Sweet potato stuffed with spiced lamb

Name: Sweet potato stuffed with spiced lamb
Cook time: 1 h 30 min
Yield: 2-4
Cuisine: Spanish
Ingredients: 4 medium sweet potatoes; olive oil; 400g lean lamb mince; 1 medium brown onion, finely diced; 1 small red chilli, finely chopped; 1 tsp ground cumin; 1 tsp ground coriander; 1 1/2 tbsp currants; 2 tbsp mint, chopped; salt and pepper

March 2, 2015

Use lamb or onion and for a vegetarian option try onion, white beans and parmesan.Marcel Aucar

Time:1-2 hoursServes:2-4

My best memory of stuffed food is in a home kitchen in Venice, where the daughter of a local fisherman filled the sweetest tomatoes with incredibly fresh tiny prawns mixed with mayonnaise and fresh herbs. It was the best prawn cocktail ever. You can use meat as a stuffing, as I have here - or see the recipe for a vegetarian option.

Ingredients

4 medium sweet potatoes
olive oil
400g lean lamb mince
1 medium brown onion, finely diced
1 small red chilli, finely chopped
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1 1/2 tbsp currants
2 tbsp mint, chopped
salt and pepper

Vegetarian option:

For a vegetarian filling for the sweet potato, cook some onions with a few cloves of garlic, add fresh chopped tomatoes and cook until thick, add a tin of white beans and stir in some chopped parsley. Stuff the potatoes, top with grated parmesan and enjoy with a green salad. Or see Frank Camorra's capsicum stuffed with freekeh recipe.

Method

Heat the oven to 180C. Wipe the skins of the sweet potatoes and bake them for about an hour.
While they are baking, pour a little olive oil into a frying pan over a high heat, then add the minced lamb in a thin layer.
Brown the lamb evenly, breaking it up and stirring from time to time. Remove the lamb from the pan, drain in a sieve if there is a lot of extra moisture, then put it in a bowl.
Add the onion to the pan with a little olive oil over a medium heat and let it colour lightly. Stir the chilli into the onion with the ground spices and currants.
When the chilli is soft, add mixture to the lamb with the mint and season with salt and pepper. When the potatoes are cooked through, remove them from the oven and cool slightly.
Take a long slice from the top of each and use a teaspoon to scoop out the flesh from each skin, being careful to not pierce the sides.
Chop the potato flesh into small pieces and mix with the lamb. Put the shells in a roasting tray and spoon in the lamb and potato mix (put any remaining mix alongside in the tray, it will crisp up when baking and taste great).
Bake for 15-20 minutes until hot.
TIP: The sweet potato dish is good with tzatziki.