Roasted Sweet Potato Salad with Warm Wild Rice

You can serve this Sweet Potato Salad as four main courses or eight smaller sides. The dish pairs baby spinach and crumbled feta with cubed Sweet Potatoes baked at 390°F (200°C). The warm wild rice soaks up a honey and Dijon dressing before joining the toasted almonds.

Preparing the Sweet Potatoes

Chop the Sweet Potatoes into 4/5-inch (2 cm) cubes. Keeping the pieces small gives the dressing more surface area to cling to and creates a more manageable bite. Toss the cubes with two tablespoons of olive oil, plus half a teaspoon of salt and half a teaspoon of pepper.

Roast the Sweet Potatoes at 390°F (200°C) for twenty minutes. Turn the pieces over and bake them for a final five minutes. Watch them closely so you can pull the tray out just as the edges turn golden and caramelize. Avoid leaving the cubes in the oven too long. Overcooking makes the chunks overly soft, causing them to fall apart easily when you move them.

Cooking the wild rice

Raw wild rice feels just as hard as standard white rice before cooking. Simmer three quarters of a cup in a large saucepan of boiling water for thirty-five minutes. You will know it is fully cooked when the grains burst open to expose firm, pale brown centers.

Mixing the salad components

Put the lemon juice, minced garlic, extra-virgin olive oil, honey, Dijon mustard, salt, and pepper into a jar with a tight lid. Shake the jar vigorously. The mustard thickens the dressing so it coats the salad ingredients evenly. You can substitute mayonnaise for the mustard to achieve a similar texture.

Drizzle the warm cooked wild rice with one tablespoon of the dressing. Toss it well so the warm grains absorb the flavors. Dress this rice first so it can sit at room temperature while you prepare the rest of the meal.

Add the baby spinach and the finely sliced red onion to a large bowl, along with half of the toasted sliced almonds. Choosing a flaked nut means a smaller quantity goes further and distributes easily among the other ingredients. Pour two tablespoons of the dressing directly onto the leaves and mix everything well. Coat the greens closer to serving time to ensure they stay crisp.

Ingredient substitutions

You can change many parts of this salad based on what you have available.

• Butternut squash or pumpkin can stand in for the Sweet Potatoes.
• Trade the wild rice for another grain like barley, quinoa, farro, or brown rice.
• Swap the dried cranberries for roughly chopped dried fruit such as apricots or apples.
• Use goat cheese in place of the feta.
• Substitute the baby spinach with arugula.
• Replace the flaked almonds with any preferred type of nut.
• Use champagne vinegar, red wine vinegar, or rice vinegar in place of the lemon juice.
• Replace the honey with maple syrup or standard sugar.

Assembling the meal

Transfer the dressed spinach mixture to a large serving platter and spread it out evenly. Layer the seasoned wild rice, roasted Sweet Potatoes, and dried cranberries over the bed of greens.

Drizzle the remaining dressing over the assembled salad. Scatter the crumbled feta and the remaining toasted almonds across the top. Serve the Sweet Potatoes at room temperature. Never serve this salad with cold sweet potatoes.

Making it ahead and leftovers

Store the dressing in a separate jar when preparing the salad ahead of time. Combine everything just before you sit down to eat. Leftovers keep for the next day. The baby spinach holds up reasonably well once you dress it.