Sausage Kale and Sweet Potato Hash Recipe

By Marlo Colletto (TC3 Farm CSA Member)

Sausage, Kale, and Sweet Potato Hash is a standby for me when hosting company. It’s a simple, rustic, and surprisingly satisfying one-pot meal that never fails to leave friends asking for the recipe. Until now, I had none. As you’ll note in making this a time or two, it is an incredibly forgiving dish. Alter the proportion of ingredients or get experimental with your seasonings and you really can’t go wrong. A couple notes I learned along the way: Sweet potatoes take a long time to cook—cut them smaller and remember to keep them covered to speed the process. And, kale shrinks. I fall for this every time I cook the stuff, one minute thinking I’ve gone and added way too much and the next watching it wilt away to almost nothing. If you have a lot of kale on hand to use up, this dish can accommodate it. Keep on adding (even your friends who don’t like kale might like it in this recipe, tell them I said so).

Directions

1. Begin to warm a large skillet (I prefer cast iron) on medium heat.
2. Add sausage and onions/garlic, breaking up any over-large chunks to promote even cooking. Stir occasionally until sausage is cooked through and onions or garlic become translucent. Remove from pan and set aside.
3. Add sweet potatoes/yams to the pan to cook along with an additional 2 tablespoons oil or butter. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until the bottoms begin to lightly brown and the potatoes are tender.
4. When the potatoes are cooked, add your sausage back into the pan along with the kale and cover to steam for a minute or two. This is all that is needed to cook the kale. When it turns a bright green and begins to wilt slightly, it will be ready.
5. Add seasonings from this point as desired. You can’t go wrong with simple salt and pepper but I like to add ginger for a kick, sage to pump up the flavor of the sausage, and a drizzle of maple syrup to amplify the sweetness of the potatoes.

The dish should be a hearty balance between sweet and savory. Serve it for supper or topped with a fried egg for breakfast.

Ingredients:

• 1 12-16oz. Package ground breakfast sausage
• 2 medium sized sweet potatoes or yams, cut into roughly half inch cubes (peeling is optional if the potato is clean)
• 1 bunch kale, washed, de-stemmed, and ripped into smaller pieces
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 onion (if you have it)
• 2 Tablespoons Coconut oil, butter, or olive oil

For anyone avoiding pork, an easy substitution of chicken or turkey sausage can be made. If using something pre-cooked, simply adjust your cooking time and cut up links or patties into smaller pieces.