Just as I suspected, a game of “what the hell can I make for dinner?” while looking into the fridge was exactly what I needed to break me out of yesterday’s day-long funk. And, if I may, the results were pretty fantastic! If you enjoy cooking and want to improve your ability to, and comfort level with, thinking outside of the box, I suggest playing this game as a once-a-week, clean out the fridge exercise. Not only will it keep you from wasting produce, but it will make you combine ingredients that you wouldn’t necessarily see paired during your 10-minute surf of Pinterest.
Here is what I dug out of the fridge:
(makes up to 4 servings, just increase number of eggs):
- 2 sweet potatoes, peeled and cut to 3/4″ cubes
- 1/2 head of cauliflower, broken down into 1/2″ – 3/4″ heads
- 1/2 head red cabbage, rough chopped to about 1/2″ – 3/4″
- 2 medium carrots, peeled, halved lengthwise and fine chopped
- 1/4 white onion, peeled, fine chopped
- 1 leek, green removed, stalk halved lengthwise and fine chopped
- 5 green onion “greens”, chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, peeled and fine chopped
- 5 sprigs thyme, leaves removed and minced
- 2 large eggs
- 2 tbsp EVOO
- 1/2 cup beef stock (low sodium)
- salt & pepper
- 1/2 tsp ground cardamom
- 1/2 tsp ground cloves
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
- 2 beers, consumed slowly, not at all used in the actual recipe
What Was Left
Bring 6-8 cups of salted water to a boil. While waiting, begin the prep of your vegetables, starting with the sweet potatoes. Once water boils, drop your sweet potatoes in (already cubed). Blanch for 3-5 minutes, then strain and rinse under cold water to stop cooking process. Set aside. Rinse out your pot, refill with fresh water and return to a boil.
Meanwhile, bring a large pan to medium heat and add 1 tbsp EVOO. Add your onions and leek to the pan with a pinch of salt and saute until just turning translucent, approximately 5 minutes. Once your onion and leek start to turn translucent and are aromatic, add your carrots and cauliflower to the pan and saute for another 5 minutes. Next, add your sweet potatoes and garlic. At this point, add the cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, a few pinches of salt and approx. 2 tsp of fresh-cracked black pepper, mixing throughout the ingredients. You may need to add a little more EVOO here to keep your potatoes from sticking as the first several ingredients will have absorbed much of the oil you originally added.
After your potatoes have been in the pan for approximately 10 minutes, add your red cabbage and combine. Simultaneously, add your thyme and beef stock. Let the stock simmer until almost completely absorbed / evaporated, then reduce the heat to simmer, put the lid on your pan, and let the flavors meld for up to 10 minutes.
While your hash is busy getting delicious, it’s time to poach your eggs. There are several ways to poach an egg, and if you have a preferred method, please insert here.
If you have never tried to poach an egg, or have never done so successfully, this method is a pretty good one- I used the water which I put on to boil after my potatoes were blanched, reducing the heat to low, letting the water settle to a simmer and adding a pinch of salt. Once that’s done, crack one of the eggs into a small dish or bowl (a tea-cup works well). Used a slotted spoon to swirl the water in the pot, creating a vortex. Then, use the bowl or cup and ‘lay’ the egg into the water. Using this method, you keep the egg whites tight. The vortex will cause the egg-whites to swirl and bind to themselves around the yolk, keeping them neat and compact. Repeat with the balance of the eggs. Leave the eggs alone while they are in the water! You don’t need to (or want to) do anything with them other than let the water cook them. Once the egg-whites begin to form a solid and the eggs begin float off the bottom of the pot, use a slotted spoon to remove them from the water and let them dry on a paper towel for a minute. DO NOT cook them longer than 3 minutes. If you wait until they are floating on the surface around minute 4 or 5, they will be cooked through and you will not have any of that beautiful, soft, silky yolk come running out when you cut into your egg.
To serve, spoon they hash onto a plate. Sprinkle your chopped green onions on top of the hash, then add your egg to the center of the hash. Dust the egg with a tiny amount of salt and pepper, and you are ready to eat!
The beauty of this dish, as with hash in general, is that your recipe does not need to be strict! Hash has traditionally been a “what do we have available to chop up and cook?” type of meal. That is what makes it perfect for using your odds and ends, similar to a stock or a soup. This recipe will take you about 45 minutes.
In regards to nutrition, depending on your serving size, you are getting anywhere from 1 to 3 servings of vegetables. Sweet potato is a HUGE source of Vitamin A, and contains 0.1g of fat. Other than your EVOO, there is not a high fat content ingredient in this meal. As for the egg, many people think egg and associate it with bad cholesterol. If you do a little bit of research on the nutrition of eggs, you will find approximately 5g of fat (with about 2g being monounsaturated fat vs. 1.5g saturated fat), as well as a high DV% of Vitamins A, D, B-6 and B-12. The one egg used in this dish is good source of proteins which a diet high in fruits and vegetables can lack. If you have an issue with your cholesterol, obviously the egg can be eliminated. To add the creaminess, a small amount of Greek yogurt can be used as an egg substitute. Lastly, you can easily eliminate the beef stock if you wish. For me, it added a great depth of flavor and really enriched the dish. A good, homemade vegetable stock can be used here.
As always, if you give this a try, I hope you like it and make sure to give me your feedback!
ENJOY!
Epicurean Adventures: Going Blue 