Butternut and Sweet Potato Hash with Turkey Sausage

And a giveaway that’s perfect for the holidays!!

I love having a hot breakfast.  It’s not too often that I have the time in the mornings to spend cooking a great hot breakfast, but when I do it’s often the highlight of my day.  There is just something about fried eggs and a steaming hot plate of delicious food sitting in front of me that is so satisfying.  Especially when I can couple that with the chance to sleep in a little bit and enjoy it as my brunch.

I know you probably looked at the title and thought “Uggh I’m so sick of turkey right now,” right?  But this isn’t something to make with roast turkey leftovers, and while it has some great Autumn ingredients like butternut squash and sweet potatoes, this doesn’t taste like it would belong on your Thanksgiving table either.  No, this dish has an entirely different flair to it and uses some awesome flavors that give it a bit more of a Southwest type of appeal to it, using poblanos, black beans, dried cilantro, and of course, some ground dried hot chiles.  Mmmm I love chiles!

I hardly ever by pre-packaged sausage anymore, and find that I love the versatility and freedom of adding my own flavors to ground meats instead, which is exactly what I did here with ground turkey.  This dish is easy to make, if a little bit time consuming (because of having to roast the root veggies), but it’s quite cost effective, which is important when one is trying to budget for all of the various expenses that come along with enjoying the holidays.  We definitely have a lot going on as this year draws to a close, and so sometimes it’s nice to have something easy and cheap to cook.  I made this and got tons of wonderful leftovers, which are easily re-heatable as long as you can spend a quick couple of minutes frying an egg for each person right before serving.

Speaking of chiles, you know where you can purchase some awesome ones?  At Marx Foods, which sells all sorts of stuff.  Back in April I got to try out some dried morel mushrooms to use in a recipe contest which I (and the rest of my family) just loved, even though I didn’t win.  The folks at Marx Foods gave me an awesome gift to use as a giveaway for one of you lucky readers!  Since the year 2009 is coming to a close, this giveaway is the chance to win 20.09% off of anything on their site, which is a pretty awesome deal.  Yep, ANYTHING!  I personally drool over truffles (the mushroom kind, not the chocolate kind), maple sugar, and dried chiles, though I have not gotten the courage yet to buy the Ghost chiles – the hottest pepper in the world.  There are lots of great spices and meats as well that you can order.  Use it to get a gift for your favorite foodie friend, or just treat yourself!

So to enter, simply leave a comment saying what you’d be most excited to buy using this great discount, and next Tues. on December 15th one winner will be randomly selected (via random.org) to win!  I’ll email the winner the coupon code (so make sure to leave your email in the comment form – don’t worry it won’t be published), and then all you have to do is make your purchase before the year 2009 runs out, and you can enjoy this awesome discount!

Mandatory disclaimer & yada yada stuff – I was not compensated in any way to host this giveaway, I really just think this is an awesome opportunity to purchase some really cool foods with a cool discount

Printer Friendly Recipe

Ingredients (for about 8 servings):
1 lb. sweet potato, chopped into bite size pieces
1 lb. butternut squash, peeled and chopped into bite size pieces
salt
canola oil
1 lb. ground turkey
1 tbs. salt
ground pepper
1 tbs. dried cilantro
1 tsp. dried sage
2 tbs. brown sugar
2 cloves garlic, minced
amt. to taste of your favorite dried chiles, ground (chipotles are some of my favorite)
1/2 large onion, diced
1 poblano chile, diced
2 c. black beans, cooked
1/2 c. your favorite salsa
1 egg per person and canola oil to cook it in
chopped parsley for garnish

Directions:
1. Heat oven to 375F.  Place sweet potato and squash on a large sheet, salt generously and drizzle canola oil on top.  Bake for about 30 min or until tender throughout.
2. Mix together with your hands turkey, salt, pepper, sage, cilantro and sugar to form the sausage, set aside.
3. One squash and sweet potato is done, take out of the oven.  ”Sweat” garlic, onion, and poblano, and ground dried chiles (amount is variable depending on your taste, start with about 1/2 tsp. and add from there if you aren’t totally sure how much you want to use – it also depends on how much heat your dried chiles pack) in a large (think 12″ or bigger) cast iron skillet on med. high heat in a little bit of canola oil.  Once the onions start to soften, add in the turkey sausage, and cook, breaking it up in the pan.
4.  Once sausage is fully cooked, do a taste test – if you like a bit more heat, add some more of your favorite ground chiles, or leave it as is.  Add the squash and sweet potato, and beans and salsa to the mixture, and cook a few more minutes so all the flavor comes together, stirring every so often so all ingredients are evenly mixed.
5. In a small cast iron skillet, fry your eggs with a little bit of oil, however you like them.
6. Place some of the hash on the plate, top with a fried egg, and garnish with parsley.  Enjoy!