Hi friends!
I will admit, I am resistant to change when it comes to my breakfast. Typically when I find something I like, I will stick with it for months, even years! Lately it has been eggs scrambled with lots of veggies and one piece of ridiculously good bacon from the farmer's market. I love to linger over my laptop, slowly drinking my coffee and catching up on the world with my breakfast in hand. I visited my mom in Florida this weekend, a complete breakfast minimalist. No veggies!? No coffee!? I was forced to make due with what I had. I ended up frying some eggs sunny side up and dipping the bacon in the yummy yolk. I forgot how satisfying that sensation can be! To top it all off, I was missing my fur children. Appolonia was spayed last week and has been trotting around in the "cone of humiliation." You never realize how much your dog moves around until she is running into everything in sight!
Poor bear!
During my breakfast dilemma, I remembered getting a breakfast hash at a really good restaurant near my gym, Urban Pl8. If you have never been, you need to give it a try. Their focus is on fresh, local food that people can afford. Check it out at http://www.urbanpl8.com/.
Smashed Sweet Potato Hash with Chicken Sausage
One large sweet potato
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 medium onion
1/2 jalapeno, seeds and core removed
6 oz. (2 links) chicken sausage, precooked
Salt and pepper to taste
1 teaspoon cumin
1 clove garlic
4 eggs
Toppings: (optional) chopped chives, scallions, avocado, fresh salsa
Serves 2-3
Preheat a heavy bottomed skillet over medium heat. Preheat your oven broiler. Chop vegetables and sausage into small cubes. Try to make all your vegetables relatively the same size so they finish cooking at the same time. I removed the inner membrane and seeds of my jalapeno. If you want more heat, leave them intact. The dish was hot to me without them, but I am a pretty big wuss when it comes to spicy food!
Place olive oil into preheated skillet. If the oil ripples and spreads out easily over the pan, you are good to go. If it smokes, take the pan off the heat for about 30 seconds and let it cool down a little bit. You want the pan to be hot, but not so hot that you burn the vegetables.
Place the veggies, garlic and sausage into the pan. Season with salt, pepper, and the cumin. If you have never cooked with cumin before, give it a try! It is that delicious, smoky flavor that is in the background of chili. Toss everything around in the olive oil until it is well coated. Now, for the surprise. We smash! Place something heavy over your hash to increase the contact with the pan. I recommend a smaller sized skillet. Let the hash cook for about 5 minutes, pressing down on the skillet occasionally. (use an oven mit!) After 5 minutes, toss the hash around and cook for an additional 3 minutes.
Remove your "smashing"pan. Add your eggs and season them with salt and pepper. Let the eggs cook on the stovetop until the outer white portion is just set. The inner white takes longer and will be cooked in the broiler. After the outer white has set, place the hash under your preheated broiler and cook until the entire white is cooked through, but the yolk is still runny.
Garnish with anything you like. I used avocado slices and freshly chopped chives. The avocado adds a really beautiful buttery texture to the dish. Serve with freshly toasted bread for dipping in those yolks!
Get out of that breakfast rut! Enjoy!
