Andouille and Sweet Potato Hash

The first time I ever had hash, I was in high school. I'd spent the night at my friend Rob Dentry's house, and in the morning his father made us corned beef hash. We smothered it in hot sauce, and I ate until my stomach hurt. It was one of the most delicious things I'd ever had, and I think some part of me wondered why, in a childhood where I grew up eating scrapple and Taylor Pork Roll and S.O.S. (chipped beef gravy), my family had deprived me of this delicious, salty, starchy vehicle for Crystal Hot Sauce.

To be fair, everything can be turned into a viable vehicle for Crystal Hot Sauce.

At any rate, years later, after the baptism of my godson, the lot of us went out to breakfast. This is where I first experienced corned beef hash in a non-cat food state. Giant chunks of tender but crisped corned beef (rustic), with a perfectly poached egg on top. This was the elevation of something I never knew could be elevated.

It was only in the last year that I first came upon the recipe for sweet potato and andouille sausage hash. Let me be clear about something: I do not particularly like sweet potatoes. Yes, I have had them as fries. Yes I have had them baked with butter and brown sugar. Yes I have had them more savory, or more spicy. I am just not a fan.

And yet here, with the smoky sausage and the pop of the jalapeno ... here I think I finally have found a way to be friends with sweet potatoes.

The recipe begs for a fried, over-easy, or poached egg on top. I prefer the two latter, as the breaking of the yolk over the hash is one of life's great pleasures. Feel free to douse with hot sauce, but I think you'll find the recipe doesn't really need the extra kick.

Ingredients:

For Hash:

• 1 Tbs canola oil
• 8 oz. Andouille Sausage, coarsely chopped
• 1/8 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp. cumin
• Approximately 1 lb sweet potato, diced
• 1 small red onion, finely diced
• 1 jalapeno, chopped
• 1/3 cup cilantro, chopped

For Poached Egg:

• 1 egg, refrigerator cold
• water
• 2 Tbs white vinegar
• 1 tsp salt

To Prepare:

Serves: 4

Preparation Time: 30 minutes

1. Prep your potatoes, onions, and jalapeno, and set aside for when the moment strikes. You'll know when that is. Because I will tell you. Right below here.
   
2. Chop your andouille sausage. In a large pan, heat the canola oil to a medium heat. Once hot, add the sausage and stir occasionally for 5 minutes, rendering some of the fat from the sausage.
   
3. Add the cumin and cinnamon, stirring to incorporate evenly, approximately one minute.
4. Now is the time! Add your potato, onion, and jalapeno, and stir the entire mixture to evenly coat everything in the spices. 
   
5. Cook the entire mixture for 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking. When the potatoes are soft and the onions translucent, remove the pan from the heat.
6. Add the cilantro, stirring the distribute evenly.
7. While the hash rests, fill a small pot about halfway full of water. Add the white vinegar and salt.
8. Turn the water up to a medium heat. You want to get this to a simmer, not a boil. This means the water should be slightly bubbling at the top, not a full rolling splashy boil. Tiny little bubbles!
9. When the water reaches a simmer, take an egg out of the fridge, and crack it into a bowl, ramekin, custard dish, or other small vessel.
10. Turn off the heat. This is imperative!
11. Stir the water until you have a whirlpool formed in the center of the pot.
12. Quickly pour the egg into the center of the whirlpool. Immediately cover the pot.
13. After 5 minutes, the egg should be perfectly poached, with a mostly runny inside. Remove from the water with a slotted spoon, and nestle gently over a bed of hash.

    

    Your food always loves a good peace sign.

14. Crack that sucker open and watch the runny yolk sauce up your amazing hash.
15. Eat the heck out of all of it.
    

Final Notes:

• You can make many substitutions with this dish. For example, mine is a complete lie - I used yams not sweet potatoes. And don't get me started on whether or not they're the same thing ... but yams work as a great substitution.
• Similarly, I used smoked chicken andouille sausage. You could also use chorizo.
• As this is likely a breakfast, I'd advise a nice strong French Roast coffee to balance the spice. If you ARE going to be drinking, go for the mimosa instead of the bloody mary with this one. Or a crisp lager.

Bon appetit!