These potatoes are a definite option for Thanksgiving as a substitute for the traditional mashed russets with a stick of sweet butter and a whole tub of sour cream. It took some research to adequately understand the impact of choices made when choosing the ingredients, but the information learned will help with other recipes as well.

First, you have to figure out what chili to use. In general, larger chilies are less hot than smaller chilies. Chilies grown in hot climates are hotter than those grown in wet climates. It’s been said that the heat of the chilies depends on the mood of the farmer when the chilies were planted. Given these general guidelines, and not knowing the farmer’s personality, I went with a Googled site that listed the heat of chilies in Scoville Units (Scoville was a guy who figured all this out a century ago). Bell peppers have no heat. Of the common chilies I use, poblanos, anchos, pasillas, and anaheims can be considered a heat unit of one. Guajillo, jalapenos, and chilpotle chilies are about 2-3 times as hot. Serranos are about 10 times as hot. The small skinny chili de arbol are about 15 times as hot (the theory of small is hotter holds up here). Tabasco sauce is 30 times as is cayenne pepper. Habaneros, which I only had once in some brownies, are 150 times as hot. For the batch of potatoes I tested, I used a dried guajillo chili and the heat was mild when mixed with the other ingredients.

The other issue was trying to figure out how much fat there would be per serving. I am accepting this personal challenge these days as Sue Heikkinen, a Kaiser Permanente dietitian and nutritionist with the Colorado region, is doing a post facto nutritional analysis for each of the recipes, and posting it on the site within days of my posting. The fat content of olive oil is well known, as it is for cheeses. What I didn’t know was how much cheese it took to produce a half cup of grated cheese. My wife knew exactly where to go to get the information. Out came her 40-year-old "Joy of Cooking," which has a comprehensive conversion table in the back. Turns out you get 5 cups of grated cheese per pound of cheese. ½ cup of grated cheese only requires 1.6 ounces of dried cheese. Simple math says there’s about 10-11 grams of fat per serving of these potatoes. We’ll see if I’m even close when the real analysis is done. Either way, it’s a lot less than traditional mashed potatoes.

1 ½ pounds red potatoes, quartered unless small to start
1 dried guajillo or 2-3 dried ancho chilies, seeded, and minced
4 cloves garlic, minced
½ cup grated dry jack cheese
2 Tablespoons olive oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1/4 cup plus a little more chopped fresh parsley

Cover the potatoes with cold water in a large sauce pan. Bring to a boil, then simmer until tender, about 15 minutes. Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a large skillet. Briefly cook the garlic and the chilies without browning the garlic. Drain the potatoes when they are done and return them to the skillet. Smash them with the back of a spoon or a potato masher, incorporate the chilies and garlic, and heat through. Stir in the cheese. Adjust the seasonings to taste. Stir in the cilantro and 1/4 cup of the parsley. Garnish with the rest of the parsley. These are easy, basic, and really good.

Serves four

Nutrition Information Per Serving:
Calories: 269
Fat: 11 gm
Saturated Fat: 4 gm
Trans Fat: 0 gm
Cholesterol: 13 mg
Carbohydrate: 34 gm
Fiber: 3 gm
Sodium: 236 mg
Protein: 7 gm

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