Baked Sweet Potato with Sour Cream Cheese and Chives
Making an appearance for a second time on the starters menu, here at the TGSNI we seem to have stumbled upon an unlikely student favourite in the form of the sweet potato. A perfect alternative to the diet-follower's dreaded common spud, keen food nerds will point to how sweet potatoes clock in at just 70 on the glycemic index, whereas baked regular potatoes tend to hit around 111. For me and you, that means that sweet potatoes have a lesser effect on a person's blood sugar levels, decreasing the chances of suffering from heart disease. Wahoo! And anyway, let's face it, once you lay your lips upon the gloriously herby cottage cheese topping, you'll forget all about that 'glycemic index' whatnot.
Ingredients:
- 1 Sweet potato
- 100g Reduced-fat cottage cheese
- 3 Cloves of garlic
- 1 tsp Dried parsley
- 10g Fresh chives
- Vegetarian Parmesan cheese (To taste)
Cooking instructions:
1. Scoop 100g of cottage cheese into an ordinary-sized dinner bowl.
2. Finely chop 3 cloves of garlic and add to the bowl. Stir in thoroughly until immersed in the cheese.
3. Sprinkle dried parsley into the mixture and stir in throughly, once again.
4. Put bowl to one side.
5. Finely slice fresh chives, before placing in a bowl and setting it aside.
6. Slice sweet potato in half length-ways. Place on baking tray and cook for 20 minutes on 180F (80C).
7. Remove sweet potato from oven. Using a fork, gently fluff up the surface of the sweet potato, starting from around an inch in.
8. Return to the oven and leave for another 10 minutes.
9. Take sweet potato out of oven, checking it has cooked all the way through.
10. Once cooked through, gently loosen the sweet potato from its skin, using a fork to crush any firm pieces that may remain.
11. Plate up sweet potato and spread thick cottage cheese evenly across surface of both halves. Scatter handful of fresh chives and sprinkle Parmesan on top of dish.
Recipe Profile:
- High in calcium, to aid bone condition✓
- Source of Vitamin C&D ✓
- Source of Iron and Magnesium ✓
- Vegetarian ✓
Image courtesy of www.cookieandkate.com
Contributor: Grace Hurst, Sheffield Hallam University, Adult Nursing
"I'd implore anyone to make the switch from regular spud to sweet potato if they haven't already. They're just so much healthier and tastier. I got into this recipe first year after messing about with different toppings...This one just works!"