Sweet Potato Hash

I made this for dinner last night and my husband was very upset with me.  Not because we had Sweet Potato Hash for dinner, but because I was making it while he was on the treadmill.

He came up from the basement, panting and sweaty, with a scowl on his face.  “Are you trying to torture me??” he exclaimed with more than a hint of annoyance in his voice.  Whoops.  I guess it was a long nine miles!  🙂

Of course, the beauty of hash is that you can throw anything in it.  It goes back hundreds of years and usually consists of some type of meat and potatoes, diced small, and sautéed with onions and spices.  You will see turkey hash around a lot after Thanksgiving, given the ease at which you can throw it together.  An abundant amount of leftover meat?  Check.  Veggies?  Check.  The need to make something other than sandwiches?  Check.

Leftover roast beef, potatoes, and veggies (carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, spinach, kale, & winter squash all work great) make an outstanding hash for dinner, but for breakfast (or in this case having breakfast for dinner) there is something about crispy sweet potatoes, melt in your mouth caramelized onions, and spicy sausage all topped with a hot fried egg; over easy of course because I am, after all, my Father’s daughter and that is just how I roll.  If you brown the sausage ahead of time and keep it in the fridge or freezer you can make this hash on a Saturday morning without too much fuss.  If you dice the potatoes and onions a day or two in advance (they will keep just fine in a sealed container in the fridge) it is even faster.  It smells so good it will pull your family right out of bed.  Or off a treadmill.
One Year Ago: Bite-Sized Cinnamon Rolls & Roasted Sweet Potato Fries

Sweet Potato Hash
Obviously you can serve this with any type of egg you like.  Or feel free to omit the egg or even the sausage.  It is equally good any way you do it.

1/2 lb bulk breakfast sausage
3 or 4 large sweet potatoes, peeled and diced small (about 6 cups)
1 large onion, diced small
salt and pepper
2 T butter
2 T olive oil
1/4 c fresh chopped parsley

In a large skillet (cast iron works great) brown the sausage, drain, and set aside.  In the same skillet (I like to wipe out most of the grease with a paper towel) add the olive oil and butter and let melt over medium heat.  The butter is for flavor and the oil is to keep it all from burning.  Add the potatoes and onions, toss to coat, and let sit for several minutes to brown.  Continue to stir and leave them be for several minutes, allowing them to get crispy on all sides.  Cook until potatoes are tender when pierced with a fork, maybe 20 minutes, depending on how big or small your potatoes are diced.  Add the sausage back in and heat together, tossing well.  Taste for seasoning, being careful not to add too much salt as the sausage already adds quite a bit!  Add the chopped parsley and top with fried, poached, or scrambled eggs.  Enjoy!

Note: If I have it, I like to add fresh thyme, but don’t use dried!  Also, chopped garlic is good in here, but we found we prefer it left out so that the flavors of the sausage and potatoes shine through a bit more.  Fresh diced mushrooms are stellar too!