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This is a perfect dinner for a meatless Monday or any other day. This hearty and filling dish is so satisfying that you’ll find yourself wanting to add it to your meal rotation. I make it every other week. It hits all the taste buds. It’s sweet, it’s savory, it’s smoky, and has a hint of heat. It also has great texture from the vegetables and beans along with the creamy sauce.

4 sweet potatoes (medium sized)
1 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 red onion, small diced
1 celery Stalk, small diced
1 carrot, small diced
1/2 jalapeño, finely minced, or pinch of cayenne pepper
2 garlic cloves, finely minced
1 15.5 oz. can black beans, drained and rinsed
Salt and pepper

1/2 cup raw cashews
1 lemon zested and juiced
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
1-1/2 teaspoons smoked paprika
1 teaspoon yellow mustard
Salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 400°. Soak the cashews in water, enough to completely cover them and set aside. Thoroughly wash the sweet potatoes and prick with a fork before placing in the oven. They will take about an hour to an hour and fifteen minutes to roast.

In a sauté pan, add the olive oil, onion, celery, carrot, jalapeño, along with a pinch of salt and pepper. Cook vegetables for about 10 minutes. Add the garlic and sauté for about 30 seconds, then add the black beans and cook for an additional 10-15 minutes. Taste and add more salt and pepper if needed. Set aside.

Once the sweet potatoes are fully cooked and cool enough to handle, cut in half, and scoop out, leaving about 1/2” of the potato around the bottom and edges. Add the scooped sweet potato to a blender along with the cashews and liquid, zest and juice of the lemon, nutritional yeast, paprika, and mustard. Blend until smooth. You may have to add additional water to thin it out a little, but it should be thick and pourable.

Taste and season with salt and pepper. Now scoop the bean and vegetable filling evenly into the eight halves of the sweet potatoes, 2 per serving. Now pour the sauce over the sweet potatoes and enjoy!

Makes 4 servings.

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