Downsizing my house has slowly led to downsizing my life. Even my cooking! Through simplifying my life and my recipes, I’m finally starting to understand some of the teachings of the various culinary institutes I’ve spent time around and some of the things my gourmet chef father has taught me:
Sometimes the simple things are the best, especially in cooking. The only trick is that you’ve got to have quality ingredients and you’ve got to cook them right!
It’s the same message proclaimed by a wonderful cookbook that has been sitting on my shelf, unused until I rediscovered it during the move. Now I don’t know how I lived without it. It’s the 5 Ingredient Fix cookbook by Claire Robinson, host of a show on Food Network of the same name.
I’ve been having a great time experimenting with her recipes, but I’ve had my eye on her recipe for deconstructed sweet potato hash with fried eggs. I love sweet potatoes, for their taste as well as their nutritional benefits, and they’re extremely tasty in a morning hash. However, by a stroke of luck, I came across these babies at Costco last weekend, and couldn’t resist snapping them up:
They’re Khoai Lang Tim – also known as Okinawan sweet potatoes, Hawaiian sweet potatoes, or purple yams. There’s no fat in them and they’re low in calories, and they’re full of antioxidants and fiber. Not to mention they’re delicious.
So after snapping these up, I decided to try my hand at the hash recipe. However, I did {of course} change up a few things and make a few substitutions. For one, I’m really trying not to buy butter {you gasp in shock, I know} so I wanted to see if I could make a delicious meal without butter. I also had to forego the fresh sage leaves, since it’s not normally something I have on hand – and definitely not something I have a week after moving in. I do have crushed sage though!
Still, I ended up with a tasty, delicious, and calorie friendly recipe that incorporates some local flavor and is a great kickstart for the morning. After being my taste-tester, my husband is already asking when I can make it again. Check it out!
Okinawan Sweet Potato Hash with Fried Eggs
Makes 2 servings.
What you’ll need:
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 1 cubed medium sweet potato {regular or purple}
- 1 cup water
- 1 chopped sweet onion
- 4 large eggs
- 1 tsp crushed sage
- sea salt and pepper to taste
- {optional} avocado to garnish
How to make it:
1. Heat 1/4 cup olive oil in a large skillet and stir in the sage until it infuses the water. Add in the cubed sweet potatoes and bring the water to a nice simmer. Cook the potatoes until the water has boiled off. If it hasn’t boiled off in about 10 minutes, spoon it out and continue cooking the potatoes. Total cook time should be about 20 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, pour the rest of the olive oil into another skillet and add the chopped onions. Cook those about the same time {15-20 minutes} at low heat until the onions go golden brown.
3. Pour the onions into the sweet potato skillet and toss to mix them together. Then remove from the heat and plate them up, piling the onion-potato mixture in the middle of the plate.
4. Wipe out one of the pans, pour in a teeny bit more olive oil to prevent sticking, and fry the eggs, two at a time. I happen, like the cookbook author, to like mine over easy, so that’s what I created.
5. Put the eggs on top of the hash, crack some fresh ground sea salt and pepper over the top, and serve them up!
I can’t wait to get my herb garden going so I can try this out with the whole sage leaves that Claire recommends, but until then, this is one tasty treat. I really enjoy the addition of a few slices of avocado as shown {it’s a pretty garnish, but the best garnishes are the ones that complement the food you’re eating}. I also enjoy adding a little bit of this:
This is shallot salt, and it’s every bit as wonderful as you could imagine! We discovered this – and many more wonderful offerings – at Penzeys Spices when we were wandering around downtown Littleton, Colorado. If you don’t have one near you, don’t worry. You can shop their online catalog here!
I’m also going to try Claire’s recommendation and add in some spicy sausage, as soon as I find one that’s not super caloric or super greasy. Any suggestions out there, friends?
Anyway, do try this recipe out. I’d love to hear what you think of it! I’d also love to hear any other suggestions for great low-calorie high-energy kickstarts to your day!