. It ends up a very filling dish, and given the portion sizes I'm not sure it's quite as healthy as book intends it to be but nachos shouldn't be health food in my mind!