Eggs for dinner rarely signifies a breakfast-for-dinner night in this house. While the breakfast menu of nearly every restaurant I've visited includes at least one version of eggs Benedict, the dish is more likely to grace our dinner table (OK, our dinner laps, on the couch in front of the TV), particularly in the form it took as one of my parents' regular dinner items -- toast, ham, asparagus, poached egg, hollandaise. My mom's hollandaise was always extra lemony. Yum.
Then, Len and I discovered shakshuka, that delicious, eggs-poached-in-spiced-tomato-sauce dish that might be breakfast to some folks but has become one of our own go-to dinners when we need an easy way to use up some tomatoes and peppers. If you've never tried shakshuka, I urge you to try it. If it sounds too adventurous (I'm talking to you, kin of meat and potatoes and European roots), think of it as another form of chicken cacciatore. It's not chicken, but it came from a chicken, and there's a slight change in spices, but the sauce is familiar and homey. It's a comfortable dinner-time flavor. You'll love it.
But, this post is not about shakshuka or eggs Benedict. Tonight, there's a new egg in town, and it's going with sweet potatoes.
I already love sweet potatoes as a side dish. When eating mostly vegetarian was our winning strategy for a weight-loss challenge, I came to love sweet potatoes as a main dish as well. I found these excellent chipotle stuffed sweet potatoes, and I continue to riff on them to this day. And now, there's this so-called breakfast bowl of sweet potatoes, which we are having for dinner.
The original recipe came from Bon Appetit, and you know I've made some revisions based purely on 1) not wanting to go to the store, and 2) trying to use up some random thing in the fridge. Hey, some recipes must be followed precisely, while others were born to be winged (wung?).
Roasted sweet potatoes and turmeric-poached eggs
- ¾ teaspoon garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- ¾ teaspoon paprika
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 medium sweet potatoes, cut into ¾-inch pieces
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- salt and pepper
- 8 slices bacon
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- ¼ cup white vinegar
- 2 teaspoons ground turmeric
- 4 large eggs
- a few handfuls of salad greens (but I used thinly sliced purple cabbage this time)
- 1 dill sprig, fronds chopped and stem discarded
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice
- Smoked sea salt (for serving; optional)
Place a rack in the center of oven and preheat to 425°. Whisk garlic powder, cayenne, paprika, and oil in a large bowl. Add sweet potato and onion and toss to coat; season with salt and pepper. Spread out sweet potato mixture on a rimmed baking sheet. Place bacon on a separate baking sheet (lined with a rack if you have one, so the grease drips away from the strips). Roast for about 12 minutes, then toss the sweet potato mixture and check the bacon.
When the bacon is as brown and crisp as you like (might be done now, might need another 10 minutes), it from oven and cut into 1" pieces and set aside. Either way, continue roasting the sweet potato until golden brown in spots -- another 15 minutes or so. Toss the sweet potato hash with oregano and keep warm until ready to serve.
Pour 2" water into a large saucepan and bring to a boil; then reduce heat so water is at a gentle simmer and add vinegar and turmeric. Crack one egg one at a time and gently slide it into the water. Poach until whites are set but yolks are still runny, about 3 minutes.
In those few short minutes while the eggs are poaching, toss greens, dill, parsley, lemon juice, bacon, and any additional salt and pepper, to taste, in a large bowl. Divide the salad among individual bowls and top each with sweet potato hash. Last, use a slotted spoon to transfer a turmeric-poached egg to top each bowl. Sprinkle with smoked sea salt, if using. Serve immediately.
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