Roasted Sweet Potato and Stone Fruit Salad

Stone fruit is finally at the peak of ripeness, and I cannot seem to stop eating the perfectly juicy peaches, cherries, plums, nectarines, and apricots that are overflowing on market’s shelves.

I was craving a produce-heavy meal the other night, and had initially planned on combining roasted sweet potatoes with fresh nectarines and apricots atop a bed of baby spinach. On a whim, I figured why not toss the fruit in with the sweet potatoes for part of the roasting time, and I couldn’t have been more pleased with the resulting soft, juicy, and incredibly sweet roasted stone fruit.

There is a lot of room for versatility in this recipe. Sub in peaches and plums for the nectarines and apricots, swap the pecans and dried cranberries with walnuts and dried cherries, and/or replace the honey in the dressing with maple syrup. Use whatever ingredients you have on hand; the only requisite is to roast the fruit of your choice!

Serves 1

Ingredients:

• 1 small sweet potato, chopped
• canola oil cooking spray
• 1 nectarine, chopped
• 2 fresh apricots, chopped
• 2 cups baby spinach
• juice from 1/2 of a lemon
• 1/2 t honey
• 1 tsp extra virgin olive oil or canola oil
• pinch of Kosher salt
• ground cinnamon to taste
• 2 Tbsp dried cranberries
• 2 Tbsp pecan pieces

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400*.
2. Place sweet potato pieces on a baking sheet, spray with oil, and sprinkle with salt and cinnamon to taste. Toss to coat. Place in preheated oven and set timer for 30 minutes.
3. While the sweet potato roasts, combine the lemon juice, honey, olive oil, salt and cinnamon in a small bowl. Whisk until ingredients are combined. Set dressing aside.
4. When there are 15 minutes left on the timer, add the chopped stone fruit to the sweet potato, stir, and place back in oven for the remaining 15 minutes.
5. Toss the spinach with the dressing. Add on the roasted sweet potato and stone fruit, and top with the dried cranberries and pecan pieces.