Quick Summary: Sweet potatoes halved and roasted, brushed with harissa under the broiler, then topped with a blackberry-rosemary compote. Four flavors combine into a complex holiday side dish. Includes tips for roasting sweet potatoes and growing blackberries in cold climates. Prep: 15 min | Cook: 40 min | Serves: 8
Jump to: RECIPE | Ingredients | Cooking Tips | Blackberry Growing Tips | FAQ
At HeathGlen Organic Farm, I grow both the blackberries and the peppers that go into this dish. The combination sounds unusual, but the smoky heat of harissa, the earthy sweetness of roasted sweet potato, and the tart brightness of blackberry-rosemary sauce work together beautifully. This has become a Thanksgiving side dish for our family, though it works any time you want something more interesting than plain roasted sweet potatoes.
Ingredients
The following photo shows you all the ingredients you will need for this recipe. For details on measurements, see the recipe below.
Cooking Tips:
Here are a few tips for getting the most flavor out of sweet potatoes:
- Timing: The timing will depend a little on the size of the sweet potato, but for a medium potato (see photo above), the sweet spot for my oven is 30-40 minutes at 400 degrees F. The tines of a fork should easily pierce the potato when they are done.
- Storing: You can store leftovers, covered, in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Reheat on the stovetop until hot.
- Cross-hatch (scoring): If you are using the harissa paste or another chile paste, use a knife to make cross hatches about 1/4-inch deep on the potatoes before cooking. It lets the paste sink into the potato for more flavor.
- Roasting in halves rather than whole: Many cooks roast sweet potatoes whole, which works fine. Cutting them in half lengthwise however allows them to stay tender and fluffy on the inside but also get the crisp caramelization on the cut side.
- Salt-roasting: For a crispy skin, brush the flesh part of the potatoes with a little oil, place them on the baking sheet cut side down, and sprinkle the skin side with some sea salt. This method makes the skin crispy while allowing them to retain their moisture.
- Pre-chilling: Some cooks will chill the sweet potatoes ahead of time to firm up the flesh a bit.
Blackberry Growing Tips:
I grew up in Oregon where the blackberries grew wild and were actually a nuisance. Oh how I missed that nuisance when I moved to Minnesota.
After several attempts at growing blackberries in a Zone 4-5 climate, I have finally found success with a variety called Black Satin. They are thornless and have proved to be quite hardy in Minnesota.
A few basic growing tips:
- Plant the root ball by itself with its top sticking out level to the ground.
- Pick a location near some sort of trellis so that it can be trained to climb. They grow to about 6 feet tall and 4-6 feet wide at maturity, so locate them in a place where they will not be crowded.
- Prune the canes after they finish fruiting for a higher yield. Cut each plant back to about 5 canes per crown in the winter.
- Like most berries, it will need full sun to produce much of a yield (full sun is at least 6 hours per day).
Smart Gardener has an informative but brief overview for further information.
FAQ
Cross-hatching allows the harissa to sink into the potato rather than sitting on the surface. It creates more surface area for flavor absorption.
Yes. Frozen berries work well in the compote. No need to thaw first
Any chile paste works. Chipotle paste, gochujang, or sambal oelek all provide heat, though the flavor profile changes. The harissa’s cumin-coriander-caraway notes complement the blackberries particularly well.
Sweet potatoes and maple syrup are not slow carb compliant due to their sugar content. This is a holiday indulgence dish rather than an everyday slow carb recipe.
Yes. The sauce keeps refrigerated for up to a week. Reheat gently before serving.
Black Satin is a thornless variety that’s proven hardy in Zone 4-5. The post includes growing tips
Check out our berry category for over 30 recipes highlighting sweet to savory dishes made with blueberries, raspberries, strawberries or blackberries.
Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Blackberry-Rosemary Sauce
Ingredients
- 4 medium sweet potatoes about 3 pounds
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 ½ cups blackberries 14 ounces
- ⅓ cup maple syrup
- 2 sprigs fresh rosemary each sprig about 4-inches
- ⅓ cup water
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
- ¼ cup harissa or your favorite chile paste
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400℉Cut the sweet potatoes in half lengthwise and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Use a small knife to score the flesh with cross-hatches (about 1/8 inch deep) and drizzle with oil and a little salt.Roast for about 30-40 minutes, or until a fork will easily pierce the flesh.4 medium sweet potatoes, 1 tablespoon olive oil
- While the sweet potatoes are roasting, make the sauce. Add the berries, water, syrup and rosemary to a saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Then reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer another 10 minutes to thicken it a bit. If it is not thick enough for you, add a pinch of cornstarch and simmer another 5 minutes.Add the butter and stir into the sauce until melted. Remove from heat and stir in lime juice. Set aside2 1/2 cups blackberries, 1/3 cup maple syrup, 2 sprigs fresh rosemary, 1/3 cup water, 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, 3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
- When sweet potatoes are tender, remove the pan and turn the oven on to broil. Brush the sweet potatoes with the harissa and broil for about 2 minutes.1/4 cup harissa
- Top the sweet potatoes with the blackberry sauce and serve remaining sauce on the side.
Notes
- Timing: The timing will depend a little on the size of the sweet potato, but for a medium potato (see photo above), the sweet spot for my oven is 30-40 minutes at 400 degrees F. The tines of a fork should easily pierce the potato when they are done.
- Storing: You can store leftovers, covered, in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Reheat on the stovetop until hot.
Well thank you so much for the great compliment Beth! I’m so happy when things turn out for folks and this one is a new one for me, so thank you for commenting. I appreciate hearing about the Sambal substitution also. Harissa can be hard to fine sometimes and it varies a lot in its spiciness!
I made this the other night because it sounded interesting and Dorothy’s recipe’s are almost always good, but this one was extraordinary. It was so good, it will now go into my Thanksgiving dinner planning every year.
I didn’t have any harissa (or I couldn’t find it!)so I used sambal olek. It was fine. Delicious. The finished product was one of those recipes where the result was better than it had any right to be. Putting the lime in at the end knocked it out of the park.