Whipped Chipotle Sweet Potatoes
Morita chiles are red, fully mature Chipotles. This gives them a unique, medium – hot smokey flavor which is popular in many Southwestern dishes. These can be added to sauces (including Mole) to add smokey flavor and maintain the red color of the sauces. These peppers are about 2-4 inches in length, 1 inch in width, and have a deep brick reddish brown color. The word Chipotle translated to smoked chile. Consider the Chipotle a 6.5 on a scale of 1-10 (10 being the hottest). Scoville heat units 7,000-25,000.
Suggested Use:
Use Morita in enchilada sauces, chili, stews, barbecue ribs, and corn bread. Their smoky quality combines well with poultry, meats and fall squash.
Ingredients:
5-1/2 pounds sweet potatoes, scrubbed
1 Tbsp. minced chipotle chiles in adobo, mashed to a paste (1-1/2 to 2 chiles)
3 Tbsp. unsalted butter, cut into 1/2″ pieces and softened
1 tsp. salt
Instructions:
Put an oven rack in the middle position and preheat the oven to 450F. Line a baking sheet with foil and butter a 2-quart shallow glass or ceramic baking dish.
Prick each sweet potato several times with a fork, then bake them on a baking sheet until they are very soft, 1 to 1-1/2 hours.
Reduce the oven temperature to 350F.
When the sweet potatoes are cool enough to handle, halve them and scoop out the flesh into a bowl. Beat the potatoes with the chile paste (to taste), butter, and salt with an electric mixer at medium speed just until smooth, then spread in the baking dish.
Bake the whipped sweet potatoes until hot, about 20-25 minutes.
Cooks note: Whipped potatoes can be prepared and spread in baking dish (but not baked) 1 day ahead and chilled, covered. Bring the sweet potatoes to room temperature before baking.
Makes 8-10 servings.
Recipe from Gourmet Magazine, November 2003.