Roasted sweet potato, garlic and chickpea salad with orange dill dressing

No matter if it’s hot or cold outside, we don’t always feel like eating a big raw salad for dinner. I’d say especially in the winter, where I tend to gravitate more towards warm soups and comforting food. But I still want to eat a big bowl of yumminess, so I made this super satisfying warm roasted sweet potato, garlic and chickpea salad with orange dill dressing. Seriously so good! I made it a few days in a row.

Roasted sweet potato, garlic and chickpea salad with orange dill dressing, and fresh baby spinach. It might sound like a strange combination, but it’s super yummy, I assure you! Try it, you won’t regret it. It is very easy to make too. Most of the work involved is to cut the potatoes. Not including the spices and oil, there are only 7 ingredients in this dish, making it simple, fresh, and clean.

Bon appétit!

P.S. I love to see your creations of my recipes, don’t forget to use my hashtag #eyecandypopper and tag me @eyecandypopper on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, so I can see your pictures!

Spinach is one of the most heavily sprayed, and is on the Dirty Dozen list for most pesticide residues, so always buy organic spinach. These are readily available in most stores nowadays, even Costco carries organic baby spinach, and it’s usually pretty much the same price as the non-organic one.

Roasted sweet potato, garlic, spinach and chickpea warm salad

3-4 servings

5-10 min prep time

20 min cooking time

• 2 lbs/900 g organic sweet potato, cut into small bite-size cubes
• 1 whole head garlic (large)
• 5 oz/142 g baby organic spinach (1 small container)
• 1 can chickpeas, drained
• 1/2 red onion (about the size of your fist), very thinly sliced
• high quality extra-virgin olive oil
• grey sea salt
• freshly ground pepper
• pinch of turmeric powder
• pinch of paprika powder

Orange and dill dressing

• 1/3 cup freshly squeezed orange juice from 2 oranges
• 2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 tsp maple syrup
• 1-2 Tbsp minced fresh organic dill
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin cold pressed organic olive oil
• a pinch unrefined grey sea salt

1. Preheat your oven to 375 F. Cut the top off of the garlic head and place in some aluminum foil, drizzled with good quality cooking olive oil, loosely close and put in the middle of the baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Toss the sweet potato cubes with good quality cooking olive oil, a little bit of salt and pepper. Add to the baking sheet and bake in oven at 375F for 30 minutes or so, or until cooked through and golden.
3. While this is cooking, wash the spinach, slice the onion, drain the chickpeas and make the dressing (mix all the ingredients in a medium size mason jar to shake it really well).
4. Warm up a small pan over medium heat, drizzle with olive oil, and sauté the chickpeas for a few minutes with half of the sliced onion, turmeric and paprika.
5. Put the spinach, raw red onion, sautéed chickpeas, and cooked sweet potatoes in a serving plate. Take the garlic out of the aluminum foil, push at the bottom, upside down until the cooked garlic flesh comes out, and add it on top.
6. Generously drizzle with dressing. Serve immediately.