Recipe for Chorizo, Sweet Potato, and Manchego Salad with Marcona Almonds
This salad is easy to make, but it's complex in flavor. It's bitter, spicy, sweet, crunchy, and salty all at once, and the lemony dressing is like a burst of sunshine on a winter day. I keep cooked sweet potatoes on hand pretty much all the time. To prepare them, I poke them all over with a fork, wrap them in foil, and bake a few whenever I have the oven on for another reason. In a pinch, though, you can cook a sweet potato in the microwave.
Servings: 0 serves 1-2
Ingredients
- *2 tablespoons olive oil divided
- *1/2 cup thinly sliced grass-fed chorizo
- *1/2-1 small cooked sweet potato cut into bite-sized pieces
- *Zest and juice of 1/2 lemon I used a Meyer lemon
- *Coarse sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
- *A big handful of baby arugula
- *A small handful of finely sliced red onion
- *A small handful of salted Marcona almonds if you can find them; if not, omit or use a different type of nuts/seeds
- *Shaved Manchego cheese for topping the salad to taste (or, use a different, equally assertive, hard cheese)
Instructions
- 1. Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a skillet over medium heat and add the chorizo. Fry for about 10 minutes (or until the slices are crisp). Remove from skillet and in a medium bowl, mix with the sweet potato and lemon zest.
- 2. Whisk together the remaining tablespoon of olive oil and the lemon juice and season with salt and pepper. Arrange arugula, red onion, almonds, and sweet potato/chorizo mixture on a serving plate and pour the dressing over. Top with Manchego shavings and serve.