Summertime is a challenging season here at My Husband Hates Veggies headquarters. On the one hand, our test kitchen staff embraces the natural switch to lighter fare: crisp fresh salads, chunky salsas, lightly grilled veggies, cool gazpachos…food that not only refreshes in the warmer weather, but also seriously reduces the hours spent in a steamy kitchen. Unfortunately, our company namesake, Husband, does not share the same enthusiasm for such a seasonal approach to eating.
As I have said before, my husband’s aversion to most things veggie is a texture thing, which is why many of the veggie fake-out recipes on this site consist of vegetables that have been stewed, mashed, braised, sauteed, or slow-cooked in some way. Couple that with the fact that most of the veggies that he can stomach – largely the orange family of veggies – are vegetables that I associate with winter, and you can see where my summertime-vegetable-angst comes into play.
I usually ignore Bobby Flay when I see his show on the Food Network. Not only have I had two lackluster meals at his over-hyped restaurants, but I find him to be incredibly smug, and not as cute as Tyler Florence. I am also angrily envious of his enormous outdoor patio beneath the Brooklyn Bridge. For those logical reasons, I only catch glimmers of his show when I am running around the house doing other things. He did manage to stop me in my tracks the other day, though, with his recipe for Grilled Sweet Potato and Scallion Salad. Summery and sweet, it had all the makings of an excellent veggie fake-out.
Grilled Sweet Potato & Scallion Salad
adapted from Bobby Flay
serves 2
2 baked or roasted sweet potatoes, cooled (I used one giant garnet yam)
2 scallions
1/4 cup olive oil, plus more for drizzling
1 tablespoon dijon mustard
1 tablespoon honey
2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
salt & pepper
Step 1: Slice the sweet potato into 1/2 inch-thick or so rounds. Drizzle the sweet potato and scallions w/ olive oil, and sprinkle lightly with salt.
Step 2: Fire up a grill (or indoor grill pan, as the case may be) and grill the veggies for a couple of minutes per side, until they develop nice charry grill marks.
Step 3: While the veggies are grilling, assemble your dressing by mixing the last 4 ingredients in a large bowl, and then drizzling/whisking in the olive oil.
Step 4: Remove the vegetables from the grill, and chop into bite-sized pieces. I removed the skin from my sweet potatoes, but feel free to leave it on if you like. Step 5: While the potatoes are still nicely warm, stir them, along with the chopped scallions, into the dressing. Stir gently so as not to mash the sweet potatoes too much. Serve warm or at room temperature.
While this recipe may not have satisfied all my requirements for a perfect summertime veggie fake-out (I still had to bake the sweet potatoes), I did love how summer/bbq friendly this dish is. Though you want to be sure to toss the sweet potatoes into the dressing while they are still warm, I thought this salad was even more delish when room temperature, making it ideal to bring to backyard parties and picnics. Its a great healthy departure from typical mayo-heavy potato salads, and would keep for far longer out of the refrigerator. I am tempted to say this recipe is also vegan-friendly…but am unsure about the whole honey thing. Maybe someone would like to try the recipe with brown sugar and see how it holds up?
This salad also worked well as a sidedish to salmon (mine), and steak (his). I may chop the scallions into smaller pieces next time around, however, because the long slices had my husband pushing them cautiously about his plate before digging in.
On our official veggie fake-out broccoli head rating scale, I give this recipe for Grilled Sweet Potato & Scallion Salad 5 out of 10 heads of broccoli.
18 comments
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May 28, 2008 at 11:29 pm
cookinpanda
This recipe sounds fabulous! What a great idea for sweet potatoes and scallions. …Should have anyone eating their veggies…
May 29, 2008 at 2:04 pm
michelle
that was ONE yam? holy crap, what kind of yams do they sell you in brooklyn?
this looks like something i need to make for my next bbq. smug bastard that he is, i find that bobby flay’s recipes tend to be pretty good.
May 29, 2008 at 4:19 pm
Emily Cooks
As RR would say “Yum-O!”
Oh no, did i really just quote Rachel Ray? Shoot me now!
May 30, 2008 at 5:50 pm
Kate
I’ll join you in the Bobby Smackdown. He annoys me, and this stems from his earliest show (where he cooked in a studio with some chick as his sidekick) and his speech impediment was on full display. He swallowed excessive saliva between every few words “so we’ll just ::swallowing:: add a dash of balsamic ::swallowing::” I could hardly stand it.
I also think his Fake Out show, whatever it’s called, where they surprise people who think they’re being profiled and then challenge them to a cook off, is just plain mean spirited.
Tyler is much cuter, humble, interesting, and he has an xray of his baby’s teeth on his network kitchen wall. That’s sweet.
That said, I do dig Bobby’s outdoor kitchen, and this salad looks good.
August 12, 2010 at 9:47 am
Wannisk
I worked with Tyler when he was the “chef” for Applebee’s. You couldn’t have found a more smug, arrogant bastard.
June 1, 2008 at 8:34 am
Recipe Round Up - June 1, 2008 « Flexitarian Menu
[…] Olives, and Toasted Bread Crumbs [Kalofagas] Goat Cheese Olive Balls [Lisa’s Vegetarian Kitchen] Grilled Sweet Potato and Scallion Salad [My Husband Hates Veggies] Almond Crusted Shrimp Tacos with Raspberry Pico de Gallo and Spicy Lime […]
June 2, 2008 at 5:54 pm
Joy
Ha! You totally made me laugh! I tend to dislike Bobby Flay for the same reasons you do. He’s pretty smug, which makes him rather unattractive, and his patio! Ridiculous! NO man should have such beaty without sharing it with me. Simply not fair.
But I will also admit, that this recipe also stopped my in my tracks. I love the look of your grilled yams and I can only imagine how delicious they are with dijon mustard, onions and honey. SO GOOD! Thanks so much for sharing!
June 4, 2008 at 1:11 am
Rita
I’ll always love sweet potatoes, especially grilled! YUMMMMMMMM!!!!
June 4, 2008 at 12:04 pm
"said" Woman
I definitelty think Anthony Bourdain and Bobby Flay should have a smug off…they both make me cringe and laugh in two very different ways. For Bourdain, it’s his smarty pants mouth and for Flay it’s his red eyebrows.
June 6, 2008 at 5:22 pm
Columbus Foodie » Blog Archive » May 2008 Roundup
[…] Breakfast Bake from Morsels & Musings, Shrimp Scampi from Musings of a Barefoot Foodie, Grilled Sweet Potato & Scallion Salad from My Husband Hates Veggies, Spicy Corn Muffins from My Feasts, Onion and Goat Cheese Puff […]
June 10, 2008 at 9:13 am
jeff
Is Bobby Flay the one who has the restaurant in Red Hook? Schnak?
June 10, 2008 at 2:25 pm
Kitty
Thanks, guys!
Jeff: Bobby Flay owns Mesa Grill. Schnack actually went out of business, but it was partly owned by Alan Harding, who had the show Cooking in Brooklyn.
June 13, 2008 at 6:11 am
kenny
Amazing! this is truly one of my favourite.
December 4, 2008 at 12:41 am
Kyle
Apparently Bobby Flays speech problem comes from being a coke addict. Someone that works at Mesa Grill said he only works there when he is cracked out.
January 31, 2009 at 6:35 am
Tanya
I’ve heard the coke addict story too! I can’t stand how he thinks he is so much better than everyone else! I’m surprised those nasty hedge of eyebows don’t look like they’ve been stuck in a snowstorm of coke in each episode. What trash this guy is.
June 5, 2009 at 11:47 am
geri l.
I don’t know if your husband will like this but it might be worth a try. I saute peppers (red and green) canned artichokes (drained and diced), mushroom, red onions, and italian sweet peppers in a little olive oil and garlic with salt, pepper and basil. I cover it and cook them until they are pretty soft then I cut everything up in little pieces and serve it as a bruschitta with toasted italian bread slices. I serve it at parties and everyone loves it.
July 14, 2009 at 12:14 am
Kathie
Saw this Grilled Sweet Potato Salad on th Grilling with Bobby Flay show. It looks so good that I went looking for the recipe, am looking forward to making it my family really likes sweet potaoes or yams I’m sure they are all going to love this.
July 7, 2010 at 9:56 pm
Judy
I recently made a similar salad, but I cut the peeled sw. pot. into 1/2″ slices and indirectly grilled them for about 15 minutes with onion slices also 1/2″. I cut those into smaller pieces and put them into the dressing. It worked perfectly, and I was able to skip the step of baking the potatoes first. I did baste both onions and sw pot. with a sweet-hot mix while grilling.