One Pot Meal: Chorizo and Sweet Potato Hash

As much as I love to cook and to create somewhat complex meals that involve several different dishes (and by that I mean meat + veggie + maybe another veggie), sometimes I just don’t feel like cooking at all. In my pre-paleo days, this translated into a dinner consisting of bread, cheese, and copious amounts of wine. This may or may not have occurred several times a week, particularly when I lived in Europe.

Not that there is anything wrong with bread and wine and cheese, but nowadays my body craves more sustenance. So on those nights when I don’t feel like cooking and I haven’t planned a crock pot dinner in advance, I turn to the next best thing – the one pot meal.

This meal is one of my favorites. It does take a little more time than I’d like due to cooking the sweet potatoes, but most of that time is spent simmering on the stove, and the upside is that this dish freezes – and reheats – incredibly well. Anything i can cook a huge pot of and then freeze in individual portions for later is a major win! Another upside is that you can easily serve this for dinner, and then fry a couple eggs the next morning and serve them atop a bed of this has and you have a breakfast that will easily get you through a busy morning! Double win for a meal that does double duty!

But the best part about this meal is the flavor combination. If you’ve read this blog for anything more than three or four posts, you’ll know that I am obsessed with the sweet and savory combination. I’m pretty sure I mention that in every other recipe I post, if not more frequently. I look at it as having my cake and eating it, too. Do I want sweet? Do I want savory? Can’t decide? How about both? For an indecisive person like me, it’s perfect!

When I first started making this dish I used plain sausage and didn’t add spinach…I actually ended up using chorizo because it’s what I had on hand, and can I just tell you? The marriage between the spicy chorizo and the subtle sweetness of the potatoes brings this dish to the next level. Melodramatic, I know, but trust me. One bite and you will agree with me! And adding the spinach? Well, I can’t lie – that was because I wanted to add some color to the meal. And it doesn’t hurt that my favorite color is green…just sayin.

Plus, the spinach gives this dish an extra nutrient kick. Who can argue with extra nutrients??

And for the piece de resistance – cinnamon. I very liberally sprinkled everything with cinnamon as it was simmering. Cinnamon, if you didn’t know, is the super-spice. I’m serious! Google it – cinnamon can lower your LDL levels, regulates blood sugar levels, it has antifungal properties…it even supposedly helps with headaches and migraines! (I’ll have to let you know about that one. As I sufferer of chronic headaches, I may have to do some testing on this…)

But anyway, back to the food. The cinnamon in this dish also mellows the spice of the chorizo, while at the same time enhancing the sweet of the potatoes. Does that even make sense? Either way, it sounds good to me!

WHAT YOU NEED: (serves about 4 for dinner)

4 medium to large sweet potatoes

1 large yellow onion

1 large red pepper, or a mix of colored peppers to make it prettier

1 bag baby spinach

1 package chorizo (look for no nitrates or nitrites added, try Whole Foods)

cinnamon

2 tbs coconut oil

WHAT YOU DO:

Dice all your vegetables and slice the chorizo into bite size portions.

Heat the coconut oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. (Make sure your pot is big enough to hold everything! I learned this the hard way. Several times.). Add the diced onion and saute until translucent, about five minutes. Add the sweet potatoes and saute until they begin to soften, about ten minutes. Add chorizo and cook through. Add the bell peppers and spinach and stir to combine. Once the spinach has started to wilt, sprinkle everything liberally with cinnamon and stir again to combine all the flavors. Cover the pot, reduce heat to medium low, and simmer about 20 minutes or until potatoes and cooked through and softened to your desire. Stir occasionally while cooking – although if you don’t stir as much, your potatoes will get nice and browned, which I love.

It’s as easy as that!