Sweet Potato Chile Soup for a Winter's Day

"Sweet Potato Chile Soup" read the title for a recent recipe in our local newspaper.  I was intrigued by the dish because of an unusual combination of ingredients.  Sweet potatoes are being touted as a healthy addition to our diets, "packing a powerful nutritional punch, " reports Medical News Today.  One medium potato provides 400% of daily needs for Vitamin A as well as fiber and potassium.  And the chiles...well, chiles perk up almost any dish.

Our Desert Southwest is blessed with an abundant year round supply of chiles.  I love chiles for three reasons:  they are low in calories, high in vitamins, and, more importantly perhaps, really tasty. When my husband Wayne and I travel very far from El Paso, our home town, we often end up complaining about the local food, wishing that we could cure the blandness with a small dose of chile.

The two chiles found in this soup recipe, the poblano and chipotle, are not as common as the jalapeño or long green chile, but they still can be easily found in local markets. The poblano has a heat rating of 1,000-1500 Scoville units, which is less than the jalapeño.  The poblano is usually dark green in color but may be red as well.

Chile poblano

The other chile used to flavor the soup is the chipotle.  And I'm not using the term 'flavor' lightly!

Chipotle pepper

The chipotle is the dried or smoked form of a fresh jalapeño, with a Scoville unit of 2500-5000. This sweet potato soup recipe calls for canned chipotle in adobo sauce (made with tomatoes, garlic, and various spices).

Chipotle pepper in adobo sauce

The hardest part of the soup recipe was peeling the poblano peppers.  I arranged three peppers on a cookie sheet and put them in the oven on broil, turning the peppers over when they started to blacken. Then I wrapped the chiles in a damp cloth, and after a few minutes, went to work to remove the thin skin.  I am used to peeling long green chiles that give up their skin fairly easily, but the poblanos were more of a challenge.  (Be sure to wear rubber gloves during the chile peeling process).

The rest of the recipe was a breeze.  I sauteed a chopped third of an onion and one chopped garlic clove in a small amount of butter.  Then I added two sweet potatoes, peeled and quartered, a 32 ounce container of chicken stock, two chipotle peppers in adobo, and the three roasted and peeled poblanos. When the mixture came to a boil, I cooked it on medium low heat until the potatoes were tender.

The last step was to puree the mixture in a blender with 1/2 cup milk (or cream would have been even better) and 1/3 cup honey.  A garnish of cilantro (fresh coriander) finished off the exotic flavors.  I was so proud of the soup that I served it in a special tureen bought in Mexico years ago.

Sweet Potato Chile Soup

Sweet Potato Chile Soup makes four generous servings.  I hope this soup will warm you on a cold winter's day, as it did us.

Savoring the Green Chile Harvest

If only someone could bottle the aroma of roasting green chiles in the Desert Southwest! Labor Day Weekend signals the start of Green Chile Season.. Large boxes of fresh green chiles are stacked in produce departments of local supermarkets, ready for purchase by dyed in the wool green chile lovers.

My husband Wayne and I are among those chile devotees who feel that we must have at least 25 lbs. of roasted and peeled green chiles in the freezer to last a whole year. It is a secure feeling to know that we have chiles to add to whatever we choose for a burst of flavor. No more bland food!

One of the big decisions of the chile shopper is whether to buy hot, medium or mild green chiles. Each degree of chile heat has it proponents, and some diners are tougher than others.  Last year we allowed ourselves to be convinced to buy a large box of chiles labeled "Medium/hot".  Bad decision! What were we thinking?  

The chiles were so hot that after a few attempts to tone down the heat we committed the sacrilege of throwing all the remaining chiles in the trash can.  This year we didn't care if the produce manager thought we were wimps.   We pounced on and purchased one of the few remaining boxes of mild green chiles.

Some shoppers choose to have their chiles roasted at the store in a cooker set up on the sidewalk in front of the store.  

Here is what the roasted chiles look like after a turn in the cooking cage.

Other shoppers prefer to roast the chiles at home, on a grill, a griddle, or a baking sheet in the oven. 

One option is to remove the blackened peel before storing the chiles in freezer bags.  Other chile lovers leave the peel on and freeze the chiles immediately in bags.  The peel comes off easily when the frozen chiles are defrosted under warm water.  The stem, veins and seeds are also removed.  The chile is ready to use.

I just finished making bacon, tomato, and green chile sandwiches for supper.  The bacon was pre-cooked, the bread was whole grain, the tomato was still warm from our garden, and the green chile was indeed mild, but with a wonderful flavor.

Eat more vegetables!  We hear this admonition every day.  Green chile is a great way to eat your vegetables.  Green chile hamburgers, scrambled eggs with green chile, chile con queso, bean burritos with green chile, green chile salsa, green chile enchiladas,  green chile quiche...   

I wonder if that 25 lb. bag is really going to last  our family until next Labor Day?

Holiday Recipes - Southwestern Style

San Marcos brand chiles are ready to go.

Do you have a cherished family holiday recipe?   Remembering my grandmother’s pound cake, my aunt’s thumbprint cookies, and my mother’s pumpkin chiffon pie gives me warm feelings. 

I decided to start my legacy early by recording favorite holiday dishes.  I’m only going to include dishes with a Southwestern flair, which of course means chiles must be featured.  This is a modified version of a recipe I found on bonappetit.com several years ago.  It’s really easy!  Here’s what you do.

 Chipotle Cranberry Sauce (makes about two cups)

Buy a 12-ounce package of fresh cranberries. They can be purchased early and frozen in the bag. 

Combine cranberries, three-fourths cup Splenda sugar blend (or one and a third cups sugar), two chipotle chiles in adobo finely chopped, and three tablespoons lime juice in a medium saucepan and stir over medium heat until sugar dissolves.  Continue cooking about five minutes, stirring occasionally.  Cranberries will begin to pop.

Add one small chopped garlic clove, one-fourth heaping teaspoon of ground cinnamon, one-fourth heaping teaspoon ground comino (cumin) and cook about five minutes longer on simmer.  Sauce will begin to thicken.  Keep chilled.  And a great feature is that the sauce can be made up to one week ahead of time.

This recipe has helped me wean my traditionalist husband off of canned jellied cranberry sauce. Not an easy task!

Stuffed Jalapeños

Buy an eight ounce can of jalapeños, wash and cut in half lengthwise, and place in ice water.  (Did you know that washing and soaking jalapeños reduces their ability to set your mouth on fire?)

Cream an eight-ounce package cream cheese, a small jar of processed cheese spread, one tablespoon grated onion, and one tablespoon half and half.  Add a dash each of Tabasco sauce and Worcestershire sauce.

Drain jalapeños and fill cavities with cheese mixture.  Can top with pimentos for holiday garnish.  Refrigerate.

My recipe for this dish is so ancient that it is written on a half sheet of a Big Chief writing table in my large handwriting from schoolgirl days and is dotted with brown splashes. Stuffed jalapeños will liven up a traditional holiday meal for sure!

If you try these recipes, let me know how they work for you.  And send me recipes for your favorite Southwestern holiday dishes.  I"ll be sure to include them on the next post.  Happy cooking!