Sweet potato and aubergine 'towers'

One of the great things things about eating a dairy free, plant based diet is the creative challenge. It's all too easy to get stuck in the pasta, curry or chilli rut - not that these aren't wonderful in themselves, but monotony sneaks in by stealth and dinner becomes dull. Perusing the vegetarian section in the supermarket sometimes provides inspiration, but as many of these contain milk or yeast derivatives and often a long list of additives and chemical sounding shenanigans, it's back to the kitchen for some fun experimenting.
I have to admit there have been some complete disasters, but occasionally, deliciousness abounds, and often it's due to the key ingredient. Currently, my favourite veggies are sweet potato and aubergine, for their versatility, amazing texture and taste and ultimately for their powerhouse of nutritional goodies!

Aubergines have already had a mention on my blog; nutritionally they are packed full of anti-oxidants, vitamin C, potassium and folic acid. Sweet potatoes have all of these - and more!!
Sometimes, sweet potatoes and yams are confused as being the same thing but botanically they are different, although there are similarities. Yams have a pale flesh and come from Asia or Africa whereas sweet potatoes come from the Americas and have a bright orange flesh. It's the orange that makes them so fabulous as this contains beta-carotene - precursor to vitamin A and a powerful anti-oxidant that helps to protect the body from various cancers and acts as an anti-inflammatory. Join this up with the beneficial levels of vitamin C and E, sweet potatoes are great for your skin and eyes; vibrant skin and hair all at hand, packed into a odd looking tuber!
That's not all - sweet potatoes are also packed with potassium, fibre and B6, all necessary for a healthy heart, and have a low GI (glycemic index) so the sugars are in a complex form, taking a longer time to break down, helping you feel full longer and not get the quick sugar release you get with other root vegetables like potatoes. So perfect for diabetics or people battling blood sugar or weight issues.
There's a multitude of ways to serve sweet potatoes - boiled, mashed, in a soup, even in desserts and cakes. My favourite is to roast them. This concentrates the sweetness whilst keeping a bit of bite that enhances the texture of a dish - sometimes vegetarian food can be all a bit mushy! A good proportion of the nutrients are held in the skin, so it's best to cook with the skin on. If you can, buy organic and scrub really well.
Trying to be a bit fancy one day, I created these 'towers', layering up slices of roasted aubergine and sweet potato with wilted spinach, fresh tomato sauce and a sprinkle of pine nuts. A bit of work, especially if you have to make the tomato sauce from scratch but absolutely delicious; contrasting textures and beautiful flavours combine to create a flavour explosion! This really is more of a dish for special occasions, although you can simplify it by omitting some of the layers. You could even just serve sweet potato and aubergine stacked up with some sweet chilli sauce on the layers - simple and really tasty.
Sweet potato, aubergine and spinach towers.
Enough to serve 2
1 large, long sweet potato, not too fat
1 medium sized aubergine
olive oil
few handfuls of spinach, washed and torn into pieces
lemon juice
salt and pepper
handful of pine nuts
fresh tomato sauce
Heat the oven to 180oC. Slice your sweet potato and aubergine into circles 2 - 3 cms thick. Rub the olive oil over both sides of each slice and lay them out on a baking tray. Roast in the oven for 20 minutes or so until they are cooked - the aubergine should be soft and creamy, the sweet potato soft but still holding firm. Don't let them over cook. Whilst these are roasting, heat a small pan and lightly brown the pine nuts. Tip them onto a plate to cool once done. Reheat your fresh tomato sauce (I'm going to add my favourite tomato sauce recipe soon), adding a little extra basil if you wish. Heat your small pan again, and add the spinach so it wilts and some of the water evaporates. Season with salt and pepper, add a squeeze of lemon if you wish (not too much otherwise it will be too wet).
Once the aubergine and sweet potato are ready, remove from the oven, but don't turn it off. Grab an oven-proof dish, and place a thin layer of tomato sauce in the centre. Place one slice of sweet potato on the sauce, then a slice of aubergine, a dollop of tomato sauce, a spoonful of spinach and sprinkle of pine nuts. Then add another slice of sweet potato and repeat the layering, ending with sweet potato (so you have 3 sweet potato slices to 2 aubergine). This is your stack. Repeat this to create as many stacks as you can from your slices. Pour over some more tomato sauce and return the stacks to the oven for 10 minutes or so to heat through, then serve with salad or veggies of your choice. Enjoy!