roasted poblano mashed potatoes

Ever since seeing this:

on Bebe's blog a week or two ago, I have a) had several uncontrollable giggle fits and b) not stopped thinking about mashed potatoes. Luckily, we've been graced with a sneak peak of Fall here in DC the last few days, so I had the perfect excuse to make this cold weather comfort food. On this past weekend's trip to the farm, I picked up a few fresh poblano peppers and some fresh cayennes, as well. I'd never seen fresh cayenne peppers so I was intrigued!

As the day wore on, I could just not get the idea of mashed taters with a kick out of my head, so clearly the only solution was mashed potatoes for dinner. Sounds sensible, right?

Now you know, hopefully as well as I do, that mashed potatoes may not be the most photogenic food. Also, we totally devoured these in about ten seconds flat, and it was really cloudy outside, so ya know, everything was working against me for getting a picture. Not that I like making excuses or anything.

Just imagine the above taters with little specs of green in them.

The roasted poblanos added a nice mild smokey flavor, and the cayenne added just enough of a kick to keep things interesting. Basically, adding other flavors allowed me to (slightly) reduce the cream and butter in the "recipe" (I use the term "recipe" lightly, as you should know by now). And everyone loves a little roasted garlic, right? You know you do!

Roasted Poblano Mashed Potatoes (serves 6-8)

2 pounds yukon gold potatoes, cut into 1-1.5" pieces

1 cup light cream (or heavy, I just had light)

4 tablespoons butter

2 fresh poblano peppers

1 fresh cayenne pepper

3-4 cloves garlic, skins on

salt and pepper, to taste

Preheat oven to 425*. On a large sheet of foil, place peppers and garlic, and drizzle olive oil over top. Fold the foil up to form a pouch and pinch it shut around the veggies. Bake for 45 minutes, and carefully open up the foil to let everything air out. In a large pot, bring potatoes to a boil in enough water to fully cover them. Boil for about 10 minutes, until you can pierce with easily with a fork. Drain water out, leaving (or returning) potatoes in the pot. Add cream and butter, and mash everything together. I used a regular ol' masher for most of the work, before switching to an immersion blender. De-stem the peppers, and if you want less heat take out the seeds, as well. Break the peppers up into a few pieces each to make the blending easier, and run the immersion blender through until the whole mix is smooth to your liking. Add salt and pepper as you see fit, and enjoy!