Sweet Potatoes with Almond Milk, Chamomile & Blackberries

Camote con leche y zarzamoras

As it turns out, all I needed to reemerge from a two-year website publishing hiatus was a lot of free time while staying with my families in California for a month+. I’ll have to recreate that whenever I’ve fallen back into a creative rut? I can hear my mom smiling and nodding her head at the prospect.

This version of camote con leche has been eating away at my Ideas Journal since the summertime, but I wanted to wait until I could enjoy it while watching rain fall in dreary Seattle from the comfort of an oversized, heavy knit sweater. Instead, I’m in L.A. where it’s a very sunny 80 degrees and I’m sunburnt from being outside for 10 minutes (??).

Unseasonable warm weather aside, this gentle and not-too-sweet breakfast was enjoyed by all. I bet it’d be great with a toasted shredded coconut garnish or, per my mother in law’s suggestion, with winter squash in place of the sweet potato.

For the Almond Milk:

1 liter (~4 cups) unsweetened almond milk

4 5-finger pinches of dried chamomile flowers

1 cinnamon stick

1 tablespoon piloncillo or dark brown sugar

1 teaspoon kosher salt

For the Blackberry Sauce:

2 cups frozen blackberries

3 tablespoons white cane sugar

1 teaspoon lime or lemon juice

For the Sweet Potatoes:

2 large sweet potatoes, scrubbed

1 5-finger pinch of kosher salt

Add all ingredients for the Almond Milk to a saucepot and bring to a simmer on medium heat. Let simmer for 5 minutes, then turn off heat and let the mixture steep for at least an hour to overnight. Strain the milk back into a saucepot when ready to use.

Add all ingredients for the Blackberry Sauce to a small bowl. Mash the berries with a fork or potato masher thoroughly and let sit for at least 1 hour. The fruit will be very chunky and “dry” looking at first, but will continue releasing liquid as it macerates in the sugar-lemon mixture.

Preheat oven to 425F. Prepare two sheets of foil large enough to wrap the sweet potatoes. Poke holes in the sweet potatoes with a fork, sprinkle some water on them with your fingers, and rub all over with salt. Sprinkle a little more water on the foil, then wrap each potato tightly in foil. Bake the potatoes until soft, about 45 minutes to 1 hour.

When ready to serve, reheat the almond milk over low heat. Remove the sweet potatoes from the foil, cut in half lengthwise, and divide them among four shallow bowls. I like to mash the sweet potatoes gently with my hands or a spoon before adding the infused almond milk and a few spoons of blackberry sauce on and around each sweet potato. Crush more dried chamomile flowers between your fingers onto the bowls for garnish.