Last week I was at William Sonoma in center city doing a fun demo. The wonderful folks at Greensgrow Farm gave me a great mix of goodies to use and I came up with a great recipe you can find below. They had white sweet potatoes and beets in season and I made a great little spring inspired dish of roasted potatoes, my famous pesto and a blend of beets and ricotta cheese.

The goal of this demo was to market a Cooking Class I will be teaching in May. Here more info:

Topic: Undercover Gluten-Free: Vietnamese Cuisine

Winner of NBC’s “Next Local TV Chef” competition Chef Laura Hahn will reveal gluten-free techniques! Vietnamese Food is full of fresh new flavors and is a great cuisine to learn for spring and summer cooking. In two hours you will learn how to create an entire Vietnamese meal at home for friends and family. The class will make using rice papers, rice noodles and grape leaves easy. Discover new ingredients that are surprisingly gluten free.

Recipes will include summer rolls, sauces, stuffed grape leaves and rice pudding!

Location: Greensgrow Community Kitchen at St Michael’s Lutheran Church: 2139 East Cumberland Street

They have 15 tickets remaining. Click Here to grab a spot

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As for the recipe I created at the demo. Everyone loved it!!! A great dish for any event!!!

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Ingredients:

2 Large White Sweet Potatoes

3 Tbs Pesto (my famous recipe can be found in a recent blog)

3 Tbs Butter

1/2 Tbs Garlic Powder

1/2 Tbs Onion Powder

2 tsp Salt (separated)

1 tsp Pepper

1 Cup Ricotta

3 Roasted Beets

Start by boiling potatoes for 10 minutes. Remove them, dry well and then cut into even bit size chunks. Toss in a bowl with garlic powder, onion powder, 1 tsp salt and pepper. Throw into a large pan with butter and pan fry until they begin to brown about 5 minutes. Now toss onto baking sheet and roast at 450 degrees for a few more minute. Watch the potatoes so they don’t burn. You may want to give them a toss after a few minutes of broiling. Once potatoes are nice and golden remove and allow to cool. Place into a large bowl and toss with pesto.

For the cheese you first want to slice and peel the beets. Place them in a blend and whip up. You may need a splash of milk to get it going. Then add the ricotta cheese and 1 tsp salt. Remove from blender and place in the fridge to help firm up.

Now just plate the potatoes with a nice scoop of cheese next to it. I like to add a little extra dab of pesto to go with it.

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