Sweet potato rules

pumpkin drools, and a recipe

Listen, I’m not a purist - I’m an Aquarius. One of my more obnoxious character flaws, zodialogically(?)- invoked or not, is that I have a really hard time getting on board with anything too popular, anything deemed basic. This extends to food, music, tv, etc. I’d like to think otherwise, but wouldn’t be surprised if I’ve said “Oh, I listen to *insert band here,* you probably haven’t heard of them,” as I peered smugly from under my heavy side-swept bang (if you know, you know).

My best friend once recommended I listen to a particular artist and at the time, their album was everywhere I looked, so I annoyingly (told you) did not. Maybe 2 or 3 years later I finally checked it out, frantically texted her “Omg! I’m obsessed!” She probably did not roll her eyes because she is an Angel of Kindness, but I would have wholly deserved it. If you are reading this, and you know who you are, thank you for tolerating me :).

I’ve worked hard on softening this particular trait - I’ve reminded myself that enjoying things with mass appeal doesn’t make me any less unique or my tastes less esoteric. If something is that popular, it is likely for good reason. So here I am, listening to “Espresso” by Sabrina Carpenter even though the lyrics are absurd. I have submitted to the fact that it is deliciously catchy.

This has, for better or worse, influenced how I approach dessert - I have never, once, in my entire life, made pumpkin spice anything. Pumpkin and garam masala? Yes. Squash and Golden Milk? Absolutely (see here). In retrospect, I’m aware that these are quite literally pumpkin or pumpkin-adjacent “spice” but with different names, from different parts of the world. Maybe there’s something to be said here about curiosity, creativity, and (respectfully) exploring new flavors, but I’d rather poke fun at myself.

Sweet potatoes, though, I’m happy to keep on their own. Sure, I’ve made sweet potato pies with fresh ginger and caramelized miso (I’m rolling my eyes), but I’ve always felt that the tuber was more interesting, more flavorful, and more capable of standing on its own than pumpkin for baking. Pumpkin has always seemed a little…waterlogged?

My family hails from the Ozarks and Appalachia (different places, but very similar geographically and culturally), where sweet potato pies are much more popular than pumpkin. This is partially because sweet potatoes are easier to grow in the south, but more importantly, enslaved Black folks recognized the vegetable as similar to their native Yam and thus used it extensively in their cooking. This is the story of many foods now deeply associated with the American south - almost all originate from early African American and Indigenous American foodways.

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Last week, I attended a Strega Nona-themed dinner, and challenged myself with making Tiramisu, simply, with no frills attached. Tiramisu is frequently overdone or poorly made, so I haven’t made or eaten one for maybe a decade, but it felt campy and cute to just fully lean into it. And, wow, did you guys know how good tiramisu is? Maybe The Perfect Dessert? I am once again humbled by the power of popular things done well.

This week, I am indulging in my tendency to take the road less traveled and mess up a tiramisu. We’re making a sweet potato and pecan version - I think the flavors effortlessly fold into the existing creamy-coffee-cocoa vibe of the traditional, and is reminiscent of the sweet potato casseroles I grew up with. A pecan Joconde (fun to say, give it a go) in lieu of ladyfingers, some silky smooth sweet potato puree folded into the mascarpone base, and all of it brightened up with a bit of orange zest.

This one is not for the purists. For you, I will attach the original recipe. And behind the paywall will go the “look, I’m different” version, because my paid subscribers deserve a little treat *kiss.*

For another “sweet potato over pumpkin” dessert, I recommend Bronwen’s Sweet Potato Flan.

And for an improved pumpkin (but still squash) dessert, here is Clare De Boer’s Caramelized Pumpkin Pie.

I’m not always the best at tooting my own horn, so I’ll let my friend Jeanelle, very cool Calabrian lady and cookbook recipe tester/developer extraordinaire, do the tooting: She said “Emily, it’s official, that was the best damn tiramisu I’ve ever had. Perfect proportions, textures, flavors, not too sweet *crying emoji.*” Do with that what you will.

Speaking of Jeanelle, and of Appalachia - she recently recommended a podcast called Old Gods of Appalachia. It’s a horror anthology podcast, spooky but not so much that I can’t listen to it at night, if you’re a scaredy-cat like me. It celebrates the culture and folklore of the south while thoughtfully navigating its complexities, all while inclusively featuring queer, trans, and black characters. It’s honestly a delight, and an excellent listen while baking.

Plain-old But Delicious Tiramisu

Coffee Syrup

6 g Dutch-processed cocoa powder

150 g espresso or strongly brewed coffee, hot!

2 ounces Marsala (or Rainwater Madeira, or creme de cacao, or whatever)

1 ounce Rum (or Cointreau or amaro or whatever!)

15 g vanilla extract

Mascarpone Filling

5 eggs

100 g sugar

1g kosher salt

24 oz mascarpone

2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste or extract

Assembly

about 30 lady fingers (I used these, but any will work just fine)

more cocoa powder, for dusting

For the Coffee Syrup:

In a bowl large enough to dip the ladyfingers, whisk together cocoa powder and coffee. I let this cool down just a bit before adding the booze and the vanilla. Set aside.

For the Mascarpone Filling

1. First, put the bowl of your kitchenaid and whisk attachment in the fridge to chill. This feels like a waste of a bowl/an extra dish later but helps prevent things from getting soupy later.

2. Fill a saucepan with a couple inches of water and bring to a simmer. 

3. In a glass bowl that fits snugly into the saucepan, whisk together eggs, sugar, and salt. Place bowl over saucepan and stir constantly with a flexible spatula. Cook until mixture reaches 160 degrees Fahrenheit. This took me about 10 minutes.

4. Pour mixture into the chilled kitchenaid bowl and whip on high until pale, fluffy, voluminous, about 5 minutes. The bowl of the mixer should be room temperature before proceeding to the next step.

5. Reduce speed to medium and add mascarpone about a half cup at a time. Once all mascarpone is incorporated, give your bowl a quick scrape. Whip on medium-high briefly until homogenous and starting to thicken up. Set aside.

Assembly!

I used an 8x8 baking dish, and it could have been a bit bigger - I had extra mascarpone whip that tragically had to get eaten as a snack on the side.

1. Working one at a time, dip each ladyfinger into the coffee syrup for 1-2 seconds per side, flipping with a fork. Line them up evenly in the bottom of your baking dish.

2. Top with half of the mascarpone filling, spread evenly. Repeat with the second layer.

*If you use a larger baking dish than I did, I think you could get away with doing 3 layers.

3. Using a fine mesh strainer, dust the top of the tiramisu evenly with cocoa powder. Cover and refrigerate at least a few hours but ideally overnight.

Pecan and Sweet Potato Tiramisu