ZAP Bites: Eat Your Veggies

Each week, my fiancé and I do a bit of meal planning before we head to the grocery store. We audit which nights we will and won’t be home, check out what we currently have in our fridge and freezer, which we always keep very well stocked with frozen proteins like shrimp, chicken, beef and Ben’s hunting winnings (pheasant, duck, venison, etc). Then we try and supplement it with veggies for dinner.

Lately, we’ve been really into two veggies in particular: eggplant and sweet potato.

For the eggplant, we’ve been slicing it up thinly and seasoning it with a generous portion of grape seed oil (very healthy!), oregano, salt and fresh ground pepper. Then it goes into the oven at 400 degrees for 30 minutes and voila. It's perfect with Chicken and Turkey Meatballs with fresh tomatoes, sliced and seasoned with salt and pepper.

For the sweet potato, I just discovered a new recipe in my subscription of Bon Appetit and it was just too good not to share. It is the perfect combination of sweet, spicy, salty and crispy…all the best things!

p.s. It’s totally okay to skip the first bake in the oven and microwave the sweet potatoes for 10 minutes instead. I did it...just don't follow the tin foil step and pick up in the second paragraph.

Twice-Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Hot Honey Servings 4

Ingredients: 3 medium sweet potatoes or yams 1 Fresno or other red chiles, thinly sliced (NOTE: I used 2) ¼ cup of Honey (Note: I always use local Michigan honey) 4 tbsps unsalted butter Kosher Salt 2 tbsps Apple Cider Vinegar

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Poke holes all over sweet potatoes and wrap each in foil. Place on a foil-lined rimmed baking sheet and roast until potatoes are tender, 60–70 minutes (if you have one, use a cake tester to poke right through foil). Unwrap and let sit until cool enough to handle.

Increase oven temperature to 450°. Meanwhile, combine chile, honey, and butter in a small saucepan; season with salt. Bring to a simmer over low heat, stirring to combine. Remove from heat and stir in vinegar.

Smash sweet potatoes with your palm, then tear into bite-sized pieces (including skin), the more irregular, the better. Place in a large bowl and add half of hot honey (do not include chile as it will burn); season with salt. Arrange pieces, skin side down, in a single layer on an unlined rimmed baking sheet and roast until browned and crisp around the edges, 20–25 minutes. Drizzle with remaining hot honey with chile.

Recipe: Claire Saffitz Photo: Alex Lau Bon Appetit Magazine, March 2016

Carly Holstein, Senior Publicist