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Loaded Sweet Potatoes with Chipotle Beef and Bacon

For 2. Steamed, then charred sweet potatoes under garlic herb labneh, crusty chipotle beef, bacon and hot honey.

45 to 50 mintotal

2 hungry peopleserves

25 minsteam runs in the background

Before you start

Labneh out of the fridge now, so it isn't ice cold on hot potatoes.
Water on first: the potatoes take longest.
Herbs: keep some back for the top before mixing the rest into the labneh.
Around minute 15: check the steaming pot hasn't boiled dry.
Don't pour off the bacon fat. The onion and beef cook in it.
Wash your hands after handling chipotle, before touching your eyes.
Salt last: bacon and chipotle are already salty. Taste first.
At the end: sumac and herbs. The easiest things to forget.

Where this comes from: the steam-then-char method and the garlic herb labneh idea are from Samin Nosrat's video, a Drew Barrymore Show segment (youtube.com/watch?v=qASwWseAwFQ). The amounts, times, heat settings and the chipotle beef are Claude's suggestions, not hers.

Heat guide

Dial numbers are for a 1 to 9 stove and are a rough guide only: stoves differ, so trust the sound and the look.

LowAbout 1 to 3. Gentle bubble: small, lazy bubbles, almost silent. Nothing browns fast.

MediumAbout 4 to 6. Steady sizzle: a constant, relaxed hiss. Things soften and turn golden over minutes.

HighAbout 7 to 8. Loud sizzle the moment food goes in. Oil shimmers and moves like water.

Very highAbout 9. Oil shimmers hard and gives the first wisp of smoke. Water drops skitter and vanish instantly.

Shopping and mise

What runs in parallel

Minutes from start, a suggested order. While the potatoes steam (blue), you do everything up to the beef.

Steps

Steam the potatoes

20 to 25 min · start these first

High, then Mediumboil on high, then about 5 to 6 of 9 (rough guide)

Pot: 2 to 3 cm water, steamer basket or metal colander on top, lid on.
Ready when: Water at a full boil (high). Then turn to medium.
While cooking: Steady steam from under the lid, a quiet simmer below. Not a hard boil.
Done when: A knife slides in easily.
If wrong: Pot dry or hissing: top up with boiling water. No steam: heat up a notch.

Halve them lengthwise. Into the basket, lid on.
Don't salt yet.
No basket: halves cut side down in a pan with 1 cm water, lid on.

Don't forget At minute 15, check the pot hasn't boiled dry.

A stainless steel steamer insert on a pot, next to bamboo steamer baskets — Left: a steamer insert over a pot, the setup you want. A metal colander under a lid works too. Photo: Kowloonese, CC BY-SA 3.0

Done

Garlic herb labneh

5 min · while they steam

Grate 1 garlic clove finely into the 300 g labneh.
Chop most of the dill and coriander, stir in. Salt, pepper.

Don't forget Keep back some herbs for the top before you mix.

A mound of thick strained labneh on a plate — Labneh: thick, spoonable. Photo: Leslie Seaton, CC BY 2.0

Fresh dill fronds — Dill. Photo: Jeffery Martin, CC0

A bunch of fresh coriander leaves — Coriander. Photo: Rupeshm364, CC BY-SA 4.0

Done

Chipotle hot honey

2 min

Lowjust warm (rough guide)

Pan: Small pan, no oil.
Done when: Warm and runny.
If wrong: Never let it boil. Bubbling: off the heat.

Warm 3 tbsp honey with 1 tsp adobo sauce.
Taste. More adobo for more heat.

Don't forget Keep it warm, or rewarm briefly before serving, so it drizzles.

Chipotle peppers in dark red adobo sauce in a bowl — Chipotles in adobo: smoked chilies in a dark red sauce. Photo: Badagnani, CC BY 3.0

Done

Chili oil (only if you have none)

3 to 4 min

Low to medium-lowabout 3 to 4 of 9 (rough guide)

Pan: Small pan, 3 tbsp oil.
While cooking: Garlic should bubble gently, not fry hard.
Done when: Take it off the moment it turns light golden.
If wrong: It goes bitter fast once brown. Stir the chili in off the heat, or it burns.

Fry 1 sliced garlic clove in 3 tbsp oil until light golden.
Off the heat: stir in half a chopped chipotle (or chili flakes) + a pinch of salt.

Done

Bacon

6 to 8 min

Cold pan, then medium-low to mediumabout 4 to 5 of 9 (rough guide)

Pan: Large pan, start cold and dry. No oil: the fat renders out.
While cooking: A steady sizzle, not spitting. Turn it a few times.
Done when: Deep golden and stiff, about 6 to 8 min.
If wrong: Browning before the fat has rendered: turn the heat down.

4 slices into the cold pan, then heat. Fry slowly until crisp.
Lift out, crumble. Keep the fat in the pan.

Don't forget Don't pour off the fat. The onion and beef cook in it.

Cooked bacon strips in a dark frying pan with rendered fat — Bacon in its rendered fat. Keep that fat. Photo: Joy, CC BY 2.0

Done

Onion

6 to 8 min

Mediumabout 5 to 6 of 9 (rough guide)

Pan: Same pan, in the bacon fat.
While cooking: A gentle sizzle. Stir every minute or so.
Done when: Soft, translucent, then golden edges at 6 to 8 min.
If wrong: Browning in spots before it softens: heat down, add a splash of water.

Dice 1 onion. Cook until soft and golden.
Take it out.

Done

Beef, two batches

about 12 to 14 min · 4 to 5 min crust per batch

High to very highabout 8 to 9 of 9 (rough guide)

Pan: Same pan, the bacon fat left in it.
Ready when: Heat it 2 to 3 min first, until the fat shimmers or a drop of water skitters and evaporates instantly.
While cooking: A loud sizzle the moment the meat goes in. Don't touch it for 4 to 5 min.
Done when: Ready to flip when the edges are dark brown and it releases from the pan easily.
If wrong: Goes quiet and releases water: pan too cold or too full. Take some meat out.
Spices: Lower to medium only when you add garlic, cumin and chipotle (1 min), so the garlic doesn't burn.

Press half the beef (200 g) flat. Leave it 4 to 5 min for a dark crust.
Flip, break into chunks, brown the other side. Lift out. Repeat with the second half.
All beef back in with the onion. Add 1 grated garlic clove, 1 tsp cumin (toast whole seeds 30 s first), 1 chopped chipotle.
Stir 1 min, then salt. Optional: a dash of Maggi or Worcestershire.

Don't forget Leave the beef alone. Don't stir during the crust phase.

Don't forget Taste before salting: the bacon and chipotle are already salty.

Don't forget Wash your hands after the chipotle, before touching your eyes.

Illustration, not a photo: the dark crust you want before flipping.

Browned minced beef crumbles in a container — Browned minced beef in chunks. Aim for darker crusty patches than this. Photo: Julia033, CC BY-SA 4.0

Done

Char the potatoes

4 to 5 min

Highabout 7 to 8 of 9 (rough guide)

Pan: Cast iron or a heavy pan, 1 tbsp oil.
Ready when: Oil shimmers. Potatoes patted dry.
While cooking: Cut side down. Don't move them for 4 to 5 min.
Done when: They release easily and show black spots.
If wrong: Sticking: give them another minute. They release once charred.

Very hot oiled pan, cut side down, until blackened in spots.
Salt them.

Don't forget Pat the steamed potatoes dry first, or they won't blacken.

Illustration, not a photo: what "blackened in spots" means.

Done

Assemble

3 min · bottom to top

Charred potato half base
1Plenty of labneh
2Beef
3Bacon
4A little chili oil
5Hot honey
6Pinch of sumac
7Reserved herbs

Don't forget Sumac and herbs: the easiest to forget. Honey cold? Rewarm it briefly.

A heap of ground deep red sumac at a market stall — Sumac: deep red, sour, a pinch on top. Photo: Webaware, CC BY-SA 3.0

Done

After dinner

Leftover chipotles in adobo: freeze flat in a bag, one chipotle per section.

Photo credits

All photos are from Wikimedia Commons, resized. None of them shows this dish. The two drawings in steps 7 and 8 are simple illustrations, not photos.

Sweet potatoes: Sweet potatoes 2.jpg, Melsj, CC BY-SA 4.0
Labneh: Labneh (5196911587).jpg, Leslie Seaton from Seattle, WA, USA, CC BY 2.0
Chipotles in adobo: Chipotlesenadobo.jpg, Badagnani, CC BY 3.0
Steamer: Steamers.jpg, Kowloonese, CC BY-SA 3.0
Browned beef: Ground Beef.jpg, Julia033, CC BY-SA 4.0
Bacon: Bacon in a pan (cooked).jpg, Joy, CC BY 2.0
Sumac: Sumac.jpg, Webaware, CC BY-SA 3.0
Dill: Dill for sale.jpg, Jeffery Martin, CC0
Coriander: Coriander Leaves.jpg, Rupeshm364, CC BY-SA 4.0