How to make Gaucho’s baked sweet potatoes with goat’s cheese and crème fraîche

“This Gaucho classic does everything it can to celebrate versatile and delicious sweet potatoes, which appear frequently in various forms in Argentinian cooking,” explains Gaucho culinary director Anthony Ekizian.

Gaucho’s baked sweet potatoes with goat’s cheese and crème fraîche

Ingredients:
(Serves 4)

4 sweet potatoes
1tsbp extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra to garnish
150g goat’s cheese, crumbled
100g crème fraîche
2tbsp finely chopped chives
2tbsp finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
Sea salt and black pepper

Method:

Heat your oven to 220°C/200°C fan. Pierce each sweet potato several times with a fork. Place the potatoes on a baking tray, drizzle with the oil, and rub them to coat them evenly. Then, sprinkle them lightly with sea salt. Bake the sweet potatoes for about 45-60 minutes, or until they are tender when pierced with a fork.

While the potatoes are baking, in a small bowl, combine the goat’s cheese, crème fraîche, and half of the chopped chives. Season the mixture with sea salt and black pepper to taste. Set aside.

Once the sweet potatoes are baked, remove them from the oven and let them cool slightly. Cut a slit down the centre of each sweet potato, being careful not to cut all the way through, and gently open them to create space for the filling.

Spoon the goat’s cheese and crème fraîche mixture into the centre of each sweet potato, leaving it to melt slightly into the warm flesh. Sprinkle the remaining chopped chives and all the parsley evenly over the top.

Serve immediately, garnished with a drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil and a grinding of black pepper, if desired.

Gaucho: The Spirit Of Argentina: A Cookbook by Anthony Ekizian is published in hardback by Bloomsbury Publishing, priced £35. Photography by Sam A. Harris, available October 23.