sweet potato hashbrowns with homemade hot honey and a poached egg

i’m in my potato era. potatoes can sit around on a countertop, but they’re ready to go whenever you are. they’re just chillin, y’all. i came across this sweet potato hashbrown recipe on NYT cooking, but wanted to enhance the flavor profile – and ENHANCE it, we did. the recipe i’m about to share is one of the tastiest things i’ve ever eaten. i immediately wanted another serving, alas… i will be making this again as soon as i get my little hands on more sweet potatoes.

fyi – i understand grating is one of the least fun things to do with your time – that’s why i’m recommending you separate it from the actual cooking process and grating it the night before. once grated, wrap your sweet potato mound in paper towels and then place in a ziploc bag or other airtight container in the fridge. i would also recommend making the hot honey the day before, or just use a store-bought hot honey! grating the sweet potatoes and making the hot honey the night before means all you need to do the next day is fry up your hashbrowns and poach an egg – btw, you could totally just fry the eggs and this recipe would still be insane. poached eggs are just for funsies!

this recipe serves 1-2.

ingredients:

• 1 sweet potato, grated on large holes of box grater
• 4 tsp. arrowroot starch (or cornstarch)
• kosher salt
• 1/4 cup honey
• 2 tbsp aleppo pepper flakes (can sub fresh chopped chili or chili pepper flakes – start with a small amount and add more if you want it spicier)
• 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
• olive oil (about 2 tbsp, for frying hashbrowns)
• 1 or 2 poached eggs (or fried eggs) – depending on how many eggs you want on your hashbrowns
• few handfuls of spinach

directions:

1. grate sweet potato: once grated, squeeze out excess moisture. toss with the starch and sprinkle with kosher salt.
2. make hot honey: add honey and pepper flakes to a small saucepan. bring to simmer for about 1 minute, then turn off heat and stir in apple cider vinegar. once made, you can store this at room temperature in an airtight container. now you have homemade hot honey! feel free to adjust proportions of chili:honey:apple cider vinegar here. i always taste as i go! and you’ll probably have extra, so just save it! it’s really good on pizza. just sayin.
3. cook sweet potato hashbrowns: on a nonstick saute pan, heat enough olive oil to coat the bottom of the pan. add about 1/2 of the grated sweet potato to the pan to make a pancake-looking thing. press down to flatten with a spatula. cook hashbrown for about 3 minutes, until browning and firming up, and then flip to brown on the other side – a few more minutes. sprinkle with kosher salt. both side should be nicely browned. repeat with remaining grated sweet potatoes.
4. lightly wilt spinach: in same pan, with hashbrowns removed, add spinach and cook until just beginning to wilt and turn off heat.
5. poach eggs: bring about 1.5 inches of water to a simmer in a small saucepan and add 1 tsp of apple cider vinegar. make a whirlpool using chopsticks or spoon. delicately crack eggs one at a time into simmering whirlpool and continue to spin the egg so it cooks evenly. after about 3-5 minutes, it will be done – you can check doneness by lightly pressing on the egg yolk. remove from water with a slotted spoon and set on paper towel. sprinkle with a little kosher salt if you’d like. if that didn’t make sense – here is a video on it.
6. assemble: lay hashbrowns flat on a plate and top with wilted spinach. top with the poached egg. drizzle allllll over with the delicious hot honey.
7. le serve and le enjoy!!!