Chipotle Smashed Sweet Potatoes

I was discussing our holiday menus with a friend in a Facebook Chat and he told me about this side dish he planned to serve with his meal. I’ve never been fond of the traditional yams or sweet potatoes with the marshmallow topping found on almost every holiday buffet table. Don’t get me wrong, I loved it as a toddler, but I like to think my palate has evolved over the decades. This is a new twist for a spicy alternative to the humble Sweet Potato, or as we call it in Costa Rica, “el Camote”. This recipe was a big hit at our Thanksgiving dinner and now it will be a regular side dish in our house all year long. I modified this recipe from an Alton Brown original to suit our taste by adding bacon and sour cream.

Ingredients:

• 4 slices of bacon, diced (optional)
• 4 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 4 tablespoon of butter
• ½ cup of sour cream
• 1 or 1½ chipotle pepper(s) in adobo sauce, depending on the heat level preference (not the whole can)
• 2 teaspoons of just the adobo sauce
• 1 teaspoon of salt

Directions:

• Fry the bacon until crispy, drain on a paper towel, and set it aside (optional)
• Steam the cubed sweet potatoes for about 20 minutes until they are fork-tender. Steaming the potatoes prevents them from absorbing too much water during the cook.
• Mash the sweet potatoes with butter, sour cream, and salt
• Mince the chipotle pepper (remove the seeds if you don't want a lot of heat). I recommend you start with just one chipotle pepper at first.
• Fold in the chipotle pepper and adobo sauce
• Let the potatoes rest for about 30 minutes so that the flavors can meld. Taste and add more chipotle pepper or adobo sauce if necessary. You can always add more heat, but you can't take it back. 
• Top the dish with the crispy bacon bits.