the Older Bolder Life Friday Feast 23 November: Ed’s Kitchen Sink Turkey Hash

We have a good friend, Ed, who’s been something of a family icon now for over a decade. He’s been a continual font of inspiration and wisdom, a mentor, a business partner, and even an occasional pain-in-the-ass for most of those years.

Ed loves good food almost as much as we do, though you’d never know to look at him. His thin, fit build looks like that of a fifty-something runner, which is somewhat amazing as he’s in his mid-80’s (he constantly lies about his age, so we don’t know the genuine number). He’s sharp as a tack, more active than most men half his age, and was eating LC/MP/HF long before most of us had heard a whisper of the concept.

Back in 2016, Ed pestered us to help him come up with a “turkey hash recipe that he’d really like”; the final result was this Ed’s Kitchen Sink Turkey Hash, built on the foundation of spicy sausage with a big pile of fairly traditional hash vegetables thrown in. By the way, the poblano adds a nice bit of heat and flavor and the sweet potatoes tie in with the whole Thanksgiving theme, as does the fresh sage.

And just in cash you’re not a “hash expert”, one of the critical steps for this recipe is the repeated compress, crisp, and turn of the mixture to get crispy, browned, caramelized edges in every bite. Be patient; keep turning and crisping until it suits you. The browner and crisper the better…

The soft poached or fried eggs aren’t really necessary, but the runny yolks are magic. And Ed insists that this be drizzled with hollandaise sauce, though he’ll eat it with a real-deal turkey gravy too.

1/2 lb bulk spicy sausage
1 large sweet onion, chopped medium
1 medium red onion, chopped medium
1 red bell pepper, stemmed, seeded, chopped medium
1 poblano chile pepper, stemmed, seeded, chopped medium
1 large sweet potato, partially precooked (firm), cut into 1/2-inch dice
2 cloves garlic, minced
4-5 tbsp good butter
1 lb turkey, white and dark meat, chopped to 1/2 inch or so pieces
1 tbsp fresh sage, chopped, optional, more to taste
1 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 – 1 tsp fresh thyme leaves
1 tsp good salt
1 tsp fresh ground black pepper
1/2 cup flat leaf parsley, chopped

Optional
4-6 eggs, poached or fried, with soft yolk
Hollandaise sauce if Ed’s coming over OR leftover gravy

Scrub and dry the vegetables; dice and chop to your heart’s content.

Sauté the sausage until browned; remove from the skillet to drain and remove all but (roughly) 1 tbsp of the remaining fat.

Melt 4 tbsp. of the butter over medium-high heat in the same skillet; add both onions, both peppers, the sweet potato, and the garlic. Cook, stirring now and again, until the onions and pepper begin to soften.

Now add another tbsp. of butter, the turkey, the sausage, sage if using, paprika, thyme, salt and pepper; stir to mix well.

Up your hash game by crisping it up. Smooth the mixture in the skillet out and gently compress it; raise the heat a notch and don’t touch it for 3 minutes or so to let a crispy-crunchy layer of caramelization develop. Then, turn that brown, crunchy bottom over and mix into the upper hash layers. Compress the mixture again and repeat at least two more times – the desired goal here is lots of crunchy, brown goodness. Add the parsley on the last turn and stir.

Serve it right now, topped with a runny-yolk poached or fried egg and drizzled with hollandaise if Ed’s coming over. He won’t eat it any other way, though if there’s any real turkey gravy left over, it might even be better.

Enjoy.