Roast Sweet Potato, Feta and Walnut Salad Recipe

We roast the sweet potato, walnuts and garlic used in this recipe. The roasted garlic is used to make a garlic and chive vinaigrette, which is tossed with the roasted sweet potato, crisp walnuts and some mixed salad leaves. The salad is finished with crumbled feta and a drizzle of vinaigrette.

Serves 6 as a side dish.

550g (about 1 large) sweet potato
3 medium garlic cloves, unpeeled
3 tablespoons (60ml) oil
Salt and pepper
50g (1/2 cup) walnut halves
70g (2 1/2 cups, loosely packed or 2 handfuls) mixed salad leaves
2 1/2 tablespoons (50ml) white balsamic dressing
1 1/4 teaspoons caster sugar
1 tablespoon finely chopped chives
100g soft feta

Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius (180 degrees Celsius fan-forced).

Peel sweet potato and cut it into one centimetre slices. Cut larger slices into quarters or halves so that all pieces are about the same size.

Place sweet potato pieces and unpeeled garlic cloves in a single layer on a large baking tray. Drizzle vegetables with 1 1/2 tablespoons of the oil and toss to coat with oil. Season with salt and pepper.

Roast sweet potato and garlic for 20 minutes. Remove tray from oven and turn sweet potato pieces over. Remove garlic from tray and set aside. © exclusivelyfood.com.au

Return sweet potato to the oven and roast for a further 15 minutes or until it is tender and lightly browned (the larger your sweet potato pieces, the longer they'll need to roast).

Add walnuts to tray with sweet potato and roast for 5 minutes. Set tray aside and allow sweet potato and walnuts to cool to room temperature.

Squeeze garlic out of its skin into a small jar or bowl and mash garlic with a fork. Add white balsamic dressing, remaining 1 1/2 tablespoons oil, sugar, salt and pepper to the jar/bowl. Place lid on jar and shake, or use a whisk to combine the vinaigrette ingredients.

Place sweet potato in a large bowl. Break each walnut halve into two or three pieces, or roughly chop. Add walnuts and leaves to bowl with sweet potato.

Add chives to vinaigrette and whisk/shake. Add about 3 tablespoons of the dressing to the bowl with the other ingredients (except feta). Using your hands, gently toss ingredients together to combine.

Pile salad onto serving plate and crumble feta over. Drizzle with remaining dressing and serve immediately. © www.exclusivelyfood.com.au