Roasted Sweet Potato & Delicata Squash With Pesto Pecorino Romano
In my book, pesto goes with nearly anything. Sweet potatoes also have a versatile way about them. Combine the two and you’ve got pure magic.
Delicata squash is the candy of all squash. It’s sweet, gentile, and super easy to work with. It’s texture is also smoother and like that of a potato compared to any other in the squash family. Delicata is my favorite because I can easily work it into so many recipes with ease. Paired with a little pesto, cheese, and baked for 40 minutes–it becomes a delicate, amazing (almost french fry-like) co-star to this sweet potato dish.
Something about early fall just begs for a roasted sweet potato served with basil-anything–which is a hero of late summer. Combining the two is like melding two season together. Unlike any other time of year, (okay maybe late winter into early spring with citrus), the time between the end of summer and the cusp of fall is when so many flavors are at their height. Basil is just one that I love playing with, making into rich pesto for example.
The key to this recipe is sheet pan roasting. AKA making sure that all your veggies on the sheet pans have room to breathe–you never want to overcrowd a sheet pan or you won’t get that amazing roast-texture and things will come out soggy.
Ingredients
2 large sweet potatoes, cut into thick slices (about 1/2 inch thick)
1 delicata squash, cut into half-moon slices
2 tbsp olive oil
pinch of slat, pepper, and onion salt
1/3 cup pesto, recipe here!
2 tbsp pine nuts
hand full pecorino romano (I buy the blocks and gently with a peeler cut thin slices to garnish)
small hand full of red onion slices for garnish
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes, to garnish
1/4 tsp flaky sea salt, to garnish
drizzle of olive oil, to garnish
Preheat oven to 350 and line two baking sheets with parchment. One will be for potatoes, the other for the squash.
Start by slicing your potatoes and squash. Slices should be about 1/2 inch thick–on the thicker slide for sweet potatoes. Spread out on their corresponding sheet pans and drizzle with olive oil, salt, pepper, and onion salt. Bake for 40-50 minutes or until the sweet potatoes are dark golden brown and slightly charred on their edges. (This can take a while so be patient).
While the veggies bake, make your pesto following this recipe.
Prep your garnishes: slice the pecorino romano and red onion. Gently roast the pine nuts in the warm oven for 5-10 minutes or until golden.
Remove everything from the oven and let cool slightly before you begin plating!
Now this is the super fun part–you can serve everything however you prefer: pesto in a dipping cup on the side, or tossed with the sweet potato and squash, or laid flat like I do. Here’s how I do it: lay out the sweet potato and squash on a serving platter. Drizzle with pesto and toss on the pine nuts. Layer a few red onions and finish with the pecorino romano and olive oil, sea salt and red pepper flakes.
Enjoy!
