This was last night's dinner and, yes, it was inspired by the winning quickfire dish on "Top Chef" a few weeks back.
I loves me some chorizo, and I've been getting more and more into dried mushrooms, so I leaned in and paid attention when I heard this dish mentioned. Unfortunately, the folks on the show didn't say or show much of anything about how the dish was made or what was in it (aside from, obviously, mushrooms and chorizo). Left to my own devices, I fell back on my standard hash formula and adapted from there.
Chorizo-mushroom hash
- 1 pound raw chorizo
- 1 ounce dried chanterelle mushrooms, reconstituted and finely chopped
- 2 medium onions, finely chopped
- Half a large (or one medium) sweet potato, peeled (I used one of the Japanese sweet potatoes my wife always buys, which have whitish-colored flesh. The orangey-colored ones should be just fine.)
- Butter
Melt a small pat of butter in a large pan or skillet over medium heat.
Slit open the casings on the chorizo and crumble it into the pan. Sautee, breaking up any large chunks of meat (a potato-masher works great for this) until the chorizo begins to release its fat.
Add the onions and mushrooms, stirring to combine, and then grate in the sweet potato using the large holes on a box grater. Continue to cook, stirring, for about 10 to 15 minutes or until done.
This was marvelous. The woodsy/earthy quality of the mushrooms and the sharp spice of the chorizo played together satisfyingly. It was enough for four people as a main dish. I served it with an improvised black bean dish, but that's a subject for another post.
Some notes on ingredients:
As I have mentioned before, I usually get my Mexican-style chorizo from J&S Davis at the farmer's market. It's on the mild side, so if you get chorizo elsewhere you might, depending on what you get and your spice tolerance, want to finish this dish (or top it) with some cheese. I suppose you could try this dish with Spanish chorizo, mincing up about eight ounces and adding it to a pan of already-softened onions and mushrooms. If you do, let me know how it works.
Dried porcinis or shiitakes can be substituted for the chanterelles. If you want to shave a buck or two off what this costs to make, minced baby portobellas might do the job.
The sweet potato was of the Japanese variety, which I had never heard of before my wife started bringing them home a few months back. Externally, they look like regular sweet potatoes, but they have an even sweeter flavor and a whitish color when peeled. The orangey variety should work here just as well.
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