I love these Lamb Sweet Potato Hummus Tarts for parties and starters. They are easy and you can make them ahead.
There are so many things I’d like to cook but anytime I have people coming over I never seem to have enough time to cook. I supposed it happens to other people too.
I, however, refuse to feed people anything I haven’t made myself. I don’t like the taste of bought dips and salsas, I just refuse no matter how busy I am. I like to reach for something I can at least start to make ahead. I recently saw some thing similar on an American blog, though I am sorry I can’t remember which one. It was made as a whole large tart.
As a result when I have people over to eat, I am always looking for that magically easy starter. The one that you start to prepare ahead and just finish off when you need it. It’s usually a bit of a bonus if you can chop and change the basic ingredients without affecting the whole dish too. It would also be nice if you had vegetarians in the crowd to be able to tweak it to fit a vegetarian too. Do you think such a dish exists?. That’s a lot of area for a starter to cover but I think I might just have come up with the perfect plan.
I don’t like to be formal when I have friends and family around , so these could be eaten with the hands and a serviette or you could serve them at the table with a small salad. It’s just that versatile…. These little Lamb Sweet Potato Hummus Tarts are my new go to starter.
They are ticking a surprising number of boxes. You can make the tart shells the same day or the day before and leave at room temperature, they don’t require anything but a paint brush to get them right. Make the sweet potato hummus and make the lamb crumble too if you like and reheat. They are finished with a tomato coriander and mint salad with a few pinenuts for crunch. Change the filling to match what you have…plain hummus, beetroot hummus or even avocado puree. If you don’t like lamb use chicken beef or spiced fish mince or crumbled spiced tofu or feta cheese. See what I mean?. I think you might like these. I have made the Hummus before as a Pumpkin option. Remember you can make hummus wth roasted or cooked carrot, beetroot or even add a bit of feta……………I’ve used this recipe that I made for Pumpkin Hummus a short while ago.
Lamb Sweet Potato Hummus Tarts
Ingredients
- 375 gram filo pastry (1 packet)
- 100 gram butter melted (4 Tablespoons)
- 500 gram lamb mince (1/2 lb)
- 100 gram onion, finely chopped (1/2 cup)
- 1 clove garlic crushed
- 1 tablespoon cumin
- 100 gm tomato diced (1 large )
- 1/4 cup coriander leaves (4 sprigs)
- 1/4 cup mint leaves (4 sprigs mint leaves)
- 25 gram pinenuts (2 Tablespoons)
- 60 ml olive oil (3 Tablespoons)
- 20 ml olive oil extra (1 Tablespoon )
- 20 ml lemon Juice
- 1 pinch salt
Sweet Potato Hummus
- 250 gram Sweet Potato roasted or steamed
- 400 gram chickpeas drained (1 can)
- 40 gram Tahini (2 Tablespoons
- 1 Tablespoon ground cumin
- 80 ml lemon Juice (4 Tablespoons approx 1 lemon)
- 1 clove garlic or more if you like
- 120 ml olive oil (approx 1/4 cup and extra)
- 50 ml water
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Begin making your tarts by greasing tiny tart moulds or a muffin tin and preheat the oven to 180C/350F.
- Lay out a sheet of phyllo pastry and spread the sheet over the greased mould and push it into the mould gently so that it lines the bottom and the sides. Cut around the top of the pastry sticking out of the mould with scissors or a small sharp knife. Continue to gently push pastry into the mould painting a small amount of butter between each layer until you have about 4-6 layers. Continue like this until you have about 12 moulds or tart shells completed.
- Bake the tart shells for 15 to 20 minutes or until starting to colour golden. Set aside to cool. They will come out of the moulds easily. If possible leave them in the moulds so they dont break or crack for now.
To make the Hummus
- Peel and roast the sweet potato after tossing olive oil and salt and pepper. If you bake extra you can use them as a nice garnish for a fresh chunky look. Put the sweet potato, chickpeas, cumin, lemon, tahini, garlic, salt and 120 ml (1/4 cup) of olive oil into the bowl of a food processor and blitz. If the mixture is too thick to puree add a little more oil and water alternately.
- Taste the mixture . It should have enough salt to bring out the flavours of the sweet potato and cumin and the lemon needs to add some zing.
- These steps can be done ahead of the time you need to serve your tarts.
To cook the Lamb
- The next thing you can do ahead or at the last minute. It's up to you, but I like to do this ahead too.
- Heat a medium frypan and add a 60 ml (3 tablespoons) of olive oil add the onion and cumin and saute on low till starting to soften. Turn the heat up and add the Lamb mince and fry this mixture, breaking down the Lamb as it cooks. Make sure you cook on a high heat to brown the Lamb so it doesn't stew.* When the meat is starting to colour and is breaking down, add the garlic and continue to cook till the Lamb starts to be browned and crispy. Set aside.
- Make the tomato salad fresh. Cut the tomato into small dice. Put into a bowl and add a sprinkling of salt, the 1 Tablespoon olive oil, the lemon juice and the lightly chopped herbs, stir to combine.
- Put the tarts together by setting them all out on a platter (or plates), put a nice big dollop of sweet potato into the tart case. Next add a spoon of the Lamb mince and follow with the tomato salad. Sprinkle with the Pinenuts for crunch.
- * Finish with a drizzle of Lemon oil or a good extra virgin oil. Serve with a rocket or watercress, radish salad as a side
Notes
Alternatively you can measure your tins or muffin tray, lay out the filo and cut out circles
* You may need to cook your Lamb in batches if you have low heat or a small frypan.
Delicious little Lamb Sweet Potato Hummus Tarts
Oh My….just getting to my back log of blog post and I can across this amazing recipe! I can almost taste it! YUM! thanks for sharing, I can’t wait to make it!
Liz x
One of the things I’ve been pleased to do, as I’ve got older, is let go of the need to make everything and allow some bought items alongside the homemade ones. It is perhaps less impressive than your approach, but more manageable!
These tarts look great.
these look fantastic! I also like to have easy meals to prepare when we have guests, and things that can be made in advance are winners 🙂
This recipe makes me want to weep, it looks that good. Beautiful as well.
Your tarts not only sound good but they look great too…perfect party food.
They look so tempting! I want some sweet potato hummus.
These look amazing and I can already taste them – yum! Definitely pinning this for my next dinner party.
I’m with you Tania, I never serve my guests anything I haven’t made myself!! Including dips etc. Pastry, however, is in the “store bought” category for me!! I have made something similar using wonton wrappers for the cups – they are the perfect size for muffin tins! I actually find fill quite fiddly to work with, that’s just me being lazy though. Filo is much nicer than baked wonton wrappers 🙂 Love the flavour combo you have going here – right up my alley!
I like to cook from scratch too. If I’m short on time I’ll just make things that require less preparation. What great tarts! So easy with the filo rather than having to make pastry cases xx
Oh yum Tania. I once had an entree that was lamb mince on hommus and although it sounded weird it was so good.
Holy moly!! These would be perfect for New Years Eve. I love the look of them. Haha yes I’m totally like you and hate buying bought dips if I can make my own! Have a great Christmas lovely lady! Thank you so much for supporting our FFF parties this year! xxx
Thank God someone is publishing savoury goodies as I am still on my first kilo of brown sugar I bought in February this year: I think you get the ‘message’!! Love the sweet potato hummus and do not mind trying the same with my beloved lamb either:) ! Hope all the gatherings go great and all the in-betweens feel fine also !!!!
This looks so good, love the dedication to your guests!
I wish I could say that I NEVER bought prepared food but that would be a lie. If I’m unwell, it’s whatever the deli has. 🙂
I’ve got friends and family coming to watch the boat parade tomorrow night and we’ll have these tarts!
Oh I feel exactly the same way! We had friends over last Sunday night for a Christmas catch up, and I spent most of the day baking and cooking as I also have to make everything myself. This looks like a great starter, at this rate your recipes will be making up our entire NYE party menu!
These look so delicious, Tania. And I agree about the pre-made dips and salsas. There may be some decent ones out there, but home-made trumps any of them.
Dips are so easy to make and so much tastier when home made that I wonder if people that buy dips know how easy they are? I only say that because when I first started making them I thought “Is that it?” and stopped buying them. These tarts look fab!
How adorable are these! Definitely the perfect cutie pie appetizers.