Recipe: Tex-Mex Mashed Potatoes

Tex-Mex Mashed Potatoes
rec.food.cooking/aquanom

Some of the best mashed potatoes I've had were from Esparza's Tex-Mex cafe in Portland. OR. Joe Esparza (the proprietor) makes them, I believe, with butter, a little milk, and shredded pepper jack cheese (jack cheese with chopped/minced jalapeno peppers, if you're not familiar with pepper jack). Beat 'til fluffy and add grated black pepper and salt to taste. I don't know precise proportions, but I've made reasonable facsimiles just by tasting in progress and adjusting the ingredients (of course, that's probably how most people cook anyway). I like hot food, so I tend to use lots of pepper jack, but if you're cooking for someone who thinks, for example, that canned Hormel chili is *hot*, be careful with the pepper jack.

I usually find mashed potatoes bland and need lots of gravy to make them palatable, but these I eat plain and love every bite.