Rustic Loaded Baked Sweet Potatoes

Unfortunately for sweet potatoes, they aren’t the most attractive looking spuds to begin with… and featuring them in this recipe doesn’t make them much more appealing to the eye, or so I’ve been told.  I sent a picture of this dish to one of my friends and he told me he thought he was looking at a hornet’s nest.  I’m not exactly sure what a hornet’s nest looks like, but I am pretty sure that he didn’t mean it as a compliment.  So let’s go ahead and refer to these loaded sweet potatoes as rustic, so as not to be insulting.  And in all fairness, though it might not be the prettiest dish, it sure is delicious.  The sweetness of potatoes along with the savoryness from the garbanzo bean puree make the perfect complements to one another.  And the subtle flavors of the cinnamon, nutmeg and maple syrup bring a reminder of the holiday season to the dish.   

Ingredients:

• 2 Sweet Potatoes, uniform in size
• 2 cups loosely packed kale
• 2 teaspoons BBQ rub (see recipe below)
• 3 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon of olive oil
• 1 15 ounce can of garbanzo beans
• ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
• ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon maple syrup
• 1 teaspoon tahini
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• ¼ cup crushed walnuts

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. 
2. Wash and dry the sweet potatoes.  Poke sweet potatoes 12 times all around with a fork.  Place the sweet potatoes on the center rack of your oven—place them directly on the rack, not on foil or a baking sheet.  Place a sheet of foil on the rack below the potatoes to catch any drippings.  Bake sweet potatoes for approximately 45 minutes or until fork tender.   Once tender, remove from oven and set aside to cool while the rest is being prepared. 
3. Once potatoes are finished baking, reset oven to 275 degrees. 
4. Break kale into one-inch pieces, toss in a bowl with 1 teaspoon olive oil and BBQ rub.*  Arrange on a baking sheet and bake for approximately 25 minutes, tossing once, until kale is dry and crispy. 
5. While kale is cooking, combine garbanzo beans, remaining olive oil, nutmeg, cinnamon, 1 teaspoon maple syrup, tahini, and lemon juice in a blender.  Puree until smooth. 
6. Prepare sauce by combining 1 tablespoon maple syrup and 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard.   Stir with a spoon until combined. 
7. Once cool enough to handle, slice potatoes down the middle lengthwise.  Squeeze the ends toward one another to open up the potato.  Scoop two heaping tablespoons of the garbanzo bean puree into each potato.  Drizzle each with the maple-Dijon sauce.  Crush kale over the top of each potato and sprinkle with crushed walnuts. 

*To make the BBQ rub: Combine equal parts brown sugar, paprika and garlic powder and stir together.