Jalapeno Potatoes

Jalapeno potatoes take classic scalloped potatoes and drop them into Southwestern territory with jalapeño cheese, pimentos, and red bell pepper layered between the slices. The sauce is a tight bechamel that melts the jalapeño cheese into a silky, spicy coating. The heat is moderate, not face-melting.

Boiling the red-skin potatoes whole before slicing is the move that sets this recipe apart from most scalloped potato casseroles. You get tender, fully-cooked slices that hold their shape through the bake, rather than the half-raw slices you get when you start with raw potato in the casserole. The 30-minute boil might seem long, but the slices stay firm and the bake time stays short.

The sauce is a standard roux-based bechamel: butter, flour cooked one minute to get rid of the raw flour taste, milk whisked in until smooth, then the jalapeño cheese melted through. One minute for the roux is enough. Any longer and it starts to color, tipping the sauce toward tan instead of pale cream.

Kitchen Tips

• Use waxy red-skin or Yukon gold potatoes. Russets fall apart when boiled whole and won’t give you those clean quarter-inch slices.
• Cool the boiled potatoes at least 15 minutes before slicing. Hot potatoes tear under a knife and give you ragged edges.
• Grate the jalapeño cheese yourself off a block. Pre-shredded bags are coated with anti-caking starch that keeps the cheese from melting smoothly into the sauce.
• Let the casserole rest 5 minutes before serving. The sauce thickens slightly as it cools and the slices hold together on the plate.

Variations

• Swap the jalapeño cheese for pepper jack and add a chopped seeded jalapeño to the layers for more kick.
• Stir a cup of cooked and crumbled bacon or diced ham into the layers for a meaty main-dish version.
• Top with crushed tortilla chips for the last 15 minutes uncovered for a crunchy, Tex-Mex crust.