One Sweet Potato, Three Meals: Sweet Potato-Millet Patties with Spinach

Another week, and two other sweet potato recipes to come! Using the second third of my *gigantic* spud, I chose to make some delicious Sweet Potato-Spinach-Millet patties. For these, I was inspired by two recipes: the quinoa patties from Heidi Swanson’s cookbook, and the pumpkin patties from My Darling Lemon-Thyme. Both of them provided me with a great base for some kitchen-improvisation. As I told you last week, I’m trying to make very different recipes with few ingredients, so I figured patties would be a good way to combine them together under a different shape. For the base, I used the leftover cubed potatoes I had roasted while making my fall salad, which made the whole process super quick, and allowed me to devour these beauties in a breeze.

I also added millet as the base grain. For those of you who don’t know what it is, millet is an “ancient” grain (gluten-free!) that I can only describe as a hybrid between couscous and quinoa in texture. It’s deliciously nutty in taste and takes on a whole other depth of flavor when pan fried for these patties. Pure caramelized delight! I then also added some chopped spinach to the mix, adding a slight bitterness to the overall sweeter taste.

The last wonderful thing about these is that they don’t require binding agents such as eggs or breadcrumbs like in the two recipes that inspired me. The mashed potatoes were actually strong enough to keep it all together and prevent the patties from crumbling in the pan. As you can see it’s even possible to cut pieces that don’t fall apart. Bon appétit!

Total time: about 30 minutes (with pre-roasted sweet potatoes)

Ingredients:

1 sweet potato, cubed, roasted
1/4 cup dried millet
a handful of spinach (plus more for plating)
1/2 garlic clove
olive oil
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
sriracha (optional)
crumbled feta (optional)

Directions:

Cook the millet. Cover the grains with 1/2-2/3 cup water, cover, and let it cook on medium heat until all the liquid is absorbed (about 20 minutes).
Meanwhile, mash the roasted sweet potato, leaving some bigger pieces to add some texture to the patties.
Add in the cooked grains, the torn spinach, and the minced garlic. Mix well so that all the ingredients blend together. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Form patties with your hands, heat some olive oil in a large pan, and add the patties, spacing them out. Cook until they are golden on each side and slightly caramelized on the edges (about 3 minutes per side).
To serve, start with some fresh spinach dressed in a bit of olive oil, top with the patties, and garnish with some crumbled feta and a drizzle of Sriracha and olive oil. Enjoy!

TIP: This recipe would work great with other grains like quinoa if that’s all you have, but you might need to add an egg for binding. I like millet because the mashed potato suffices as a binding agent!

Temps total: environ 30 minutes (avec une patate douce pré-cuite)

Ingrédients:

1 patate douce, en cubes, cuite au four
1/4 tasse de millet
une poignée d’épinards (plus pour servir)
1/2 gousse d’ail
huile d’olive
sel de mer et poivre noir fraichement moulu
Sriracha (optionnel)
feta émiettée (optionnel)

Etapes:

Commencez par cuire le millet. Couvrez les grains avec 1/2-2/3 de tasse d’eau, couvrez, et laissez cuire jusqu’à ce que tout le liquide ait été absorbé (environ 20 minutes).
Pendant ce temps, écrasez les cubes de patate douce, en laissant quelques morceaux pour avoir une meilleure texture pour les patties.
Ajoutez enfin le millet cuit, les épinards déchirés, et l’ail émincé. Mélangez bien de sorte que tous les ingrédients soient bien incorporés. Assaisonnez de sel et de poivre.
Formez les patties avec vos mains, faites chauffer de l’huile dans une poêle et ajoutez les patties en les espaçant. Faites les cuire jusqu’à ce qu’ils soient bien dorés de chaque côté, avec les bords légèrement caramélisés (environ 3 minutes par côté).
Pour servir, commencez par des feuilles d’épinard assaisonnées d’huile d’olive, ajoutez ensuite les patties, et garnissez de feta émiettée, d’un filet de sriracha et d’huile d’olive. Bon appétit!

LE PLUS: Cette recette marcherait aussi très bien avec d’autres grains comme de la quinoa, mais vous aurez peut-être besoin d’ajouter un liant comme de l’oeuf. J’aime le millet parce que la pomme de terre écrasée suffit comme liant!