Potato, Asparagus and Spicy Sausage Hash

I mentioned this meal in a previous post, and Carrie asked for the recipe. I'm happy to oblige though I must confess there's not much of a recipe here. You will note a lack of measurements for ingredients--In my opinion, this type of dish can easily be altered to your tastes and what you have on hand--more asparagus, fewer potatos, no sausage. Obviously, the shallots and garlic will be in proportion to the overall size of your dish. One constant, however, is to cook each item separately and mix at the end--this way, nothing gets overdone. Also, I must apologize to the vegetarian Moosewood Restaurant--I got the hash idea from one of its cookbooks but I'm horrifying animal-lovers everywhere by adding pork.

Added note: This is also an entry for Asparagus Aspirations, hosted by Kevin at Seriously Good.

Potato, Asparagus and Spicy Sausage Hash

thin asparagus, trimmed and cut into 2-3 inch pieces
potatos, diced
shallots, finely chopped
garlic cloves, finely chopped
spicy pork sausage
ricotta salata (goat cheese or feta would be good too)
salt and pepper
olive oil (enough to coat potatos for roasting)

Preheat oven to 400.

Toss the diced potatos with shallots, garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper. Put mixture in an oven safe dish, and roast until potatos are fork tender, approx. 30-40 minutes.

While the potatos are cooking, get going on the asparagus. Set up ice bath (water with a bunch o' ice cubes in it). Boil a pot of salted water, toss asapargus in, cook for 2 minutes or so, remove pieces to ice bath (tongs work well for this). Drain, and set aside.

Once the asparagus is done, get going on the sausage. Remove sausage from casing by making a shallow vertical, and cut into pieces. Heat a saute pan over medium-high heat, and add the sausage, breaking up with a spoon as you cook it, so you end up with a crumbled pan o' meat. Once it's all uniformly brown, remove from heat and drain the grease. Cover and set aside.

When the potatos are done, add the mixture to the pan of sausage and mix gently. Add the asparagus and mix gently again. If you're gonna get fancy, put the hash in a serving dish and sprinkle cheese on top. If you're not, just sprinkle the cheese into the pan and serve yourself.

asparagus aspirations