Cuban Grilled Sweet Potato Salad with Pineapple and Jicama

I love Tara. For Christmas she got me a subscription to a magazine that I love. I don't love her just for that (of course). However...I must confess, it has been one of my favorite gifts. It is called Cuisine at Home. I love it. Love it. Love it. This month's issue had an amazing recipe that I knew I would adore. However, I had to break down and do something rash. True confessions. Ready? I know I vowed a solemn vow that I would not turn on my stove this week...but I broke down and used my grill pan. It was only on for 7 minutes so I don't feel like I deviated too much from my commitment. If anyone wants to kick my pat-oootie, I apologize. I just figured that this salad would merit a solid place on this week's summer salad expo. It is a crazy combination of naturally sweet produce in a tangy spicy lime dressing that completely kicks things in high gear. It's vegan. My heart loves it. So here it is. The Cuban grilled sweet potato salad of joy and happiness. Adapted from: http://www.cuisineathome.com/

For the salad you will need:

1 large sweet potato, peeled and cut into 1/4 inch slices

1/2 of fresh pineapple (I just grilled the chunks)

1 medium jicama, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch rounds (about 12 ounces)

For the dressing:

2 T honey

juice and zest of one lime

1 tsp red pepper flakes.
pepper and kosher salt, to taste.

I'm a huge fan of jicama. This time we cut it with a crinkle cutter. It just looked really festive and my boys thought they where French fries. Ironically, even though they where not deep fat fried potato bombs, my kids still loved them.

Toss the sweet potatoes on the grill for 5-7 minutes, just until tender.

The grill marks not only add some color, but caramelized the sugars in the potatoes, making them amazing.

While the sweet potatoes where grilling, I sliced the pineapple.

Zesting the lime while the sweet potatoes cooked too...see how efficient I can be when I'm hungry? I also grilled some of the pineapple, but didn't grill it all. If I was outside grilling I may have gone that far...but I just didn't want my house to get much hotter.

Cut the lime in half and add the juice.
I carefully, mathematically and meticulously measured the honey. Okay...I may have just "eyeballed it"...

Add the chile flakes, pepper and salt.

Cool the sweet potatoes slightly, crinkle cut, and toss with the salad.

We had it as a main course, but this would also be a wonderfully flavorful side dish for some spicy kebabs or grilled fish. Totally different. Totally fat free and funky fresh.

There you go.