Mexican Mashed Potatoes
Ingredients
- 1 garlic bulb
- 1 T vegetable oil
- 1 fresh ear corn (medium)
- 2/3 lb potatoes (a good potato for mashing, such as King Edward, Ambo, russet, or Yukon Gold)
- 38 g butter (2 T + 2 t)
- 40 mL milk (2 T + 2 t)
- 2 t finely chopped chipotle pepper (canned in adobo sauce, or 1/2 t ground chipotle pepper)
- 1/2 t adobo sauce (from can)
- 1/2 t Salt (Table)
- 1/2 t ground black pepper
- 1 t ground cumin
- 3 T finely chopped cilantro (or 1 T dried)
Method
Cut off pointed end of garlic; place garlic on a piece of aluminum foil, and drizzle with 1 Tbsp. oil. Fold foil to seal. Brush corn with remaining 1 tsp oil, and place on a baking sheet. Bake garlic at 400F/Gas 6 for 1 hour. After 15 minutes, place corn in oven, and bake, with garlic, 45 more minutes or until corn is golden brown. Squeeze pulp from garlic cloves, set 20g (about one-third the head) aside; reserve remaining garlic pulp for another use. Let corn cool completely.
While corn cools, peel and cut potatoes into small chunks, about 2" cubes. Cook potatoes in boiling water to cover in a medium saucepan until fork-tender (about 10 minutes).
Towards the end of the potato cooking time, the corn should be completely cool. Hold corn cob upright on a cutting board, and carefully cut downward, cutting kernels from cob. Discard cob; set corn aside.
Once the potatoes are cooked, drain and return to pan.
Combine reserved roasted garlic pulp, butter, milk, chipotle, adobo sauce, salt, pepper, and cumin in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir until butter melts and mixture is thoroughly heated.
Mash potatoes slightly; add warm milk mixture to pan, a bit at a time, and continue to mash just until blended. You might not add all of the milk mixture; only add as much as the potatoes will handle without going runny. Stir in chopped cilantro and reserved corn.
Notes
Note from the source: You could use frozen ears of corn instead, and roast for 25 minutes.
SJ Note 1 Oct 2010: This was good, but not Mexican-flavored enough. I've added cumin in this copy. We had it without the corn, of course, and with smoked garlic instead of roasted (as we were pressed for time).
SJ Note 6 Feb 2011: This was fantastic! I omitted the sour cream, and then used all of the milk mixture in the potatoes, instead of throwing some out (which seemed like such a waste last time). I'll do it this way again in the future, adding milk or sour cream or butter or whatever if needed after mashing in the milk mixture already listed. That 2/3 pound of potatoes was only two potatoes for me this time, but it was actually enough for the two of us. I omitted the corn again this time. Made and used the roast garlic this time, which was great, and made the kitchen smell fantastic!