Let’s all take a moment and acknowledge one of the unfortunate truths of the universe: sometimes the best tasting food isn’t the prettiest. I’m sure that given enough time someone could make this into an absolutely stunning dish, at home in a restaurant that has a whole galaxy of Michelin stars. I, however, don’t always have that kind of time.

This is a rich and savoury dinner that pulls together surprisingly quickly and is school-night friendly: don’t be fooled by the long list of ingredients and directions. It is vegetarian but beloved by meat eaters, can be made gluten-free by switching the type of tortillas used, and (shhh, don’t tell anyone) is actually pretty healthy. I hope you enjoy it and appreciate its rustic charms as much as I do.

Makes: 1 8×13 casserole, enough for 6-8 dinners

Ingredients:

• 2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and sliced into 1/4 inch (just over 1/2 cm) disks
• 2 tbsp olive oil, divided into 1 tbsp measures
• 2 pinches salt, divided, plus more to taste
• 1 onion, peeled and diced
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 tbsp oregano
• 2 tsp chili powder
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
• 1 large (28 oz) can no salt added diced tomatoes
• 1 14 oz can no salt added black beans or 1 cup cooked black beans
• 1-2 tbsp nutritional yeast (optional, but adds a nice cheesy flavour to the sauce)
• 3 large flour tortillas
• 1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

Directions:

1. Prepare sweet potato slices
   • Preheat oven to 375 degrees f
   • Coat sweet potato slices with 1 tbsp olive oil and 1 pinch salt
   • Spread sweet potato slices on cookie sheet and bake 20-25 minutes, until cooked through and slightly bronzed, flip halfway through baking
2. While sweet potatoes are cooking, prepare the sauce
   • Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a medium-size pot
   • Add onion (1) and garlic (2 cloves)
   • Sautee until onion becomes translucent
   • Add oregano (1 tbsp), chili powder (2 tsp), cumin (1 tsp) and smoked paprika (1/2 tsp)
   • Sautee for about 30 seconds, just to toast the spices
   • Add tomatoes (with their juices), black beans (1 cup) and nutritional yeast (1-2 tbsp)
   • Let simmer about 10 minutes
   • Check seasoning and add salt to taste
3. Assembly:
   • Layer 1: Spoon a bit of sauce into the bottom of an 8×13 casserole dish
   • Layer 2: Spread the first tortilla over the bottom of the dish (here you have a choice, you can slice it up nicely or you can tear it into 5-6 pieces and scatter them, the choice is yours but I bet you can guess what I did!)
   • Layer 3: 1/3 of the sauce
   • Layer 4: half of the sweet potatoes
   • Layer 5: second tortilla
   • Layer 6: 1/3 of the sauce
   • Layer 7: other half of the sweet potatoes
   • Layer 8: third tortilla
   • Layer 9: final 1/3 of the sauce
   • Layer 10: cheddar cheese (1 1/2 cups)
4. Congratulate yourself that you have just made a 10 layer dish for dinner on a Monday!
5. Bake at 375 degrees f for 20-25 minutes, until the cheese is melted and slightly browned and the dish is starting to bubble
6. Let cool 5 minutes before serving

Notes:

• I suggest serving this with sliced avocado, fresh salsa and maybe a squeeze of lime.
• The leftovers will last for a few days in the fridge, happily waiting to be a delicious lunch.
• The sauce and sweet potato disks can be made a day or two in advance if you know you will be extra short on time.