Veg*n Cooking and Other Random Musings: Spicy Chile-Glazed Sweet Potato Flautas

Monday, October 6, 2008

Spicy Chile-Glazed Sweet Potato Flautas

I got the inspiration for a chile glazed sweet potato dish from a Rick Bayless recipe that can be found here. I didn't have any ancho chiles, and I thought it would be fun to go a completely different way with these. They were really good, simple and fairly quick to make, and spicy, just the way I like things. They were almost a little too spicy for Brett, so keep that in mind if you decide to make these. Just cut down on some of the chipotle peppers.

I thought about putting other things in these, but they seemed perfect with just the sweet potatoes, so all I did was put some chopped black olives in the flautas with the sweet potatoes. The only thing I would do differently next time would be to thaw out some Green Chile Taco Sauce to have with these - that would have been perfect.

Man, I'm drooling just thinking about these - we will definitely have them again soon. I'll just tone down the spice a little bit so Brett doesn't disallow me from ever making these again. So good, so good.

Anything on the ingredients list that doesn't fit in with the Eat Local Challenge or the Go Local part of the Unplug Yourself initiative were things we already had on hand.

Note: I still have lots of agave nectar on hand. When I am out I will be purchasing local honey - which would also work well in this recipe.

The local booty legend:
no asterisk = grocery store
* = farmer's market or The Root Cellar
** = CSA
*** = Container or Community Garden
**** = the non-profit buying club, Blue Planet or Purcell Mountain Farms





















These plates are seriously cool aren't they? ;-) Very fitting for a Mexican meal - hehe.

Spicy Chile-Glazed Sweet Potato Flautas

Chile Glazed Sweet Potatoes:
2 sweet potatoes, scrubbed and cubed *

2 cloves of garlic, minced *
2 chipotle chiles in adobo, minced
1-2 tbsp adobo sauce
3 tbsp agave nectar
1/4 cup of water
cinnamon
allspice
Mexican oregano
black pepper
salt

Preheat oven to 425.

Combine all the glaze ingredients in a small bowl.

Place the sweet potatoes in a baking dish and toss with half the glaze.

Cover with foil and roast for 20 minutes. Toss potatoes with the rest of the glaze.

Roast for an additional 20 minutes or until potatoes soft.

Turn the oven down to 400.

The Rest of the Schtuff:
1 small can of chopped black olives, drained
small flour tortillas
salsa

Make sure the oven is at 400.

Layer sweet potatoes in warmed tortillas. Roll up and secure with toothpicks.

Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.

Remove the toothpicks and serve with salsa.

11 comments:

Veggienetters said...

Hi! I love the recipes you are postin' up in here. :) Sweet potatoes are my newest favorite food.... I grew up only eating them covered in butter and sugar so discovering savory ways to make them is awesome! I can't wait to try this. :)

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

BEYOND sensational.

jessy said...

mmmmmmmmmmm! these look wonderful, Jennifer! adobo, agave, and sweet potatoes sounds like a tasty, tasty combination! wow!

oh, and i wanted to tell you that dan & i made our own salsa verde last night! we're going to use it tomorrow night for enchiladas verdes! i didn't think to look at your recipe before we made it (i thought, "we'll wing it!") and in looking at your recipe today we totally forgot to add in some lime juice. i'm gonna do that when i get home. i wondered why it seemed like it was missing a little something! ahahhahhaaa! but i wanted to say thanks for inspiring us to make more of our own!

and now i'm printing off your chile-glazed sweet potato recipe! wahooooooooo!

T said...

The hits just keep on coming! This sounds ridiculously good. I am loving all the great ideas for potatoey goodness you've been dreaming up.

Anonymous said...

Those look gorgeous! Thanks for the note on the spice...if I make these, I will definitely tone it down a bit!

Courtney

Unknown said...

Those look fantastic! Definitely giving them a try this week.

Anonymous said...

Flautas!!! Oh I want them.

Anonymous said...

Oh Flautas!!!! Spicy and local and delicious! Everything a gal could possibly love!

J said...

Veggienetters - Hello! Thank you. Sweet potatoes are flippin' wonderful, I can't believe that until a couple of years ago, I didn't like them. Actually, that sweet potato casserole you are talking about is why I didn't like sweet potatoes. I'm just not a big marshmallow fan I think, and my family always loaded them down with marshmallows. Ew.

I have all sorts of recipes posted and ideas in the 'ol noggin' about savory or "alternative" ways of eating sweet potatoes!

Veggie Girl - You are too kind.

Jessy - It was a very good combination, a little spicy for Brett, but I can work around that next time.

Wahoo Jessy, that is wonderful, I bet it tastes fabulous! Now that it is getting cooler, enchiladas can "come back into fashion", I can't wait to see what you put in yours! I love winging it, that is how a lot of our meals are created it.

Ah lime juice, that really helps add that extra layer of "something" to a sauce, or even marinades.

Hey, no problem, I'm just stoked you did it. I can't wait to see your recipe, I like to try other peoples recipes too. I so often just "do my own thing" with food, that I have to step back and try someone else's recipes from time-to-time too.

:-)

T - Hahahaha. Thank you. It is that time of the year, over winter Brett and I might as well turn into big potatoes or winter squash. Oh and between the months of November and February - big clementines. I can't wait for California clementine season!

Courtney - These were definitely not mild. The adobo sauce itself isn't really spicy, it is the ripe jalapenos that have the fire. Perhaps if you just used adobo sauce and didn't use the chiles at all, it would work. I think they sell just plain adobo sauce, and I don't think it is too difficult to make either.

Chandelle - Thanks, we hope you like 'em.

Rach-Ums - Hahaha, me too - again!

Shellyfish - I know, you almost couldn't have made these any tastier - except with the addition of the (also local) green chile taco sauce I have stashed away in the freezer.

Alicia said...

those are black olives?! I didn't recognize them, but nice... with sweet potatoes :-) It sounds like a great combination!

J said...

Alice - Yep, they are just all chopped up! I love the combination of sweet potatoes and black olives - almost as much as I love sweet potatoes and black beans.