Sweet Potato Salad Recipe with Roasted Poblano, Roasted Corn & Chipotle

A sweet potato salad for summer, a colorful and mouth-watering blend of sweet potato, roasted poblano pepper and roasted corn. No mayonnaise so perfect for a "dish to carry" for potlucks, picnics and family dinners.

~ Skip Straight to the Recipe ~

COMPLIMENTS!

• "This is a keeper for summer. Thanks for the inspiration." ~ Anonymous
• "It is just wonderful!" ~ DLA in OKC
• "This is the perfect summer sweet potato recipe!" ~ Holly
• Add yours, leave a comment, below!

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A Most Important Mother ... a "Vinegar Mother"

Please welcome Mario Aranda of O Olive Oil, my guide to the pleasure of fine olive oils and artisan vinegars for a couple of years now. And meet Mario’s mother, too, his "vinegar mother", that is.

~ Alanna

Mario writes ...

"Vinegar is essentially sour wine; even the word itself is taken from the French for Vin Aigre, sour wine.

"To make vinegar, you start with wine, then trigger the acidifying process. For most vinegars, this is a harsh 48-hour chemical and mechanical process in steel tanks.

"Not so for good vinegar. Good vinegar starts with good wine and a very old vinegar starter called a "mother". In the olden days, vinegar mothers and yeast starters (for bread) were treasured and protected. Each family had a keeper of the "mothers".

"I grew up in a Sephardic Jewish family in Mexico back in the 1950s. My great-aunt Juliana kept the family’s bread starters and vinegar mothers alive. My mother, alas, kept killing her starts or letting them die. So as a kid, I would have to walk across the river to get new starts, much to my aunt’s eye-rolling dismay!

"The "mother" we use at O Olive Oil hails from the Azores and is many generations old. Portuguese immigrants brought it to California in the early 1930s. To make our vinegars, we place fine Napa wines in ventilated oak barrels, then add our own special ingredients (apricot wine to sherry, say, or cherry wine to zinfandel) and a bit of our vinegar "mother".

"Then nature begins her alchemy that slowly, slooowly turns wine into vinegar. We barrel-age the vinegar for several months and even years."

~ Mario Aranda, O Olive Oil

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SWEET POTATO SALAD with
ROASTED POBLANO, ROASTED CORN & CHIPOTLE

Hands-on time: 35 minutes
Time to table: 35 minutes
Makes 4 cups

• 2 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled and diced small
• 1 large poblano pepper or green pepper
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 cup corn (see TIPS)

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 tablespoons sherry vinegar (see TIPS)
• 2 tablespoons honey or agave nectar
• 1/2 teaspoon adobo sauce from canned chipotle chiles
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 green onions, chopped
• 1/4 teaspoon dried sage
• 1/8 teaspoon dried thyme
• 2 tablespoons fresh cilantro or fresh basil, chopped
• Salt & pepper to taste

• For garnish, additional cilantro or basil

COOK SWEET POTATOES Cook the sweet potatoes in boiling salted water until barely soft OR steam for about 10 minutes. (See TIPS.)

ROAST PEPPER Move oven rack close to the broiler, set oven on broil. Slice the pepper in half vertically; remove core, membrane and seeds. Flatten halves skin-side up on foil on a baking sheet. Place under broiler til skins blister and blacken. Remove from broiler, fold foil over the pepper to form a tight packet; let rest 5 minutes. Lift off and discard skins; slice flesh into strips.

ROAST CORN In a non-stick skillet, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil on medium high until shimmery. Add the corn and cook, stirring often, until the kernels turn golden brown. (It’s fun! Some kernels just might pop!)

COMBINE Meanwhile, collect remaining ingredients in a large bowl. Stir in the cooked sweet potatoes, roasted pepper and roasted corn. Taste and adjust seasoning if needed.

SERVE & SAVOR To serve, transfer to a serving bowl to serve at room temperature, otherwise refrigerate to serve later but do return to room temperature. Garnish the salad with a sprinkle of chopped cilantro or a leaf of fresh basil.

ALANNA’s TIPS Off season, frozen corn works great when skillet-roasted as specified. But when fresh sweet corn is available, grill an extra couple of ears of corn, then slice off the kernels into the salad. (Wondering how to grill sweet corn? Here’s how, see Grilled Sweet Corn with Spiced Lime Butter! Hint: leave the husks on!) Sherry vinegar is a mild, almost-sweet vinegar, my favorite for delicate salad dressings. It can be hard to find and pricey so if need be, substitute with malt vinegar, white wine vinegar or another mild vinegar. Boiling the sweet potatoes works too but when steamed, the sweet potatoes keep their shape slightly better.

NUTRITION ESTIMATE Per Half Cup: 162 Calories; 4g Tot Fat; 1g Sat Fat; 0mg Cholesterol; 65mg Sodium; 31g Carb; 4g Fiber; 10g Sugar; 3g Protein WEIGHT WATCHERS POINTS Old Points 3 & PointsPlus 4 & SmartPoints 6 & Freestyle 5 This recipe has been "Alanna-sized" with reductions in portion size and unnecessary fat and increases in nutrient- and fiber-rich vegetables.

Adapted from a local St. Louis newspaper, The Ladue News from a recipe from The Market at Busch’s Grove, an upscale grocery in Ladue, on Clayton Road just west of Price.

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More Favorite Summer Salad Recipes

(hover with a mouse for a description; otherwise click a photo to view the recipe)

~ Favorite Summer Salad Recipes ~
~ more salad recipes ~

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More Favorite Sweet Potato Recipes

(hover with a mouse for a description; otherwise click a photo to view the recipe)

~ more sweet potato recipes ~
from Kitchen Parade

~ My Favorite Sweet Potato Recipes ~
from A Veggie Venture

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Shop Your Pantry First

(helping home cooks save money on groceries)

~ sweet potatoes ~
~ poblano peppers ~
~ corn ~

~ All Recipes, By Ingredient ~
~ How to Save Money on Groceries ~

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Kitchen Parade is written by second-generation food columnist Alanna Kellogg and features fresh, seasonal dishes for every-day healthful eating and occasional indulgences. Quick Suppers are Kitchen Parade favorites and feature recipes easy on the budget, the clock, the waistline and the dishwasher. Do you have a favorite recipe that other Kitchen Parade readers might like? Just send me a quick e-mail via recipes@kitchen-parade.com. How to print a Kitchen Parade recipe. Never miss a recipe! If you like this recipe, sign up for a free e-mail subscription. If you like Kitchen Parade, you're sure to like my food blog about vegetable recipes, too, A Veggie Venture. If you make this recipe, I'd love to know your results! Just leave a comment below.

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