Sweet Potato Hash

A little off the main drag of Gradon's home town in Sandy utah sits a greasy spoon called the Belgian Waffle. Although the waffles are nothing to sneeze at, its real speciality is the “garbage hash.” It aint pretty, but it sure is scrumptious. Gradon douses it in tabasco sauce and nearly licks his plate clean every time.

Now that we're living on the other side of the country the poor man has been deprived. So I set out to mimic the famous dish, and according to Gradon i've managed to do it!

Since Gradon's birthday falls in October, I incorporated fall flavors by making a sweet potato hash. It turned out quite delicious! It's a wonderful pairing of sweet and savory. I knew I had succeeded when Gradon refused both ketchup and tabasco sauce. He said he didn't want to overpower the flavors. Say what? This is a man obsessed with sauce folks. Like he likes a little pizza with his ranch.

Enjoy this as an autumn breakfast! Or dinner for that matter. I topped it with fried eggs and served it alongside pumpkin biscuits.

Sweet Potato Hash

Adapted from Sunny Anderson

• 3 strips bacon, chopped
• 2 ½ tablespoons olive oil
• 2 medium sweet potatoes (about 8 ounces each) peeled and diced
• ½ cup chopped red onion
• 3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
• 1 fresh jalapeno, chopped
• ½ tsp ground cumin
• salt and freshly ground pepper to taste (I used Lawry's seasoned salt)

In a large pan (I used my 12 inch iron skillet) over medium heat, add the bacon and olive oil. After a minute or so, add the sweet potatoes and spread out as much as possible and let them rest in one layer. Leave them to cook until browned about 5 minutes. Then toss and let stand until most of the potatoes are browned and the bacon bits are crisp, about 3 to 5 minutes longer.

You will have uneven browning, but that's what gives it a nice rustic look! Using an iron skillet will also add a nice crust to your hash, ensuring a deep flavor. But if you don't have one, it'll still be great. Add the onions, garlic, jalapenos, cumin and salt and pepper. 

Allow everything to heat for another 2 minutes. Taste and season with more salt and pepper if necessary.

I like to think that I planned a pretty sweet 26th birthday for Grades this year! I made him this delicious hash as well as a heart shaped tiered spin off of a "better than anything" birthday cake. Gradon has a special love for sweetened condensed milk so the cake was pretty much drowning in it. Still, he may have been able to handle more! I'm so pleased that my hubby has a sweet tooth. 

Although the cake was very tasty, the birthday highlight had to be seeing Eric Church in concert! We both LOVE country music so it was a real treat--and so lucky that his appearance landed right smack dab on G's birthday! It was very cool to sing some of our favorite songs along with him and the rest of the crazy crowd. And also nice to only need to walk across the street to the John Paul Jones Arena instead of having to sit in traffic. Other birthday fun included ordering colossal burgers at Boylan Heights and opening a few presents. What a grand day it was!