I have a love-hate relationship with sweet potatoes. I love that they are full of vitamins. I love the way they look on a plate. I love that my kids love them. I want to love the taste of them, but for most of my life I have hated them. I think that's because until the past couple of years my only experience with sweet potatoes has been the sickly sweet, marshmallow topped disgustingness that people serve at Thanksgiving. I never got it, and I still don't get it. Then, last summer, while visiting family and friends in the Columbus area, I ate at a wonderful restaurant called the Northstar Cafe. My sandwich came with sweet potato fries, which, being the sweet potato hater that I am, I assumed I would just hand them off to my son. Since I believe you should always try something before deciding you don't like it, I ate one of the crispy, salty thin cut fries before scraping them onto my son's plate. Suddenly, I had a newfound respect for the sweet potato. I realized it wasn't neccessarily the sweet potato I didn't like, it was the preparation. I now look for more savory ways to cook sweet potatoes, and I recently began trying out recipes for sweet potato hash. Last night's was a winner, perfectly spicy and crispy on the bottom with the rest of my chorizo sausage and a perfectly cooked egg on top. This meal can serve as breakfast, brunch, lunch, or dinner (or linner or lupper, if you like). I of course failed to write down the recipe, but I am sure memory will serve well enough that you could replicate it pretty easily.
Sweet Potato Hash (serves 4)
8 oz Fresh Chorizo Sausage
1 medium red onion, diced small
2 cloves garlic
2-3 sweet potatoes, diced small (2-3 cups yield, depending on the size of your potatoes)
smoked paprika
salt & pepper
4 eggs
Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Remove chorizo from casings and brown in skillet, stirring to break up clumps. Add onion and garlic, sautee until translucent. Add sweet potato and cook, stirring occasionally, until almost tender. Increase heat to medium-high. Add about 1 teaspoon paprika and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Continue cooking for 2-3 minutes, or until potatoes start to brown. Taste for seasonings and add more paprika, salt or pepper as you deem necessary. Make 4 spaces in the sweet potato mixture and crack one egg into each space. Sprinkle eggs with paprika. Cook 2-3 minutes, then put the cover on the skillet and cook until whites are just set but the yolks are still runny. Serve with your favorite hot sauce.
As I mentioned in my last post, I have been waiting for fresh shell peas to use with the fresh whole wheat linguine I received last Friday. I also have a number of recipes that call for fresh peas or pea shoots that I want to try and I was sure I would get one or both in one of the early CSA packages. Yesterday I took my boys strawberry picking at Fitch's (Well, I picked, one ate, and the other slept. Picking strawberries with a 20 lb child strapped to you is no small feat.) and was hoping the shell peas would be ready. Alas, they informed me that due to the heavy rains, everything is running a few weeks behind and I should check back on the 20th. Boo. Determined, I searched the stores and found fresh, already shelled English peas at Trader Joe's. Spring linguine with Basil is an easy, yet delicious vegetarian meal my family loves. You could substitute frozen peas, but I think fresh makes all the difference and they are only available here for a short time. I served it with sliced tomatoes and a glass of sauvignon blanc.
Rumor has it I am receiving strawberries again in Friday's CSA pick-up, plus I have the three quarts I picked yesterday, so I tomorrow I will be making strawberry muffins or scones in addition to a spelt berry salad. I have almost made it through the week and haven't let anything go to waste. Bonus that all recipes have been a success!
I should also mention that when I spoke to my mom this morning and mentioned I made sweet potato hash last night, the first words out of her mouth were, "You didn't update your blog!" Geez, Mom, I'll try to do better.
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