One of the cookbooks we turn to again and again is Nadine Levy Redzepi’s Downtime. Her hearty recipes are simple in ingredients but really extraordinary in flavors. The recipe we have made the most is her dry roasted ribs with sweet potatoes. Unlike traditional bbq ribs that are drowning in sauce, her ribs are roasted slow in the oven with just a bit of salt and pepper. She serves them with roasted sweet potatoes for the ultimate simple dinner. This go round of making the ribs, we decided to up our sweet potato game by pairing them with tahini butter.

If you are unfamiliar with tahini, it is essentially a peanut butter made from sesame seeds instead of peanuts. You most commonly find it in hummus. It is rich, creamy, and lends itself well to everything from sweet, to spicy and savory flavors. We have combined it with a bit of each of those notes for this tahini butter. The tahini butter holds up well in the fridge and can be drizzled on everything from grilled chicken to salads.

Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Sweet & Spicy Tahini Butter

Makes: 4 servings

Prep Time: 1 hour Total: 1 hour 10 minutes

Ingredients:

• 4 sweet potatoes
• 1/2 cup tahini
• 1/4 cup (4 tbs) butter, room temperature
• zest and juice of 1/2 lemon
• 1 large clove garlic, minced
• 1 tbs honey
• 1 tsp+ cayenne pepper
• Everything Bagel Seasoning (optional)
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
2. Prick each of the sweet potatoes with and fork and lay them onto 4 individual pieces of foil. Spray each piece of foil and the sweet potato generously with cooking spray. Wrap each sweet potato completely in the foil and put in the oven for 1 hour, or until the sweet potatoes are fork tender.
3. While the sweet potatoes are the oven, make the sauce. Use a whisk or a hand mixer to beat the butter until it is smooth. Add the tahini, mixing well to combine. Add the lemon zest and juice, garlic, honey, and cayenne. Mix well to combine. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
4. When the sweet potatoes have finished in the oven, remove them and let them rest in their foil for about 5 minutes. Use a pairing knife to cut away a segment of the top skin from each potato. Use a spoon to fluff the inside of the potato and to create a little well for the tahini butter.
5. Serve a generous dollop of tahini butter on each potato. Top with Everything Bagel Seasoning and serve immediately.