Sweet potato and endive "sformato" with tangy carrot salad

I have a craving for all things orange and citrusy lately... Baby seems to love vitamin C and I find orange foods particularly joyful to the eye too! I love oven cooked vegetables so decided to make a "sformato", a savoury veggie bake. I used sweet potato and endive, which have a very contrasting taste and mozzarella and cheddar, again loving the contrast... mozzarella is delicate while cheddar is salty and quite strong flavoured. As a side I made some grated carrots with an olive oil, lemon juice, teriyaki sauce and toasted sesame seeds dressing.

Ingredients (serves 4)

For the "sformato"
3 medium sized sweet potatoes
3 medium sized endives
2 mozzarella balls
Half a pack of grated cheddar
Extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper as needed
A table spoon of parmesan
A sprinkle of dried sage

For the salad
3 big carrots grated
Two tablespoons of sesame seeds
A lemon
Extra virgin oil as needed
A tablespoon of teriyaki sauce

Rinse and peel the sweet potatoes, cut them in slices of about an inch. Bring some salted water to boil and simmer the potatoes for 5 or 6 minutes until tender. Rinse and divide the endives in 4 parts and cook for 5-10 minutes in a pan with some oil and a pinch of salt and pepper until golden and crunchy.

Pre-heat the oven at 180 degrees, oil a baking tray and start layering your veggies starting with the sweet potatoes, and adding some mozzarella and cheddar between layers. You should have 4 layers in total. Cover your last layer of endive with a sprinkle of parmesan, the dried sage and some black pepper and cook in the oven for 25 minutes.

In the meantime rinse, peel and grate the carrots. Mix the olive oil, lemon juice, teriyaki sauce and the sesame seeds that you have toasted in a pan and add to to the carrots.

Serve with a smile!