I recently went on a two-week trip to Tuscany in Italy, which was amazing. What a beautiful country. As much as I loved the pasta and pizzas and their simple ingredient cooking, which was truly delicious, by the end of my vacation I was looking for a break from all of the oily and carbohydrate-based foods. I also realized that Italians don’t really eat many green salads, and as a salad lover, that’s what I was craving.
As soon as I got home I bought several different types of salad and some sweet potatoes. I have been preparing sweet potatoes a lot lately for their health benefits and the satisfying feeling of eating them, and for this recipe I oven roasted them along with onions and cherry tomatoes. The onions take on a nice charred caramelized flavor, which goes nicely along the roasted sweet potatoes. You can just make this recipe as a stand-alone salad, or stuff the salad in a pita bread or piadina.
- • 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
- • 1 cup white flour
- • 2+1 tablespoons olive oil
- • 1/2 cup water
- • 1/2 teaspoon salt
- • 3 small sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
- • 1 large onion, halved and sliced
- • Cherry tomatoes halved or wedged
- • A pinch of chili flakes (optional)
- • 2 tablespoons of olive oil
- • Salt and pepper
- • 3 handfuls mixed baby kale and greens or arugula
- • 1/4 cup kalamata olives, chopped
- • 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- • 1 tablespoon olive oil
- • Salt and pepper
- 1. Add the flour and salt in a bowl. Make an indentation in the flour mix and pour the water and olive oil in the middle. Stir with a spoon until everything starts to stick together. Use your hand to knead the dough for about 5 minutes until elastic and smooth. Add more flour if needed.
- 2. Shape the dough into a ball and coat the dough in 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Put it back into the bowl and cover with film. Let the dough rest for 30 minutes (you can prepare and bake the roasted vegetables during this time).
- 3. Divide the dough into four balls, toss a little flour on your clean kitchen table, and use a rolling pin to roll each ball flat and thin as a crepe.
- 4. Heat your frying pan with a light spray of oil and carefully transfer the dough to the pan. Turn the piadina when it starts to brown and/or if it starts to bubble. Turn it and fry the other side.
- 1. Toss the sweet potatoes, onions and tomatoes together with olive oil, chili flakes, salt and pepper and bake them on a baking pan in the oven at 400 degrees Fahrenheit (200°C) for about 30 min, or until the edges are charred. Toss and turn the vegetables halfway through the baking process. Take them out of the oven to cool.
- 2. In a salad bowl add the mixed greens, kalamata olives and red pepper together with lemon, olive oil, salt and pepper. Toss in the cooled roasted vegetables.
- 3. Serve as is, or take a piadina and fill it with vegetables. Fold it in half and serve.
- I used the leftover salad and Piadina to make my husband’s lunch for the next day and he loved it.
