This week N and I celebrate our 7th year anniversary. SEVEN years! We both agree that it doesn’t really feel like 7 years. It’s just gone by in the blink of an eye. Sometimes I catch myself thinking back who I was when I met him and who I am now. A lot has changed. We’ve changed and grown a lot. I can see how we’ve helped each other, supported each other, and open each other’s eyes to new things.
Among the many foods I started to eat (or gave another chance, like avocados and egg salad sandwiches) because we were together was authentic Mexican food. I grew up with Tex-Mex, so I had no clue what real Mexican food was like. Lucky for me, I got to taste the real thing many times when we would go over to N’s abuelita’s or his mom’s house. Through eating all of these great home-cooked meals, I discovered chipotle.
Before I knew N, chipotle was just the name of a restaurant or a funny word used to sell more Jack in the Box sandwiches. I had no idea what it really was. Chipotle is an amazingly complex and spicy pepper that you buy dried or in my favorite iteration, in a can swimming in adobo sauce.
I’ve eaten a lot of spicy things in my life, but the chipotle was a whole new thing for me. It wasn’t long before I was buying cans and cans of it and finding ways to put it in whatever I could. But like most of my ingredient obsessions, I moved onto something else or just stopped eating the food we would incorporate chipotle into.
Until this dish. I am a religious listener of The Alton Browncast. Two weeks ago, he recommended his chipotle sweet potato side dish. Once I heard it, I knew that I had to make it for N and his family. Not only did it work perfectly for the season, but it has the heat that all of us love. The heat I never would’ve known if it hadn’t been for N.
Ingredients
- 2-3 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
- 2 tbsp grass-fed butter or ghee, melted
- 1-2 whole canned chipotle pepper in adobo sauce, chopped
- 1 teaspoon adobo sauce from chipotle can
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Instructions
In a deep saucepan, steam the sweet potatoes for about 20 minutes or until fork tender.
Once done, transfer to a bowl and mash.
Add butter, chipotles, adobo sauce, and salt. Stir to combine.
Notes
Wisdom from AB: If you're serving this to non-heat fans, serve with maple syrup. The syrup mixes well with the flavors and mellows the heat a bit.
From Alton Brown
