Friday, March 1, 2013

Chipotle Stuffed Sweet Potatoes

Did you ever try out a recipe thinking it looked pretty good and then it actually turned out fantastic? Like, "kick-you-in-the-crotch, spit-on-your-neck, fantastic?" (Thanks, Friends.) And so it was with these sweet potatoes. So delicious I surprised myself.

I was so inspired by these chipotle chicken sweet potato skins that I wanted to make them that very night, but I didn't feel like getting meat out of the freezer or going to the grocery store, so as I often do, I was going to substitute ingredients to avoid a trip to the grocery store (for example, I had peppers to use up in my fridge rather than spinach). Also, I didn't feel like saving the insides of the potato for something else.

So mine ended up more like twice-baked potatoes, and became a delicious and substantial vegetarian meal on their own.

Chipotle Stuffed Sweet Potatoes
Makes six stuffed potatoes, number of servings depends on how hungry you are.

3 medium sweet potatoes
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 jalapeƱo peppers, chopped and seeded (I used red jalapeƱos)
1 poblano pepper, chopped and seeded
2 teaspoons chipotle chili powder
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon cumin
salt and pepper
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
shredded cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Wash the sweet potatoes and stab them a few times to make some steam holes. Bake in the oven about an hour, until fork tender. (You may want to position a pan on the rack below the potatoes to catch the sugary juice that seeps out of those steam holes—it's sticky and burns on the bottom of your oven.)

Meanwhile, combine in a large bowl the oil, vinegar, garlic, peppers, and spices. Set aside.

When the potatoes are done baking, remove them from the oven and crank the oven up to 400 degrees. Slice the potatoes in half lengthwise and, when they've cooled for a few minutes so you can handle them, scoop out the flesh. Put the skins on a baking sheet and brush their insides with just a little of the oil/vinegar mixture. Put them back in the oven for 5-10 minutes, just to help the skin crisp a little more.

Put the sweet potato flesh and the beans in the bowl with the oil/vinegar mixture and mash until there are no more solid chunks of potato and the seasonings are well blended with the potatoes and beans. It doesn't matter how many beans get mashed or stay whole.

Pull the potato skins back out of the oven. Stuff them with mounds of the potato/bean filling and top each with some shredded cheese. Put them back in the oven for another 10 minutes or so, until the cheese is nice and melty and everything is heated through. Serve hot.

Linked up at Friday Favorites, How To Tuesday 

1 comment:

  1. Yummy! I love sweet potatoes. Thanks for sharing this..

    ReplyDelete