My first recipe: feta & sweet potato stew!

Tonight I made my first original recipe (well, aside from when I saute vegetables and throw a sauce on it) and I was very pleased with how it turned out! Spicey, slightly creamy with a little bit of tang from feta and a little sweet from the potatoes.  So here it goes: my feta and sweet potato stew:

1 large or two medium sweet potato, chopped into 1/2 inch cubes

1 onion, chopped

4 cloves of garlic minced

1 can chickpeas

1 can chopped tomatoes

1 tablespoon tomato paste

1 carrot

2 stalks of celery

1/4 of a bulb of fennel

1/4 teaspoon cayanne pepper

1 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

1 t paprika

1 t dried thyme

1 teaspoon salt

3 1/2 cups water or vegetable stock

100g feta cheese, roughly chopped 

2 tablespoons olive oil plus more for roasting

Heat the oven to 350F. Coat the sweet potato with olive oil and toss with salt. Roast in the oven for 40 minutes. Meanwhile roughly chop the carrot, celery and fennel and put into a food processor until it’s finely minced. 

Heat the olive oil in a pot, add the onion and cook until just gone soft.  Add the garlic and cook for a minute more.  Add the carrot, celery and fennel mix and cook for five minutes.  Then stir in the tomato paste and spices and cook for two minutes before adding the chickpeas, thyme and stock  

Simmer for 10 minutes, then add the sweet potato and feta, simmer for five minutes more.  Taste to adjust seasoning.  The stew should be quite thick but you can thin it out with more water/stock if you prefer something closer to soup. ENJOY!