Beet and Sweet Potato Fries

Michael said a sentence this week. Not a word — a sentence. A full, grammatically questionable, completely comprehensible sentence. He was sitting in his high chair at Saturday morning breakfast, eating grits (the sacred grits, the Saturday grits, the grits that have been part of his life since before he had teeth), and Pearl was in the bouncy seat on the table, and I was at the stove, and Michael looked at Pearl and he said: "Ba-ba want gruh."

Ba-ba want gruh. Baby wants greens. His sister wants collard greens. He looked at Pearl and he assessed her needs and he communicated those needs to the person in charge of fulfilling them (me), and he did it in a sentence. A sentence with a subject (ba-ba) and a verb (want) and an object (gruh). The sentence was grammatically imperfect and emotionally perfect and the emotion was: my sister needs feeding and I am telling the person who feeds.

I gave Pearl a tiny taste of mashed greens. She is five and a half months old. She has been eating solids for two weeks — sweet potato, banana, avocado, the starter foods. The greens were new. I put a tiny amount on a tiny spoon and I held it to her mouth and she opened (she opens for everything — Pearl is not selective, Pearl is receptive, Pearl is Hattie Pearl's calm acceptance of whatever the kitchen offers) and she tasted the greens and her face went through — not nine expressions, not eleven expressions, but THREE. Three calm, considered expressions: surprise, assessment, acceptance. That's it. Three. Pearl does not have Michael's drama. Pearl has Hattie Pearl's efficiency.

She ate the greens. She wanted more. Michael said, "Mo gruh ba-ba." More greens for baby. He is the sommelier of his sister's meals. He is the recommender. He is the Henderson food ambassador, two and a half years old, advocating for collard greens on behalf of a five-month-old who can't advocate for herself.

The kitchen held all of this: a two-year-old boy ordering greens for his baby sister, a five-month-old girl eating them with three calm expressions, and a seventy-two-year-old grandmother standing at the stove thinking: this is why. This is why I cook. This is why I planted the garden and saved the seeds and taught the classes and wrote the blog and stood at this stove for sixty-two years. This. This moment. These children. This food. This.

Now go on and feed somebody.

Sweet potato was Pearl’s very first solid food — before the banana, before the avocado, and long before the collard greens her brother so confidently ordered on her behalf. It felt right, after a Saturday morning that cracked my heart wide open, to come back to that humble sweet potato and celebrate it properly. These beet and sweet potato fries are the kind of thing Hattie Pearl would have made without a recipe and without a fuss, and they are exactly what I want on the table when the whole reason I’ve ever cooked anything is sitting in a bouncy seat, opening her mouth for whatever the kitchen offers.

Prep Time: 15 minutes | Cook Time: 35 minutes | Total Time: 50 minutes | Servings: 4

Ingredients

2 medium sweet potatoes (about 1 lb), peeled and cut into 1/4-inch matchstick fries
2 medium beets (about 3/4 lb), peeled and cut into 1/4-inch matchstick fries
3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt, plus more to taste
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
Fresh thyme leaves or chopped flat-leaf parsley, for garnish (optional)

Instructions

Preheat the oven. Arrange two racks in the upper and lower thirds of your oven and preheat to 425°F. Line two large rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper.
Season the sweet potatoes. Place the sweet potato fries in a large bowl. Drizzle with 1 1/2 tablespoons of the olive oil and toss to coat. Sprinkle with the garlic powder, smoked paprika, salt, and pepper, and toss again until evenly seasoned. Spread in a single layer on one prepared baking sheet, leaving space between each fry.
Season the beets. Place the beet fries in the same bowl (no need to wash it). Drizzle with the remaining 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil and toss to coat. Season lightly with additional salt and pepper and toss again. Spread in a single layer on the second prepared baking sheet.
Roast the fries. Place both pans in the oven. Roast for 20 minutes, then remove the pans and flip the fries with a thin spatula. Swap the pan positions (top to bottom and bottom to top) and continue roasting for 12 to 15 minutes more, until the edges are crispy and the centers are tender.
Rest and combine. Remove from the oven and let the fries rest on the pans for 3 to 5 minutes — they will crisp up further as they cool slightly. Gently combine the sweet potato and beet fries on a serving platter, or keep them separate if you prefer. Taste and adjust salt as needed.
Garnish and serve. Scatter fresh thyme or parsley over the top if desired, and serve immediately.

Nutrition (per serving)

Beet and Sweet Potato Fries — The Food That Started Pearl’s Journey