Sweet Potato Hash with Chorizo, Onion, and Asparagus

I have been aware of the term Whole30 for awhile. Someone I knew did a Whole30 challenge about a year ago and I could tell she lost weight. Recently, another friend on Facebook posted a picture after completing the challenge so I visited Whole30.com to learn more. I decided to try it. I did South Beach in the past, and I lost a lot of weight. More precisely, I did phase 1 (several times), lost some weight, went on vacation, returned home, and ate whatever I wanted. Eventually, I would go back to phase 1 but I never seemed to progress to phase 2. This all-or-nothing cycle is not the fault of South Beach or The New Atkins with which I’ve also tinkered. It’s 100 percent user error. Whole30 is a challenge to eliminate sugar, legumes, grains, and dairy for 30 days. That means, no bread, cheese, or wine (my 3 favorite food groups) for 30 days. This challenge helps to reset your system, much like rebooting a computer after an error. It changes the way you think about food. After doing an on-again off-again “low-carb” cycle for years, there is something actually freeing about Whole30. I’m eating fruit, potatoes, carrots, and squash – things that are usually not allowed in strict phase 1 programs. In my foodie journey I’ve never made myself a sweet potato hash with an egg on it, until today.

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Peel and dice sweet potato into a large dice and the onions too.

2. Place the diced sweet potatoes on a parchment paper lined sheet pan. Drizzle them with a couple of tablespoons of olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast the potatoes for 25 – 35 minutes, flipping them once halfway through the cooking time. They are done with they are soft and are charred to your liking.

3. While the potatoes are roasting finish dicing the onions and asparagus.

4. Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a cast iron pan. Add the onions and sauté until soft and a little charred at the edges. The best way to achieve this is to leave them alone in the pan. Only stir after leaving them alone for a few minutes. When they are done scoop them out into a bowl.

5. Add a little more oil to the pan, if necessary, and add the asparagus. Cook them for 5 to 7 minutes until crisp tender and lightly charred. Add them to the onions and set aside.

6. Break up the chorizo into bite-sized chunks and cook undisturbed for 5 minutes before stirring. Continue cooking until the chorizo is cooked through and slightly browned on the edges.

7. Mix the onions and asparagus back into the pan with the chorizo. The potatoes should be done or close to being done. Keep the sausage mixture warm on low heat until the potatoes are done.

8. Put it all together in the cast iron pan.

9. You can add a sunny side up egg if you like by heating up some clarified butter in a nonstick pan. Turn the heat down to medium low. Crack the egg into a small bowl and add to the pan. Sprinkle the egg with salt.

10. Cover with a clear lid for just a minute to help the top of the whites cook, especially near the yolk. Watch carefully so you don’t cook the yolk too much.

11. Baste some of that butter around the yolk area where the whites are thicker.

12. Serve the egg on top of the hash.

13. My favorite bite is the “dunk” bite.