TIME OUT: THANKSGIVING SUBSTITUTION

Sweet Potato and Apple Hash    

   If you are like my family and have a mixed variety of likes and dislikes when it comes to food, especially on the holidays.... this Chef Burrell recipe is a great happy medium for a sweet potato lover or hater on Thanksgiving. The sweet potato casserole and legendary potato bar have been a running family joke throughout the last decade. The oldest or “Golden Child” as we’d like to call him always demands a potato bar... and no I am not talking about a bar bar - the one with all you can drink liquor to devour with your Thanksgiving meal, I am talking about a bar with a plethora of baked potato toppings... things like bacon bits, sour cream, fresh chives, myriad of shredded cheeses, bread crumbs, chilli, just to name a few. And we have others with a more “sweet tooth” who have demanded a sweet potato casserole (which by the way always ends up being doused with too much rum and it ends up being a rum soup with sweet potato on the side). Either way it’s too much food to prepare to begin with without the demands of the picky eaters. So, if you are unsure how to please the masses this recipe is for you. Not to mention this is easy to make, quite delicious anytime, and can be enjoyed hot or cold! Chef Anne’s Sweet potato and Apple Hash is the name of the game tonight.

          To get inspired I enjoy an apple cider with a splash of rum.... kinda reminds me of my mother’s attempt at the sweet potato casserole... yum... rum... she will probably be angry when seeing this post! J

           Your ingredients tonight will be EVOO, 4 slices bacon, 1 onion, 2 sprigs of fresh rosemary (makes your kitchen smell delightful too), red pepper, salt, 3 sweet potatoes (peeled and cut into ½ inch dice), ¼ cup of maple syrup, 1 ½ cups of chicken stock, 1 bunch of scallions, 3 granny smith apples, and green pumpkin seeds toasted. Don’t all these ingredients make your mouth water?  And it kind of combines the whole “potato bar” and sweet potato casserole ingredients in one!

           To begin this delicious dish, you add some EVOO to a pan and add the sliced bacon at medium heat. (Dishes that begin with bacon have to be the best.) Once the bacon starts to get crispy and brown you are going to add the onion, rosemary, and red pepper. Season with salt and sauté the onions until soft and aromatic. What a mix of flavours this is... your kitchen has got to be heavenly right now!

           Next you add the sweet potatoes, syrup, and chicken stock and cover and cook for 15-20 minutes or until potatoes are soft, but not mushy. Then remove the lid and let liquid reduce by half then you add the scallion whites, apples and cook about 5 to 6 more minutes. Lastly stir in the scallion greens and toasted pumpkin seeds and BOOM there’s your Sweet potato and Apple Hash of Chef Anne Burrell. It’s so delicious. Have some tonight then you must have some for snack cold tomorrow!