Sweet Potato Cranberry Bake

The practical guide has a cover. Lena sent a file and I opened it on a Tuesday morning at my kitchen table with coffee and sat with it for a long time. The designer at the press used an image of hands over a cast iron pot, photographed from above, the light coming in from the side. It's simple and right. The title — "From What the Land Gives" — sits at the top in a plain typeface that doesn't pretend to be anything but what it is. My name below it. Below that: with contributions from the graduates of the Elohi Foods Indigenous Food Systems Curriculum.

That last line was Lena's suggestion and I'd said yes immediately. Because the guide exists because of the graduates. Because Grace's notes about winter loneliness are in it, and Dara's notes about abundance management, and the eighteen months of kitchen testing that twelve people did because they believed it mattered. Their names are in the acknowledgments individually, every one of them. But the cover line is also true. It's their book as much as mine.

Tommy called that evening on his own as he does, and I told him I had a picture of a new book with my name on it and he said "read it" very seriously. I said it wasn't quite finished yet, still being printed. He said "read it anyway." I said I would. He was quiet for a moment and then asked if there was soup in it. I said there was a lot of soup in it. He said okay and hung up.

After I hung up with Tommy, I stood in my kitchen for a while thinking about what he’d asked — whether there was soup in it — and how that was exactly the right question, the most honest question, the one that cut right to what the guide is actually for. I didn’t make soup that night, but I made something close in spirit: a Sweet Potato Cranberry Bake that came together in the cast iron, with the kind of ingredients Grace and Dara and the others had spent eighteen months thinking carefully about. It felt like the right way to sit with a good day.

Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 45 min | Total Time: 1 hr | Servings: 6

Ingredients

3 medium sweet potatoes (about 2 lbs), peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen cranberries
3 tablespoons maple syrup
2 tablespoons olive oil or melted butter
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon orange zest (optional)
1/4 cup chopped pecans (optional, for topping)

Instructions

Preheat. Heat oven to 400°F. Lightly grease a 10-inch cast iron skillet or a 9x13-inch baking dish.
Combine. In a large bowl, toss the sweet potato cubes with olive oil, maple syrup, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, and pepper until evenly coated.
Add cranberries. Fold in the cranberries and orange zest, if using, until distributed throughout.
Transfer and bake. Spread the mixture evenly into your prepared pan. Scatter chopped pecans over the top if desired. Bake for 40—45 minutes, stirring once halfway through, until sweet potatoes are tender and cranberries have burst and caramelized at the edges.
Rest and serve. Remove from oven and let rest 5 minutes before serving. Serve warm, straight from the cast iron.

Nutrition (per serving)

Sweet Potato Cranberry Bake — The Kind of Dish That Belongs in a Book Like This