Tasty Tuesday - Sweet Potato Fries and Risotto

Deciding when and how to start your baby on solid foods is a huge decision, and one that is different for every family.  What's right for one family, isn't always right for others.  If you read my Baby Led Weaning post, you know that we started out with purees and decided feeding more solid foods was better for us.

One of our go to foods in the beginning was sweet potato fries.  They had sweet potato fries twice a day, every day for weeks.  They couldn't get enough of them. They are still a favorite, and something I can always count on them eating if we are at a restaurant and looking for options for them. They are so easy to make at home, I almost feel silly writing out my "recipe" for them.

Sweet Potato Fries

1 large sweet potato

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 400*.  Peel sweet potato and slice into 1/4-1/2" strips.  Place on greased baking sheet, or silicone baking mat.

2. Bake for 20 minutes.

Notes: See, so easy. I like to sprinkle grated Parmesan on mine when I pull them out of the oven. One potato is usually enough to fill one standard size baking sheet.  I always use my baking mats and usually do 2-4 sweet potatoes at a time.  The cooked fries freeze well and are easy to reheat in the microwave or oven.



Since the babies moved on from purees pretty quickly, I had lots of frozen baby food left over that they weren't eating.  I have been using it up in recipes when possible.  Pumpkin or apple pancakes are a great way to use up left over baby food purees if your kids have moved on to finger foods.

They never ate any of the two acorn squashes I pureed for them.  The squash has been sitting in lonely little cubes at the bottom of my deep freeze for months. I remember seeing a recipe last fall for pumpkin risotto, and thought this would be the perfect way to use up the last of the frozen purees. I decided to add some of my just cooked sweet potato fries too.

I've seen enough episodes of Chopped to know that it's really easy to screw up risotto. You have to constantly stir and get the liquid to rice ratio just right. This was my first time braving a risotto dish, and I'm please with the results. It probably helps that my attempt was based off of Wolfgang Puck's recipe. It tastes like fall in a bowl.

Acorn Squash and Sweet Potato Risotto

1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 cloves chopped garlic
2 cups Arborio rice
4 cups chicken or vegetable stock
3 1/2 cups acorn squash puree
1 1/2 cups precooked chopped sweet potato
2/3 cup Parmesan cheese
4 tablespoons unsalted butter

Instructions

1. In a medium-large size heavy saucepan, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the onion and garlic and saute, stirring continuously, until softened.

2. Add the rice and continue to stir, Completely coat the rice with the oil.

3. Pour in enough chicken stock to cover the rice completely, about 3 cups, and continue to cook, stirring often, until all the liquid is absorbed.

4. Pour in 1 cup of the remaining stock, and continuing to stir until it has been absorbed. 

5. Add 2 cups of pureed acorn. Continue stirring until the rice is al dente, tender but still very chewy, and most of the liquid has been absorbed.

6. Stir in the remaining acorn puree and the chopped sweet potato and reduce the heat to low so that the risotto doesn't simmer anymore. 

7. Stir in the Parmesan and butter. The final product should be very creamy.

Notes: The original recipe called for 6 cups of stock and 1/2 of a pureed butternut squash.  My squash puree was very watery, so I just substituted 2 cups of puree for 2 cups of stock.  You should be able to adjust the recipe based on what purees you already have available, and yield a similar result.  The dish is very sweet, so I recommend seasoning with pepper to taste.

Harrison and I were all about it.  Brooke wouldn't take a bite, but she won't eat anything except fruit, cheese and yogurt lately.

Happy Cooking!!