Ranchero Sweet Potato Hash

A few weeks ago, Steve and I met up with Hannah CG at Seward Cafe for breakfast. I LOVED the "Super Red Earth" (scrambled eggs with sauteed onions, smothered in a delicious ranchero sauce) and wanted to replicate it for brunch today.  Steve and I didn't make it from scratch like Seward Cafe, but we worked with what we had and even added more delicious ingredients.

Scrambled eggs, sauteed sweet peppers and onions, crisped sweet potatoes

To make the Ranchero sauce, we sauteed an onion and added a (drained) can of diced tomatoes with green chilies.  We stirred in maybe 1/2 to 1 tsp of chili powder and nearly a tablespoon of oregano. We set the flame to medium and let it simmer for about 6 or 7 minutes.  Then, I took a stick blender to give the sauce a smoother texture.  Blend it as much or as little as you like. Taste the sauce, adding salt and pepper as needed.

While I was making the sauce, Steve started with the sweet potatoes. We already had sweet potato fries in our freezer, so we took those out, put them in a lightly oiled pan, and mashed them to crisp them up all the way through.  I think he cracked some fresh pepper on top.  Make sure to start this step at the very beginning so that you aren't waiting on the fries at the end!

After I made the sauce, I scrambled 5 eggs. Yes 5. (One time, I ate 5 eggs by myself for breakfast. Dad told me I needed to exercise more.  Ouch.) 5 eggs for the two of us. Next time, I'd scramble them for just a half a minute less than I like, because you'll cook them a bit more once you combine all the ingredients.

The eggs and potatoes finished about the same time, so we sauteed some peppers and onions in a big pan. Then, Steve threw the sweet potatoes and scrambled eggs in and gently stirred it all up. I was getting the camera ready, obviously.  We then plated it up, snapped a pic (above), added the sauce, and snapped another pic (below). Then we dug in...Steve devoured his plate in about 30 seconds, per usual. I took about 3 times as long to eat my huge serving because I savored. I'm a savorer, Steve's a snarfer!

Hash with the ranchero sauce!

What's especially ridiculous is how cheap this meal was! 5 eggs, a can of diced tomatoes with green chilies, a diced pepper, two onions, sweet potato fries, and the spices probably all come to $4 or less. This was enough for 2 hungry people to become very full.  If you buy a frozen pizza for that price, it'll be insubstantial, unhealthy, boring. Bam. The benefits of cooking at home are sometimes overwhelming. Moreover, the process of cooking, eating, and cleaning up was contained to a one hour window, so don't even try the "I don't have time to cook!" excuse.