Recipe (Re)creation: Crispy Low-Sodium Sweet Potato Wedges with Lemon-Chive Yogurt Dip

I developed this recipe for a LOVE YOUR HEART RECIPE RALLY that a friend of mine does annually.  Her blog, SODIUM GIRL, is totally inspirational and full of mouthwatering low-sodium dishes. This recipe rally was particularly challenging for me because I happen to LOVE salt. However, many people (and their bodies) do not love salt and obviously need to find other flavor boosters to make up for the absence of salt.  That is where herbs and spices enter the picture!  I usually cook with herbs and spices anyways, but if you kick them up a notch, you don't even miss the salt.  I promise.

Our recipe rally mission was to take a typically salty, crave-worthy dish and create a low-sodium version of it.  I chose sweet potato wedges since they are a current obsession of mine and I wanted to see if I, the lover of salt, would still like a salt-free version.  After seasoning the sweet potatoes with different combinations of herbs and spices (and doing a lot of taste testing- thank you husband!), I decided on not one, but two different versions that I just had to include.  One is a hot and spicy version, and one is a mixed herb version.   The cooling yogurt dip is also low-sodium and pairs beautifully with those savory little sweet potato wedges.  So easy, breezy, and totally low-so (haha, and no one will even know).

Serves 6, as a side

Ingredients:

For sweet potato wedges:

3-4 medium sized sweet potatoes, unpeeled
1 tbsp cumin
1 tbsp chipotle chili powder
1 tsp chili flakes
2 springs of rosemary, stems removed and chopped
1 tbsp fresh thyme
1/2 tbsp dried (or fresh) oregano
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp corn starch
Olive oil

For yogurt dip:

1/2 cup greek yogurt (Fage 2%)
1/2 tsp lemon juice
1 tbsp fresh chives, chopped

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Slice sweet potatoes in even wedges (about 8 wedges per potato).

Generously brush each wedge with olive oil and a little sugar and a little corn starch (it helps them caramelize and get crispy).

Put the spices on one plate and the mixed herbs on another.

Rub half of the wedges (individually) in the spices and half of the wedges in the herb mixture.

Make sure that each wedge has ample spices or herbs covering it.

Place wedges on a baking sheet and spread out evenly.

Bake in the oven for 15 minutes, then take the sheet out, rotate the wedges and return them to the oven for another 10 minutes, or until they start to brown.

Reduce the oven temperature to 200 degree F and bake for another 5 minutes, or until crispy.  Remove from oven to cool.

Meanwhile, scoop the yogurt into a small bowl and mix with lemon juice and most of the chives.  Garnish the top with the remaining chives.

Serve the sweet potato wedges with the lemon-chive yogurt dip.

Who knew low-so could taste so good?

Restaurant (Re)creation: Delfina's Spicy Cauliflower

This dish is a favorite at Pizzeria Delfina.  Its unique, spicy, crunchy and satisfying.  I actually found the real recipe from an SFGate article online (which is totally delicious as is), but I decided to do a somewhat "lighter" version.  I used all the same ingredients as Delfina's version, but I omitted the Calabrese peppers and I roasted the cauliflower first to minimize "frying" time.  This may go against the goal of most of my (re)creations since it adds time to the preparation, but I would rather add minutes to the cook time than inches to the waistline!  (I mean seriously, if a girl is going to eat like this most nights, she needs to make a few tweaks here and there to keep her pants fitting ; ).  So, I roasted the cauliflower (rather than deep frying it) and then just finished it off on the stovetop.  It tastes almost exactly the same as the restaurant version and only takes a little more time.  Try the recipe either way- both are perfectly delicious and flavorful.

Serves 4 (as a side)

Ingredients:

1 head of cauliflower, broken into florets
Extra-virgin olive oil
Salt, to taste
1/4 cup chopped italian parsley
1/4 cup drained capers, dried
2 large garlic cloves, sliced thinly (lengthwise)
1 tsp chili flakes
1 tbsp panko breadcrumbs

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Separate the cauliflower into large uniformly-sized florets.

Place the cauliflower in an oven and stove-top safe pan and douse in olive oil and salt.  Mix the cauliflower around so that the salt and olive oil are evenly distributed.

Roast the cauliflower for 25-30 minutes or until it starts to soften and brown.

Once the cauliflower starts to brown, remove it from the oven and place it on the stovetop on medium heat.  Cook for 5-7 minutes.

Add a little more oil (as needed) and the capers, garlic, and breadcrumbs.  Cook for 1-2 more minutes, adding the chili flakes at the end.

Remove from heat and serve.

Enjoy!


Pizzeria Delfina (Mission)
3611 18th Street
San Francisco, CA
(415) 437-6800

Pizzeria Delfina (Pacific Heights)
2406 California Street
San Francisco, CA
(415) 440-1189
www.delfinasf.com