When you clicked onto this blog you thought first “Baked Philadelphia Cheese??? then, that maybe you were just going to get probably one of the yummiest, delicious salad recipes, but no, it is never that simple, there is always a story when it comes to me and food. 🙂
This Sweet Potato Salad sort of happened by accident in the Ballyshannon Kitchen many moons ago. Only those who have experienced Ballyshannon will truly understand! I was making a completely unrelated dish (Calabrese and yes Sara I will put up the recipe soon).
In that dish you needed to melt cream cheese into the sauce. I forgot to take the cream cheese out of the fridge so it was at room temperature, so I just popped the whole block of cheese onto a tray into the oven on a low heat, thinking to would melt…. But no, I forgot about it (because the Ballyshannon kitchen was on A Level and I lived on C level) and 2 hours later Jody yelled out “Liz can you smell something? Are you cooking something in the oven?” The proverbial cartoon light bulb went off in my head and a few swear words came out of my mouth and I ran to the oven (up all 27 stairs). And there in all its glory was not some burnt offering but a golden bar of delicious goodness.
Before baking
After baking (golden bars of delicious goodness
This is when my mind started racing, I was suppose to make a pumpkin and feta salad the next day, but what if I cut up the cream cheese, baked it and used it instead of feta. I had already decided to use sweet potato instead of pumpkin because it holds together better. Â It was just a matter of making a dressing that would pull all the yummy flavours together. So it was born, like a phoenix out of potential ashes, my Sweet Potato Salad with Honey Mustard Dressing evolved.
Sweet Potato Salad with Baked Philadelphia Cheese
I think I have taken this salad to almost every BBQ as you have all the bits separate and put it together when you get where you are going, so its always fresh! I also tend to make the dressing and put it in a squeeze bottle, so that people can put on as much or as little dressing as they like. This salad also keeps fresh in a sealed container if its not dressed, so you may be able to have it for a couple of days, if it lasts that long! Furthermore, you can bake the sweet potato and cheese the day/night before and pop it in the fridge and the dressing will always taste better if it is made the day before too! (that’s just for you Charlie)
Just a little hint! cut the sweet potatoes a little bigger than you think because they do shrink
Raw
Cooked
Ingredients – Feeds 10 – 12 People
Salad
500g of sweet potatoes
Olive Oil Spray
1 packet of Philadelphia Cream Cheese
200g of Roasted Cashew Nuts
100g of Baby English Spinach leaves
Dressing
1/4 cup of Olive Oil
1/8 cup of Apple cider or white wine vinegar
2 tablespoons of honey
1 teaspoon of mustard
1 clove of crushed garlic
Salt and Pepper
Method
Make Honey Mustard Dressing the night before (for better results).
Cut sweet potato (peel if you like) into bite size chunks and place on a baking dish. Lightly spray with Olive Oil and bake in the oven at 180 degrees for 30 – 45 minutes depending on the size of your pieces. You want them to be cooked but not mushy.
Line a baking tray with baking paper and cut Cream Cheese into 1 cm thick rectangles and bake in the oven at 180 degrees for 10 to 15 minutes.
Now you can assemble your salad.
Place a layer of spinach leaves at the bottom of your salad plate. It is best to use a salad plate, as a deep bowl really doesn’t work for this salad
Spinach (if you want to be OCD you can pick off the stems)
Then half of your baked sweet potato and half of your baked cheese
Sweet potato layer
Sprinkle with half of your cashews and repeat the process with the rest of the ingredients ending with a sprinkle of cashew. I do it this way so all the goodies are not just sitting on the top.
Do it all again with the rest of the spinach, sweet potato, cheese and cashews.
Do a double layer so no one misses out on the goodness
Squeeze over honey mustard dressing or put it to the side for personal preference.
Honey Mustard Dressing
Combine all ingredients in a bowl and whisk until emulsified (combined very well) pour into a squeeze bottle for easy of use.
I hope you enjoy this delicious Salad thats feeds a lots, great for parties, get-togethers and BBQ’s Let me know what you think or what is your favourite Salad to bring to a BBQ?
Enjoy Irresponsibly
Liz xx
If you like this Salad you may also like these:
Liz xx
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