Chorizo and Sweet Potato Hash

Soy chorizo is one of my guilty indulgences. I know I shouldn’t eat it because it’s so processed, but sometimes you just have to run with your inner cave man and embrace the meat. Or the highly processed, probably filled with GMO soy equivalent. I roll my eyes at recipes that include vegetarian bacon, but obviously I’m a giant hypocrite because I eat vegetarian sausage more often than I will freely admit.

I did something this weekend that was kind of unusual. I ran with music. I hadn’t done that in probably 3 years, since I had my iPod on a trail run and got so distracted and irritated by it that I took the headphones out at mile 3 and left them out for years.

But for some reason on Saturday morning, with 12 miles ahead of me, I grabbed my iPhone and hit the road. I usually stay out of the “what songs are good for running?” discussion but right now I can say with confidence that The Killers, Mika, and K’Naan are the absolute BEST for running. You can fight me on this if you want to.

The run was good. Weird to have music, but good. The whole time I just kept thinking about how incredibly lucky I am to be able to run in San Francisco. It’s seriously the most perfect running city in the world. You can fight me on that, too. The two pictures above are from the run…one is along Ocean Beach and the other is in Golden Gate Park. It was awesome.

Post-run, it was time for a little more city exploration. Mike and I are realizing it’s probably in our best interest to move into San Francisco, but we still have a few months to figure out where exactly we want to be. We’re pretty familiar with some neighborhoods, we know where we definitely don’t want to be, and now we’re just trying to narrow it down. We’re using a very scientific formula that takes into account running options, commute times for both of us, proximity of good coffee and grocery stores, and of course, rental costs (which are way too high, everywhere).

Dogpatch is kind of random… it has some of the oldest houses in the city and some run-down looking warehouses, and it’s sandwiched between a lot of industrial shipyards and Potrero Hill. It also happens to be the home of Piccino Coffee Bar which I instantly fell in love with.

There’s a case full of fresh baked goods (which looked fantastic, but we didn’t try any), and the soy foam was PERFECT!

The weekend was too short, like they always are, but an easy and comforting Monday night dinner makes the transition a little more manageable.

I mixed some sweet potatoes with regular, added red onions and cooked them over low heat until they were soft. With chorizo, eggs, and a sprinkling of fresh cilantro, it’s a hearty meal with minimal effort (and dishes!)

Recipe:
(adapted from Pinch My Salt)

2 tbsp olive oil
2 small sweet potatoes, peeled
1 medium potato, peeled
1 red onion, chopped
4 ounces soy chorizo
2 eggs
queso fresco and fresh cilantro, for garnish

Preheat the oven to 350 F.

Cut the sweet potatoes and potato into small cubes (you should have about 3 cups).

Heat the oil in a skillet over medium-low. Add the potato and onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until the potatoes are tender, about 25 minutes. If anything begins to brown excessively, turn down the heat. Add more oil if things are sticking.

Once the potatoes are tender, stir in the chorizo. Cook for about 5 minutes.

Crack 2 eggs over the hash, then put the pan in the oven. Cook in the oven for about 5-10 minutes, or until the whites are set.

Remove from the oven and sprinkle with cilantro and queso fresco.