Quinoa and Root Veggie Hash

File this under “what we should have made for Valentine’s Day.”

Look at that color, but be careful, the intensity of my ugly blue counters against an almost magenta dinner might cause a seizure. Despite following the recipe in Whole Living almost exactly in respect to the beets, our dish ended up totally beet-ified. Ours is definitely prettier right? No matter, because the taste is amazing. We’ve now made this twice, and with little swaps and adjustments here and there, it always feels new. So far my favorite addition has been bacon. I’m not normally a huge bacon person, but it adds a nice salty crunch to the sweetness of the sweet potatoes and beets.

Ingredients:

adapted from Whole Living

1 large sweet potato, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
2 beets, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch wedges, greens reserved and rinsed well
2 1/2 teaspoons coconut oil, melted
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1 leek, white and pale-green parts only, halved lengthwise, cut 1/4 inch thick, and rinsed well
1 yellow onion, diced or slivered
4 large eggs
1 cup cooked quinoa (from 1/4 cup dry)
3/4 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
2 cups meat of your choice (optional – we’ve used bacon and pork tenderloin so far, but it’s fine without)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Toss chopped sweet potatoes with oil and salt and spread evenly on one-half of a rimmed baking sheet lined with foil. Repeat with beats and spread on the other half of the baking sheet. Roast until tender (35-40 minutes) turning once halfway through.
2. Thinly slice beet greens. Heat 1 1/2 teaspoons coconut oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add the eggs (optional, see note) greens, onion, leek, 1/4 salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper; cook until tender and lightly browned (8-10 minutes). Stir in quinoa, thyme, and vegetables. Cook until quinoa is warm, 1-2 minutes. Serve with additional salt and pepper if desired.

Makes 4 large servings.

Note: You can opt to “scramble” the egg into the dish or cook the eggs a preferred way separately to top the dish. We’ve gone both scrambled and topped with a cooked egg and liked both equally.

Although there is quite a bit of chopping and prep work needed for the recipe, the assemblage itself pretty simple — albeit a little messy. Neil always equates working with beets to that terrible scene in American Psycho, one of his favorite movies. He was even Patrick Bateman for Halloween one year. Should him acting out the scene with beets in our kitchen worry me?