Smoked Tomato Chickpea-Stuffed Sweet Potatoes
This satisfying, stick to your ribs, Mediterranean-inspired meal is simple to make and is full of robust flavor. We chose sweet potatoes as the base for this dish because they’re colorful and flavorful, but this works equally well with russet potatoes.
This dish is quite easy to assemble. We maximized ingredients by reusing them; there’s lemon in the tahini and the gremolata, and seasonings echo each other through the components in the dish so you don’t have to gather a long list of ingredients. This dish shines as a vegetarian entrée served with a side of veggies, or as a bean-rich side for some grilled chicken or shrimp.
For the potatoes:
2 large sweet potatoes or baking potatoes
1 Tablespoon olive oil plus more for drizzling
Pinch of Kosher Salt
1, 15.5-ounce can chickpeas
2 teaspoons Smoked Tomato Seasoning
For the gremolata:
Zest from one lemon
1 clove minced garlic
2 Tablespoons minced fresh parsley
1 Tablespoon olive oil, plus more if necessary
1 1/2 teaspoons Smoked Tomato Seasoning
1/4 teaspoon Kosher Salt
1/4 teaspoon Black Pepper Coarse Grind
For the sauce:
1/2 cup tahini
1 Tablespoon maple syrup
1 Tablespoon Smoked Tomato Seasoning
1/2 teaspoon Kosher Salt
1/2 teaspoon Black Pepper Coarse Grind
Juice from 1 lemon—remove zest before juicing
Hot water as needed
1. Preheat oven to 425°F.
2. Wash and dry sweet potatoes. Cut each in half lengthwise and place face down on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Drizzle with olive oil and a pinch of Kosher Salt. Put in the oven and bake until browned and very soft, 30-40 minutes.
3. Five minutes before the potatoes are ready, drain and dry chickpeas. Put them in a frying pan and dry-toast them over medium heat for 2-3 minutes, until they start to take on some browning. Add 1 Tablespoon olive oil and Smoked Tomato Seasoning. Stir together and cook another 1-2 minutes longer. Remove from heat.
4. Make the gremolata. Zest the lemon into a bowl. Juice the lemon, and set the juice aside to use in Step 5. Mix with garlic, parsley, olive oil, Smoked Tomato Seasoning, Kosher Salt, and Coarse Grind Black Pepper. Set aside.
5. Make sauce. Mix tahini paste with maple syrup, Smoked Tomato Seasoning, Kosher Salt, Black Pepper Coarse Grind, and lemon juice. Stir together. The sauce may get “tight”, hard to stir, not smooth or creamy at all. If that happens, pour in steaming hot water in very small amounts to loosen the sauce and whisk until tahini reaches the desired consistency.
6. To assemble, take one half of a sweet potato and split it down the center. Mash slightly. Add seasoned chickpeas to the center of the sweet potato. Spoon tahini over the top of the chickpeas and potato, and top with gremolata. Serve with a small salad of tomato and arugula on the side, dotted with some additional chickpeas.
