Chipotle Sweet Potato Mash

Here’s a great twist for your Thanksgiving sweet potatoes or if you love sweet potatoes as much as I do you can whip these up anytime of the year!

I love sweet and savory flavors, and these chipotle sweet potatoes totally hit the spot. You have the sweetness of the sweet potatoes balanced by the smoky heat of the chipotle chiles. You can make these as spicy as you like, just add more or less of the chipotle. 

Ingredients

• 4 pounds sweet potatoes (6 potatoes)
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 3 tablespoon minced chipotle chiles in adobo sauce, with seeds, I used Goya
• 2 tablespoon adobo sauce (from the can of chiles)
• ¼ cup maple syrup
• 1 stick of unsalted butter, diced
• 1 tablespoon Garlic powder
• Salt and Pepper
• Parsley, chopped

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. 

Chop sweet potatoes into chunks, nothing too specific because you are just going to end up mashing them later.

Place them onto the prepared baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle salt and pepper. 

Roast for 15 minutes, take out of the oven and flip the potatoes over. Sprinkle the potatoes with salt and pepper.

Roast for 30 minutes to 1 hour, until very tender inside when tested with a knife. 

Place the potatoes in the bowl, and half of the butter. Mash the potatoes. 

While the potatoes cook, place the milk, cream, garlic powder, chipotle chile, and adobo sauce in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, whisk, lower the heat, and simmer for 5 minutes while whisking. 

You can use a hand held mixer or a good ole wooden spoon for this part. If using a mixer place on low speed, add the chipotle-milk mixture to the sweet potatoes. 

Add the maple syrup, rest of butter, and 1 tablespoon salt. Mix until the potatoes are coarsely pureed. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and parsley.

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3 Habanero Sauces

I don’t like to waste food so whenever possible I try to find ways to use different ingredients.

In this case, I had an abundance of orange Habaneros and Basil. My dad and brother love spicy foods, actually they like to say the SPICIER the better! 

So I created three different Habanero sauces. 

1. Habanero, Lime & Basil Hot Sauce
2. Habanero, Lime & Basil Vinaigrette
3. Habanero Avocado Basil Cream sauce

Remember, I told you I had a LOT of habaneros so I basically created a base sauce and then switched things up for each sauce, added a little here, and a little there. You may be wondering, why carrots? Carrots have a natural sweetness so I wanted to up the sweetness (and the flavor) without having to add too much sugar. The instructions for each sauce are the same, saute the carrots, onion and garlic, then drop all into a blender with all the other ingredients. Three habaneros was enough heat for me, but when I made my dad and brother’s jars I added two more. I’m serious when I say they like it HOT!

PLEASE make sure to wear gloves when handling the habaneros! I learned this the hard way. LOL. 

Hot Sauce Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 cup chopped carrots
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 habanero peppers, stem and seeds removed
• 1 cup Basil, packed
• ¼ cup water
• ¼ cup lime juice
• ¼ cup Apple cider vineg
• ¼ cup olive oil
• ⅓ cup crushed tomatoes
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• Salt and ground black pepper to taste

Vinaigrette Ingredients

• 1 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 cup chopped carrots
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 habanero peppers, stem and seeds removed
• 1 cup Basil, packed
• ½ cup Apple cider vinegar
• ¼ cup olive oil
• ½  cup water
• ¼ cup lime juice
• ⅓ cup crushed tomatoes
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon honey
• Salt and ground black pepper to taste

Cream Sauce Ingredients

• 1 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 cup chopped carrots
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 habanero peppers, stem and seeds removed
• 2 avocados
• 1 cup Basil, packed
• ½ cup Apple cider vinegar
• ¼ cup olive oil
• ½  cup water
• ¼ cup lime juice
• ⅓ cup crushed tomatoes
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• Salt and ground black pepper to taste

Instructions

Heat the oil in a saucepan over medium heat.
Cook and stir the carrots, oil, onion, and garlic in the hot oil until soft, about 5 minutes; transfer to a blender. 

Add the rest of the ingredients to the blender; blend until smooth. 

Season with salt and pepper to taste.

You may need to add more water by the tablespoonful, until the sauce reaches the consistency you like. 

Pour into the container of your choice and refrigerate.

Easy Étouffée

Don’t be scared away by the crawfish! You can make this spicy creamy sauce to serve over shrimp, white fish, chicken, or even pork. The possibilities are endless. 

Any cajun meal always reminds me of my best friend, the Cajun Queen Christine! She has taught me the amazing flavours of Louisiana cuisine. 

Étouffée is a French word that means “smothered” or “suffocated.” As you can see in the photo, the crawfish is smothered with a combination of chopped vegetables and tomatoes in a rich light roux. Étouffée brings together all of the hallmarks of Louisiana cooking: Seafood, a flour-and-oil roux, the “Holy Trinity” of onion, celery and peppers, traditional Cajun seasoning and hot sauce.

Another one of my Louisiana  friends, Alaina suggested Louisiana’s Cajun Land seasoning to use when cooking Cajun meals. You can order some from Amazon. It definitely will give your food a cajun kick!

When making this crawfish Étouffée recipe, I like to use freshly boiled crawfish when I can. You can also grab frozen crawfish tails from the freezer section at your local grocery store. If crawfish tails aren’t your thing, then shrimp, fish, chicken or pork will do. My mom and dad used andouille sausage and said it was delicious! Just saute the protein of your choice before adding it to the sauce. 

So pour yourself a glass of Scout and Cellar 2018 CHE FICO PINOT GRIGIO RISERVA and let’s get cooking! 

Ingredients

• 3 tbsp flour
• 4 tbsp of butter, divided
• 1 1/2 cup of half and half
• 1 shallots, chopped
• 1 stalk celery, chopped
• 1 cup of chopped bell pepper (I like to use a mixture of red, orange, and yellow)
• 1/4 cup of freshly chopped parsley (or 1 tbsp of dried parsley)
• 4 cloves of garlic finely chopped
• 3 tbsp of tomato paste
• 2 cups of chicken broth
• 1 tbsp of Cajun Seasoning (I usd Cajun Landing but Tony Chachere’s works too)
• Salt and pepper
• 1 pound (16 oz.) peeled crawfish tails or protein of your choice.

Instructions

Put flour and butter in a pot and cook for 5 minutes.

Add the onion, pepper, celery, parsley, and garlic. Saute for 2 minutes.

Pour in half and half and whisk until there are no lumps.

Add the tomato paste and whisk.

Add 1 cup of the water or broth and whisk until smooth. Let cook for 2 minutes stirring often.

Pour in the other cup of the water/stock and stir. If this is the desired consistency you would like, there is no need to add any additional water or stock. If you would like the etoufee to be thinner pour a little more water at a time.

Add cajun seasoning. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Add the crawfish tails into the pot and squeeze the lemon juice on top and stir.

Allow the crawfish to warm in the pot for about 4-5 minutes, then serve with rice and sprinkle with sliced green onions.

www.scoutandcellar.com/whiskawaykitchen