Baked sweet potato and black beans

So we got Christmas Day through and I spent all night washing up and clearing the kitchen after 3 days of carnage. Then first thing Boxing Day morning it was all systems go on the admin front again - catching up with email, invoices, printing menus and labels, and, oh yes, organising everything for the 260 covers we were serving over the following 5 days (fitted a wedding meeting in too).

I came accross this recipe for sweet potatoes which I really liked and just put it together in a slightly different way.

Sweet potatoes you buy can tend to be rather large. But hunt around and you can find small ones. These were prob 4cm diameter and 12 - 15cm long (120g per person exactly). So without peeling I cut the very ends off and then cut them in 3. Rolled in olive oil and seasoning & sat up on a baking tray with silicon mat and roasted in the aga for about 40 mins till soft.

Leave them to cool slightly (unless you want to burn your fingers) then scoop out the middles with a tea spoon (serrated grapefruit spoon is ideal). Then you can mix with the black beans, onion, chilli, garlic, lime etc. and then re-fill the potatoes. You can either keep them warm in the simmering oven of the aga or just flash them back in the roasting oven for 5 minutes before serving. And any scraps of potato that happen to fall on the floor will be hoovered up by Sally the dog.


Wonderful old oak beamed house to cook in - we served these in Tiddington just outside Stratford on Avon. This was the fourth time we've cooked for them, the first being their wedding 4 years ago. This time (can you tell what the special occasion was?) they had been called back from their Christmas away early because of burst pipes due to the freezing temperatures which may also have had something to do with 1/2 the kitchen lights being out of action (hence bad pic - good excuse no?). What is it with kitchen lights?