the Older Bolder Life Salad Wednesday: Grilled Sweet Potato, Onion, and Chile Salad

Since late May I’ve been personally pushing my fitness levels fairly hard; starting my fitness and health recovery journey a little over two years ago I never imagined I’d be sprinting and dialing in some pretty danged specific training to compete next spring in Masters track and field events. (I’ve been telling people lately that back then I was a 412 pound weakling; thankfully that’s now very nearly 200 pounds and lightyears of fitness ago…)

Having been in nutritional ketosis for more or less the past 16 months (probably 95% of the time or better) I have noted that my performance did begin to lag on my leanest carb intake days, prompting some experimentation with carb cycling and adjusting my carb targets on my hardest work days.

One of the ways we’ve done that is incorporate sweet potatoes into the rotation a bit more often. Back in our pre-primal/pre-paleo days we had several grilled potato salads we enjoyed, so that set me to playing with several recipes featuring grilled sweet potatoes.

This Grilled Sweet Potato, Onion, and Chile Salad is one that we keep coming back to again and again; we love the Asian-inspired flavor profile in the dressing, the sweetness of the grilled onions, and the herbal tones from the basil added to finish it off. This salad (or side dish if you prefer) is even damned pretty on the platter or plate too.

You can serve it warm just as it’s finished, at room temp, or chilled – my wife prefers it chilled, but it’s good any way you dish it up.

Approx. 2 pounds sweet potatoes, sliced cross-wise into 3/4-inch thick discs
1/3 cup kosher salt
1/4 cup EVOO or avocado oil
1 large or 2 smaller red onion(s)
3 garlic cloves, grated
2 cups basil leaves, torn if large
2 tbsp toasted sesame seeds

Dressing
2/3 cup rice vinegar (unseasoned)
3 red Fresno or jalapeño chiles, thinly sliced
3 tbsp EVOO or avocado oil
1-3 tbsp good fish sauce
1 tbsp honey (optional)

Cover the sliced sweet potatoes with water in a large sauce pan; add the salt and stir to combine. Bring to a healthy simmer, reduce heat to medium and simmer gently until the potato slices are just tender (use a fork or paring knife to check) – this will take 9-10 minutes pending how thick your slices are. Remove from the water and drain.

While the potatoes are cooling, whisk together the sauce ingredients, adjust for salt, and set aside (you’ll want to whisk again before pouring over the grilled potatoes).

Fire the grill (you only need a medium heat fire here).

Grate the garlic into a large bowl, stir in the 1/4 cup oil, and add the onions which you’ve cut into wedges (6-8 per onion) through the root end (keeps the wedges together on the grill). Toss the cooled potato slices and the onion wedges in the bowl, add a sprinkle of salt.

Now grill the onions and potato slices until well-marked, crispy, and a little charred (10-15 minutes pending your fire). Return to the large bowl (wipe out any excess oil in the bowl first), chopping into bite sized pieces first, toss with the dressing, then gently toss in the basil leaves and sesame seeds, adjusting for added salt one final time.

Can serve warm off the grill, room temp, or chilled – this one’s good any way you take it.

Enjoy.